Charlotte Beck

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Charlotte received her PhD in 1985 from the University of Washington. She taught at Hamilton College from the Fall of 1985 through the Fall of 2012. She is now Emerita and living in Santa Fe, NM. Her areas of specialty include Evolutionary Theory, Intermountain West Prehistory (with emphasis on the Great Basin) Paleoamerican Research (with emphasis on the Western Stemmed Tradition and Clovis), Surface Archaeology and Chronology, Lithics

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Dating in Exposed and Surface Contexts. Charlotte Beck, editor. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1994. xiii + 239 pp., figures, tables, references cited, index. $45.00 (cloth)

American Antiquity, 1995

that taphonomists are, at best, isolating laws about mechanical and chemical processes that affec... more that taphonomists are, at best, isolating laws about mechanical and chemical processes that affect skeletal materials. In essence, taphonomy tells us a great deal about how assemblages are formed, modified, and sometimes lost, but considerably less about why certain (especially human) bone collectors and modifiers behaved the way that they did; the second kind of question can be addressed only through articulation of taphonomic studies to anthropological and/or ecological theory. Lyman's book is a major scientific contribution and is both an excellent teaching tool for advanced students and a helpful guide to practicing professionals. The author successfully integrates existing knowledge and approaches from a vast array of sources, trouble-shooting a diverse and sometimes fractious field. Moreover, the level of scholarship is excellent: The even-handed discussions are supported by an extensive list of references. Readers are provided with a comprehensive array of analytical alternatives, and, equally important, Lyman encourages readers to make their own—albeit better informed—decisions in relation to the problems.

Lithic Source Use and Paleoarchaic Foraging Territories in the Great Basin

American Antiquity, 2003

Paleoarchaic (11.5–8.0 ka) occupants of the Great Basin encountered numerous lithic sources as th... more Paleoarchaic (11.5–8.0 ka) occupants of the Great Basin encountered numerous lithic sources as they moved across foraging territories. Source provenance and lithic technologic analyses applied to the tools manufactured from these source materials elucidate several aspects of mobility, including the geographic scale of material conveyance and extent and possible routes of population movement. This research indicates that central Great Basin groups traversed large subsistence territories, extending more than 400 km from north to south, with mobility tactics probably keyed to the distribution of resource-rich wetlands. Changes in source representation parallel warming and drying trends, suggesting that Paleoarchaic foraging ranges shifted as wetlands diminished after about 9.5–8.5 ka.

Charlotte Beck

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