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A rchaeologists know relatively little about the terminal Pleistocene archaeology of the Snake River Plain (SRP). This gap in knowledge stems from both a lack of field research and the often superficial and inadequate reporting of the collections from SRP sites known to contain terminal Pleistocene materials. These issues have prompted the archaeological

A statistical analysis was conducted to evaluate whether sport climbing has contributed to de-vegetation at the base of basalt cliffs within the American Falls Archaeological District (AFAD), located along the Snake River in southern Idaho and currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). The increasing popularity of sport climbing has created challenging conflicts between public recreation and cultural resource protection. The loss of vegetation in the AFAD’s dune environment, from both recreation and natural processes, has already displaced and damaged significant archaeological resources. The Access Fund acknowledges that staging areas at the base of climbs are susceptible to vegetation loss and erosion, especially in arid environments. Since numerous “bare spots” occur under and along basalt cliffs throughout the AFAD, this analysis was designed to quantify these un-vegetated areas. The results of the analysis, which indicate that bare spots directly associated with climbing walls are significantly larger than those that appear to be natural, will be applied in management decisions regarding the protection and preservation of federally managed cultural resources within the AFAD. Hopefully, these results will assist other land management agencies in making proactive decisions regarding recreational use in archaeologically sensitive areas.

Recent excavations at a narrow draw in close proximity to Tomcat Cave, one of Idaho's cold storage caves, exposed a concentration of charred mammal bones and a rock lined hearth in association with an elaborate series of rock alignments. Much of the long bone falls within the bovid size range (bison) and appears to be the byproduct of stone boiling or bone soup making. Radiocarbon dates from the hearth, and the presence of Intermountain ware ceramics, Rose Spring and Desert Side-notched points indicate use of the site during the very late Holocene. Analogous artifacts recovered from the mouth of Tomcat Cave indicate that hunting activities at Bison Heights and use of the cave likely coincided. The rock features at the site and those documented elsewhere within the region indicate that narrow topographic features were used as procurement locales for big game. However, limited amount of bone recovered near these features indicates that only a small number of animals were acquired during single hunting events. 333 Ó 2005, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.This hypothesis is supported by the recent discovery of an elaborate series of hunting blinds and associated artifact assemblage on the eastern Snake River Plain north of Kimama, Idaho. Although the blinds at Bison Heights (10LN636) were specifically constructed at a distinctive topographic feature to maximize the number of large game acquired, test excavations indicate that only a limited number of bison were likely procured at the site.