This report presents the results of archaeological investigations by INFOTEC Research, Inc. (IRI), under contract with the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) , in the Trout Creek-Oregon Canyon uplands (TCOCU) of Harney and Malheur counties, in extreme southeastern Oregon. The work included environmental analysis through a computerized geographic database, archaeological survey of 5000 acres (1.7%, selected randomly) of the 287,000-acre project area, compilation and analysis of survey results focusing on the association of cultural and environmental variables, and generation of a predictive model of cultural resources distribution.
The survey recorded 78 archaeological sites, including 57 lithic scatters, 13 rock features (mostly rock cairns), six rockshelters , and two obsidian sources. The rock features probably are historic sites, while the remainder are all prehistoric. The six rockshelters are intact and unvandalized; many more such sites likely exist in the TCOCU. Prehistoric activity apparently revolved around hunting and raw material procurement; only slight evidence of plant food collection was found. Collected projectile points indicate most intense human use between 4000 and 2000 B.P. Archaeological sites show distinct locational tendencies, and are especially concentrated on the high ridges and near lowland streams. A high correlation was calculated between predicted land use intensity (17) of project quadrats and key measures of prehistoric activity.
For management purposes, this report presents concrete predictions of cultural resources distribution in the project area. Most of the cultural resources appear to exist on 25% of the land area. The report concludes with a set of management recommendations.