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systan to respond: to significant changes in environmental conditions • <br />appears to be one: of the crucial factors in the level of cultural <br />evolution. <br />It is important to realize, therefore, that the human element is only <br />one--albeit important-~lemVnt of the biota which interacts with and <br />manipulates or utilizes other biotic elements. Fach of these biota in <br />turn is affected by variations in the abiotic comiponents. Any under- <br />standing of the human element is thus predicated upon a oa[iriensurate <br />understanding of these canplementary phenomena. <br />The following description of the environment oarmienoes with those abiotic <br />elements which affect but are furthest removed from the human elsnent <br />(climate, geology, and soils) and concludes with a discussion of the <br />locally available biotic resources (flora and fauna) upon which the local <br />hlaman populations were heavily dependent. <br />rr.~rnmmF • <br />The local climatic conditions are those characteristic of inter montane <br />foothills with warn to hot summers, cold winters, moderately low rainfall, <br />and relatively short growing seasons. The varying topographic situations <br />of mountains, foothills, and valleys greatly affect weather conditions <br />throughout the area. Such climatic variability is readily apparent in <br />the data az[q~iled from nearby weather stations, shown in Table 1. Table <br />2 illustrates in an even more graphic fashion the effects upon climatic <br />parameters by elevational changes in the close vicinity of site SKP139. <br />(~L~OGY <br />A large area immediately surrounding SIfP139 lies upon three sedimentary <br />rock formations of LTppes Cretaceous age. The ~villia<ns Fork Formation <br />(sandstone, shale, and oaal beds) is stratigraphically intea[~ediary <br />between the underlying Iles Formation (sandstone and shale with coal beds • <br />in the uppez half) and the superior Lewis Shale (Tweto, 1979). The site <br />6 <br />