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Archaeological investigations at Ranger's Ridge Site (42SA3952) in the Glen Canyon region of southern Utah are among the earliest systematic efforts to study prehistoric lithic artifact scatters. The Pliocene and Pleistocene terrace deposits at Ranger's Ridge contain a variety of lithic materials in cobble form. These cobbles were tested and subjected to further reduction by means of bipolar and block-on-block techniques. More than 10,000 lithic artifacts were collected from within a site area of 116,000 square meters. The artifact assemblage from Ranger's Ridge was collected from a total of 1,460 4x4 meter grid units. This assemblage was then sampled by selecting lithic materials derived from 300 high density (Stratum I) 4x4 meter units and 78 low density (Stratum II) units. A series of Chi-square tests indicated that the observed artifact concentrations at the site were, in fact, different from one another on the basis of raw material type, artifact size, technique of manufacture, and stage of manufacture. Although the investigators do not assign a cultural affiliation to Ranger's Ridge (42SA3952), they do suggest that the primary activities at this location were related to raw material testing and initial reduction. It does not appear that the raw materials at this procurement location were well suited for bifacial core production.

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