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LUBKIN CREEK
(INY-30) SITE
LATE PREHISTORIC (1500 - 150 BP) :
Late
Prehistoric use of Lubkin Creek was more intensive than
before. It includes the remains of at least seven
house
floors
and abundant refuse of daily life. Food remains from Late
Prehistoric houses indicate that people hunted many of the
same animals as before, but more small mammals and birds.
Charred seeds show that people were eating more plant food,
including pine nuts and acorns from the mountains.
This suggests that Late Prehistoric families spent
much of
the year close to Lubkin Creek.
Obsidian and other
raw
materials
are mostly local. This indicates that people lived in now
smaller territories. Shell beads from southern California
are more abundant, however. This suggests that Eastern
Sierra people had trade and other interactions with their
neighbors, and that everyone was probably traveling less.
MIDDLE PREHISTORIC (3500 - 1500 BP) :
Lubkin Creek site in
southern Owens Valley was excavated in 1985 and again in
1986 and 1987.
This was done to save information before highway
construction could damage the site. Lubkin Creek was used by
Native Americans from Early Prehistoric to nearly Historic
period times. The most important use of the site was during
the last part of the Middle Prehistoric and very end of the
Late Prehistoric periods. Middle Prehistoric remains
at the site
included
three
house floors
and a rich collection of artifacts and food remains.
 Food remains from the houses indicate that Middle Prehistoric
people hunted jackrabbits and antelope in the surrounding
valley, mountain sheep and deer in the Sierra Nevada, and
waterfowl at Owens Lake.
Charred and preserved seeds indicate that most of the plant
foods came from surrounding desert and wetland habitats.
This shows that Middle Prehistoric people probably camped at
Lubkin Creek from the late summer to the following spring.
At other times, people traveled south to the northern edge
of the Mojave Desert near Little Lake and north as far as
the Mammoth Lakes area.
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