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This is the final report on the Jackson Lake Archeological Project, which began in 1983 when the reservoir at Jackson Lake was lowered to facilitate repair of the dam. The intentional lowering of the reservoir, combined with a drought in 1987 and 1988, caused the lake to reach pre-reservoir levels. A pedestrian inventory of the area under the Jackson Lake pool recorded 109 archeological sites ranging in date from Paleoindian to historic Euroamerican times. Twenty-two of these sites were tested. The inventory and site-testing reports are collected in five volumes (Connor 1985a, 1986a, 1987a; Connor, Cannon, Matz, Carlevato, and Winchell 1991: Vols. 1 and 2). The goal of this report is to synthesize the Jackson Lake archeological data with available regional data to better understand human adaptation in the intermountain area. This report was finished in 1992 and submitted to the Midwest Archeological Center's editting staff. Much additional work in the Region has been completed since and it is not possible to re-write this report to include this material. Chapter 1 includes a discussion of project goals and and background as well as the theoretical aspects of mountain adaptations.

Chapter 2 focusses on the biases inherent in using the data recovered from inundated sites. The results of this work suggest that modern archeological methods can dervie data relevant to both culture-historical and processual concerns from these sites despite these problems. The geological studies summarized in Chapter 3 show that much of the Snake River delta area can be relatively dated through geomorphological means. Cultural material is also used to date earthquake occurrences in the delta area. Chapters 5 to 7 present discussions of the culture history, subsistence, and settlement patterns of the valley, respectively. Chapter 5 is an outline of the culture chronology of Jackson Hole, in which area chronology is separated into seven temporal phases. The cultural complexes found in the valley within each phase are discussed, as well as their degree of similarity to those found in surrounding areas. Prehistoric people came to Jackson Hole to fish, hunt, and collect plant resources, as well as to gain access to obsidian and the resources of the high country.

On the basis of ethnographic data, Chapter 6 suggests that the diet consisted of about 40 percent or more meat, 30 percent or more plant foods, and the remainder varying, depending on the amount of fish in the diet. The species utilized are discussed based on the archeological data. The predominant meat species would probably have been bison, while the primary plant species would have varied seasonally and included berries, greens, and root crops. In Chapter 7, five settlement patterns observed in the valley are defined, and the reasons for the synchronic and diachronic variation are discussed. Much of the variation noted in lithic raw materials recovered during the project appears to relate to access and to raw material characteristics. The remaining variability apparently is owing to mobility. The study concludes in Chapter 8 with an examination of which aspects of the prehistoric cultures of the area remained stable over time and which did not. Climate, population density, and technological change were found to interact to stimulate change or promote stasis.

Due to the sensitive nature of this subject this report is available to professional archeologists only. If you order this manuscript we may contact you for verification of your profession.