An Overview of the Cultural Resources of the Western Mojave Desert

Culture resource overviews such as this bring together much of the available information on prehistoric and historic peoples and present day Native American groups along with their associated environments. The purpose behind these studies is to provide background information for the management of and research into these prehistoric, historic, and contemporary resources. This overview is one of seven covering the southern California deserts undertaken as part of a comprehensive planning effort by the Bureau of Land Management for these deserts. Overviews aid in the day-to-day management of cultural resources and in the completion of environmental analyses and research projects. Its general value to the public in the fields of education and recreation-interpretation must also be stressed. Usually cultural overviews are completed prior to beginning the field assessments of prehistoric and historic remains and contemporary ethnic values. In this case, however, the nature of the planning effort was such that both field-work and literature search were completed at approximately the same time. The complementary field report by Gary Coombs (1979) in this series is titled "The Archaeology of the Western Mojave". Portions of the field report are discussed in this overview. The final report manuscript was submitted by Environmental Research Archaeologists in May of 1979 following contract initiation one year earlier. The authors are to be congratulated for their time-consuming efforts in bringing together relevant information on lands administered by the Bureau and considerable data concerning the surrounding private land. This work should prove popular with both the lay-reader and professional as it presents new ideas and interpretations of existing data which is sure to stimulate further interest and work. Its value to the management of cultural resources has already been realized in part and will no doubt continue