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29 <br />• The distribution of sites in general, and particularly of sites with ground stone, is patterned <br />according to topography, aspect, and vegetation. Based on these qualities, the project area can be <br />divided into four general areas: 1) alluvial valley floors; 2) north-facing slopes; 3) south-facing <br />slopes; and 4) major ridges. Each of these has a characteristic vegetation community. Alluvial <br />valley floors where significant alluvial deposition is present in the form of flood plains and terrace <br />surfaces include all of the Lorencito Canyon floor and the valley floor in the lower reaches of Cow <br />Canyon. This area is primarily grassland. Surface visibility is very poor, and most ofthe discovered <br />sites have been found in cutbanks or other areas where surface disturbance has increased visibility. <br />Table 3 Summary of project-wide ground stone occurrence <br />ground sites % sites #pieces/site, <br />area sites stone w/ gs w/ gs sites w/ gs <br />alluvial valley floors 12 19 6 50.0 3.2 <br />north-facing slopes 12 27 7 58.3 3.9 <br />south-facing slopes 76 517 69 90.8 7.5 <br />major ridges 5 13 3 60.0 4.3 <br /> 105 576 85 80.9 6.8 <br />North-facing slopes are steep and tend to be unbroken by benches, ridges, or prominent <br />drainages. They aze predominantly vegetated by dense and continuous groves of oak brush. Field <br />• crews have found this brush to be impenetrable in areas. Sites are very uncommon, and are generally <br />confined to the few benches and ridges present. <br />South- and southeast-facing slopes and lower ridges are generally less steep and <br />topographically much more varied; numerous small ridges, benches, knolls, knobs and drainages <br />punctuate this terrain. This topography is lazgely dictated by differential erosion characteristics of <br />the underlying bedrock which consists of nearly level sedimentary strata of various lithologies. <br />These areas are also typically vegetated in a mosaic of small open meadows and patches of oak <br />brush. Pinon and juniper trees occur throughout. The meadow areas are sparsely vegetated usually <br />due to a lack of soil, though there are certain localized areas with significant Holocene deposition <br />(McKibbin et al. 1997:90-93). It is in these settings that the great majority of sites have been found, <br />and they typically occur in the open areas on benches and wider ridge crests, though there are some <br />notable examples of artifact scatters on steeper slopes. <br />Finally, there are several major ridges in the project area, which include the drainage divide <br />between Lorencito and Cow canyons, and the upper reaches of the divides between the major <br />tributaries to Lorencito Canyon. These areas are very similar in terrain and vegetation to the south- <br />facing slopes, but are notably and surprisingly lacking in sites. <br />Lorencito Canyon Rural Historic Landscape Research Design <br />. It is assumed that the majority of sites on the Lorencito Canyon Mine project area' are <br />reflective of procurement and initial processing activities focused on pinon nuts and/or acorns. <br />Evidence for this is circumstantial, but it is the most reasonable interpretation of the archaeological <br />