Idaho beginnings: A review of the evidence

Evidence sought here for a pre-Clovis presence in the Snake River basin of Idaho and northeastern Oregon in the millennium ending at 11,600 yr BP includes radiocarbon and tephrochronological dates, extinct Pleistocene faunal associations, depositional context and living floor and feature integrity, and typologically or technologically legible lithic industries. Results of a review of eleven sites found ambiguous evidence for pre-Clovis hearths in two caves, but no convincing support for the temporal priority of the Western Stemmed over the Clovis tradition. However, intact sites of the Western Stemmed tradition, dating to 10,200-9800 yr BP, survive at 4 + m below surface in deep Quaternary alluvium in canyon floors in west-central Idaho below 610 m elevation. Deeper and earlier deposits may be found in the same settings.