The Bureau of Land Management Elko and Ely district cover most of eastern Nevada. An overview of the environment, prehistory, ethnohistory, and history of the region is presented.
Archaeological investigations in eastern Nevada have been conducted since the mid-1920's. Most of our prehistoric knowledge about the region, however, is derived from research since the 1950's. Four prehistoric cultural periods spanning the past 15,000 years have been identified in the archaeological record: Paleoindian, Archaic, Late Prehistoric, and Proto-Historic.
Although represented by few cultural remains, the earliest human occupation of the region was probably by Paleoindian hunters between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago. Toward the end of the Paleoindian period, people of the Western Pluvial Lakes tradition (11,000 to 8,000 B.P.) apparently lived along the edges of waning pluvial lakes and marshes in the region and subsisted on lacustrine food resources from these lakes. Out of the Paleoindian-lacustral lifeway, the Archaic hunting and gathering pattern emerged, a pattern which persisted into the Proto-Historic period as represented by Numic peoples. Between A.D. 900 to 1200 the Fremont culture, a mixed horticultural and hunting-gathering people, occupied the eastern portion of the study area and may have co-existed with other Late Prehistoric peoples who continued to lead a hunting and gathering lifeway. After A.D. 1200, Numic peoples represented by Western Shoshoni and Southern Paiute lived in the region.
At the time of European contact eastern and northeastern Nevada was occupied by Numic-speaking, mobile hunters and gatherers. Living in a semi-arid setting these central Great Basin Native American groups were not rich in material culture or ritual life. However, their lifeway blended effectively with their environment and focused on the available resources, which, although not as spectacular as the great bison herds of the Plains or the fisheries of the Pacific Coast, were diverse and abundant in season. In the historical period, fur trappers, government exploring expeditions, and emigrants bound for California passed through the study area. Some of the most significant historical events centered on the development of trans-continental communication and transportation routes. The major industry in the region during the nineteenth century was mining. Activity of this kind occurred in every county in the area and led to the development of some of the state's richest strikes. Ranching and agriculture also played an important role in the economic development of eastern Nevada.