Large-scale trapping features from the Great Basin, USA: The significance of leadership and communal gatherings in ancient foraging societies

In the Great Basin, large-scale trapping features designed to capture multiple artiodactyls include fences or drive lines and corrals with associated wings. More than 100 of these features are known in the Great Basin. An experimental project confirms that these features must have been built through group effort. The marked concentration of large-scale trapping features in western and eastern Nevada may be explained by ecological factors such as the presence of migrating herds of ungulates, nearby toolstone sources, pinyon nuts, and water. The proliferation of large-scale trapping feature planning and construction beginning ca. 5000 to 6000 years ago is supported by studies of trap-associated projectile points and rock art. Initial construction of traps may have been sparked by human population increases that created new challenges and encouraged the development of new sociological and ecological adaptations.