Research Design for a Geoarchaeological Subsurface Probability Model for the Utah Test and Training Range

In 2008, Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., (Far Western) developed a Geoarchaeological Sensitivity Model (Young 2008) encompassing the diverse landscape of the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR), an area of western Utah (Figure 1) managed by Hill Air Force Base (Hill AFB). The model provides a management tool helpful in guiding cultural resources projects, especially those associated with undertakings on UTTR requiring compliance under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). These needs include monitoring, inventory, and evaluation of precontact archaeological sites, with emphasis on potential for and observation of subsurface (i.e., buried) archaeological deposits. While the 2008 model remains effective, advancements in our understanding of the environmental and archaeological settings in the western Bonneville basin provide the opportunity and impetus to update the model. We present, here, a work plan to update the existing UTTR sensitivity model (Young 2008). Our update will focus on the playa region of the Old River Bed Delta (ORBD), its bounding silt plains, and its capping dunes. It is here, on UTTR-South, that recent archaeological investigations have shown buried site potential on the playa, which was previously unknown, and provided data sets that have increased the resolution of observable change in the lacustrine and paludal settings that, in turn, influences the temporal and spatial patterning of geomorphic process on the delta and its contiguous landforms. As we refine the model based on new data from recent investigations and proposed field studies in specific settings on UTTR-South, we will evaluate similar settings on UTTR-North against new findings.