GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF PREHISTORIC HUNTER-GATHERER CULTURAL BEHAVIOR IN THE LOWER SALMON RIVER CANYON, IDAHO

Located in the intermontane region of the interior Pacific Northwest, the lower Salmon River canyon holds a long record of human occupation. Archaeological and geoarchaeological investigations in the canyon have sought to reveal the nature of human-environmental interaction since the late Pleistocene. An inductive analysis of late Quaternary stratigraphy and geomorphology reveal that local structural systems have elicited significant control on alluvial behavior and the manifestation of riparian ecology throughout the Holocene. During the middle to late Holocene (after ca. 9,000 - 2,000 BP), the lower Salmon River canyon supported a stable, low energy alluvial floodplain with an extensive, biotically productive riparian ecosystem. During the late Pleistocene-early Holocene (before 9,000 BP) and the late Holocene (after 2,000 BP), the canyon held a much-diminished riparian ecosystem with markedly lower biotic productivity. Current interpretations of prehistoric hunter-gatherer cultural behaviors regarding logistical mobility, assemblage organization, and economic orientation are grounded in these geoarchaeological perspectives.