Figure 11— Profile of Face of Q 6/7—9/10.
These divisions are arbitrary and based on typology. There is some degree of overlap. Since the fill is shallow compared to the time range represented, there was undoubtedly a considerable amount of mixing, plus the ever present chance of re-use. Characteristically, as Jennings (1957) found at Danger Cave, the beginning of any cultural type is more apt to be a synchronic affair than its end.
Objectives of the Monograph
The bulk of the present monograph will be devoted to a description of the cultural remains uncovered at the LoDaisKa Site, and delineation of the circumstances of their discovery. However, an accumulation of facts loses much of its significance if no attempt at organization and interpretation is made. “The archaeologist must make some effort to integrate as well as observe his material, or he becomes a technician rather than a scientist.” (Heizer, 1958). It is realized that cultural units must be defined primarily on the basis of typology, because of the general lack of corresponding geological units. In this connection, the present state of flux in Great Basin taxonomy renders the results less absolute than might be desired. For this reason considerable emphasis has been placed on making as much as possible of the raw data available.
BLOCK PROFILE, LODAISKA SITE
EXCLUDING COW DUNG LAYER
Figure 12— Block Diagram showing relation of the strata.
The object of the interpretive study will be twofold: 1) to make a comparative analysis of the typology of the LoDaisKa artifacts in relation to both the Plains and Great Basin Culture areas (see Kroeber, 1939); 2) to make some attempt, on the basis of the archaeological remains and analogies with ethnologically observable data, to provide some insight into the total culture of the inhabitants as it existed at the time of occupancy. Of course, as one progresses further from the empirical evidence, to higher levels of interpretation the reliability of the conclusions decreases proportionately (MacWhite, 1956).
The primary difficulty, as indicated, is the absence of stratigraphically isolated culture units. Because of this a certain amount of overlap is to be expected: a small geologic unit represents a long and apparently uninterrupted occupational continuum. The resultant telescoping would increase the effects of trampling and other disturbance. However, it became increasingly apparent during excavation that, on the basis of typology and overall stratigraphic relationships, at least four complexes should be recognized; a broken point and a few flakes found in the lowest geologic stratum suggest a fifth. Two of these cultures appear to be affiliated with the Great Basin, three with the Plains.