The Borax Lake Site is considered of national significance as the type site for a major prehistoric period in the far western United States, the Paleo-Indian (Clovis), referred to in archeological literature of the Western Great Basin and California as the Post Pattern. The occurrence of Clovis-like projectile points from Borax Lake in the Coast Range of northern California dramatically extended the geographic scope of Paleo-Indian occupation into the far western United States. Archeological investigations at the Borax Lake Site demonstrated that Paleo-Indian occupation of the Far West (Western Great Basin and California) represents a “specialized lake shore dwelling adaptation” by this group, which was significant because it represented a unique response to an environment that had been unfamiliar to Paleo-Indians. This adaptation is referred to as the Western Pluvial Lakes Tradition and differs from the large mammal hunting traditions of the southwestern United States and Great Plains.

Information provided by the National Registry of Historic Places, a program of the National Park Service.

Photograph of dart points from the Borax Lake Site, Lake County, California, 1947. Courtesy of Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection.