Plateau and Great Basin

The Great Basin and Plateau encompass a vast region of western North America bracketed on the west by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains and the east by the Rocky Mountains (Figure 1). The region is diverse but characterized by ecologically limiting, generally more arid conditions, and higher elevations than other parts of North America. It is also characterized by a type of archaeology that focuses largely on huntergatherers, making it critical to understanding the development of lifeways not dependent on agriculture in the diverse but mostly high and dry environments of western North America.