MICRO-GEOMORPHOLOGY, GEOARCHAEOLOGY AND TERRESTRIAL LIDAR IN A PREHISTORIC NEVADA ANTELOPE TRAP

Used periodically for the last 4000 years, the walls of this Antelope Trap were made of Juniper wood and brush. The hypothesis is that micro-topographical features would have formed along the standing walls at their base. Time would have seen these walls fall, be reconstructed and eventually end in their current state, as a series of branches on the ground outlining its previous extents. What may remain are the micro-topographical features evidencing the various wall constructions. The importance of locating the previous walls is to provide supporting evidence that in this Antelope Trap, two projectile technologies were used from one location and cast or shot on two angles. The wall location may confirm the location of the mouth of the trap, the ingress point of Antelope into the kill zone.

A methodology for feature-level formation process Geoarchaeology is tested. The presence of micro-topographical features is sought.