Nevadans for Cultural Preservation

March 2021

Land Use, Hunting Blinds, and Technological Change in the Mojave Sink: Recent Data from Afton Canyon

Dr. Barbara J. Roth, Department of Anthropology, UNLV

This presentation reported on the results of a survey of the rim and plateau above Afton Canyon in the Mojave Desert near Zzyzx, California. The goal of the survey was to determine how the sites fit into regional patterns of subsistence and settlement defined along Soda Playa (the southern portion of Pleistocene Lake Mojave).  Dr. Roth provided and overview of the sites they have found so far and discussed what they think was going on in the region during the Late Prehistoric period. Their survey identified a series of hunting blinds along Afton Canyon that they think were built and used following the introduction of the bow and arrow.  She explored what this data can tell us about how hunter-gatherers in the Mojave Desert responded to risk and climate change.

To watch a video recording of this presentation click here. You will be directed to NVFCP's YouTube Channel.