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! II <br />RESEARCH RATIONALE <br />The primary goal of the Inventory was to locate, record, and <br />evaluate the significance of all instances of cultural resources In <br />the project area. Nickens and Associates had previously conducted a <br />cultural resource survey for U.S. Steel immediately southeast of [he <br />present project area, inspecting an approximately 15-acre parcel and <br />1 km of transmission line. The earlier survey yielded no cultural <br />resources, and therefore provided no data base with which to predict <br />the types and distribution of cultural resources in [he present project <br />area. Nonetheless, an underlying research orientation was operant, <br />termed the "ecological approach" (Netting 1971) to solviny and explain- <br />ing archaeological problems. This approach assumes that past human <br />populations were part of a natural system composed of biotic and abiotic <br />resources. it views human behavior as a set of economizing strategies, <br />in which a population attempts to maximize the ratio of energy return <br />between ingestion of foodstuffs and energy expenditure through extrac- <br />tion, transportation, storage, and preparation of foodstuffs (Chapman <br />1977 371)• In terms of se[tlenient patterns, this model assumes [hat the <br />locales are selected for utilization (as sites) through a rational <br />decision-making process, in which an optimal balance is souyht between <br />factors such as proximity to sources of food, fuel and water, shelter <br />quality, and nearness to points of vantage. By employing this theoreti- <br />cal approach, it is possible to develop a better understanding of the <br />patterns of exploitation of high altitude environments. <br />7 <br />