Aboriginal Occupation at High Altitude: Alpine Villages in the White Mountains of Eastern California

Villages with well‐built dwellings and extensive chipped‐ and ground‐stone assemblages found between 3,130 m and 3,854 m in the White Mountains, California, and Toquima Range, Nevada, indicate intensive seasonal use of both ranges by groups engaged in alpine plant and animal procurement. Lichenometric measurements, radiocarbon assays, and time‐sensitive artifacts show that the White Mountain alpine villages postdate A.D. 600, and are temporally distinct from older hunting blinds and sparse lithic scatters in that range that suggest a less‐intensive form of alpine land use centered on hunting; a similar, and roughly contemporaneous, adaptive succession is indicated in the Toquima Range. These changes probably reflect adaptive responses to population growth and may be connected with the spread of Numic‐speaking peoples.