David B Madsen

Biographic Data

ID116390
NAMEDavid B Madsen
GIVEN NAMESDavid B
FAMILY NAMEMadsen
SIGNATUREMADSEN D B
AFFILIATIONSUtah State Historical Society
ORCID0000-0002-4477-103X
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS70
TOTAL CITATIONS725
AUTHOR COUNT70
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1963
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX15

  • Cave/Rockshelter Burials in the Great Basin

    Open AccessDavid B Madsen, David Madsen et al.ARTICLEAmerican Antiquity2026References: 19

    This article addresses the proposition that the lower Lahontan drainage basin (LLDB) is “unique” within the Intermountain West in terms of the use of caves and rockshelters as burial locations, and that such burials are “rare” elsewhere (Thomas et al. 2025). We compare archaeologically known cave burials in the Bonneville basin (BB), ranging in age from approximately 10,700 to approximately 1000 cal BP, to those in the LLDB. There are 18 such sit…

  • Geoarchaeology of Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene Occupation at the EL Peregrino and Colina Castor Sites on Cedros Island, Baja California, Mexico

    Open AccessLoren G Davis, Matthew R Des Lauriers et al.ARTICLEGeoarchaeology2025References: 1

    This study presents the geoarchaeological and chronometric analysis of two Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene archaeological sites: El Peregrino (PAIC‐88) and Colina Castor (PAIC‐91), located on Cedros Island, Baja California, Mexico. Both sites are situated at the base of fossil spring localities above modern sea level and contain stratified cultural materials associated with now‐extinct freshwater sources that likely played a critical role in s…

  • The Geoarchaeological Context of Early Holocene Human Occupation at the Cerro Pedregoso Site, Cedros Island, Mexico

    Open AccessLoren G Davis, Matthew R Des Lauriers et al.ARTICLEGeoarchaeology2025Cited by: 1

    Geoarchaeological excavations at the Cerro Pedregoso site on Cedros Island, Baja California, Mexico, uncovered a stratified alluvial fan deposit containing well‐preserved evidence of repeated human occupation during the Early Holocene, between ~12,000 and 9600 cal BP . We used radiocarbon dating of wood charcoal and marine shell from multiple excavation units to establish a secure chronology for these early coastal forager occupations. These cult…

  • Unresolved

    D Rhode, Christina M Neudorf et al.ARTICLEPaleoAmerica2024

    Pigati, J. S., K. B. Springer, J. S. Honke, D. Wahl, M. R. Champagne, S. R. H. Zimmerman, H. J. Gray, et al. [2023. “Independent Age Estimates Resolve the Controversy of Ancient Human Footprints at White Sands.” Science 382: 73–75. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh5007] provide new age estimates for human footprints found at White Sands Locality 2, New Mexico, concluding that controversies about previously reported age estimates of ∼21,000–23,0…

  • A critical assessment of claims that human footprints in the Lake Otero basin, New Mexico date to the Last Glacial Maximum

    Open AccessCharles G Oviatt, David B Madsen et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2023

    The ancient human footprints in valley-bottom sediments in Tularosa Valley, New Mexico, are fascinating and potentially important because they suggest interactions between Pleistocene megafauna as well as great antiquity. The dating of those footprints is crucial in interpretations of when humans first came to North America from Asia, but the ages have larger uncertainties than has been reported. Some of that uncertainty is related to the possibi…

  • Technological Similarities Between ~ 13 ka Stemmed Points from Ushki V, Kamchatka, Russian Far East, and the Earliest Stemmed Points in North America

    Open AccessI Y Ponkratova, Loren G Davis et al.CHAPTERMaritime Prehistory of Northeast…2022

  • Response to Review of “Late Upper Paleolithic occupation at Cooper’s Ferry, Idaho, USA, ∼16,000 years ago” by Fiedel et al

    Loren G Davis, David B Madsen et al.ARTICLEPaleoAmerica2021

    In an essay published in PaleoAmerica (2020, Vol. 6, No. 4), Fiedel and coauthors present a review of “Late Upper Paleolithic occupation at Cooper’s Ferry, Idaho, USA, ∼16,000 years ago”, by Davis and coauthors in Science (2019, Vol. 365, pp. 891–897). Fiedel and coauthors’ review presents significant misunderstandings about fundamental aspects of site stratigraphy and radiocarbon chronology and also advances alternative speculations about report…

  • Size matters only sometimes

    Open AccessK D Lupo, D N Schmitt et al.ARTICLEArchaeological and Anthropological…2020Cited by: 13References: 83

  • Late Upper Paleolithic occupation at Cooper’s Ferry, Idaho, USA, ~16,000 years ago

    Open AccessLoren G Davis, David B Madsen et al.ARTICLEScience2019

    The early occupation of America The Cooper's Ferry archaeological site in western North America has provided evidence for the pattern and time course of the early peopling of the Americas. Davis et al. describe new evidence of human activity from this site, including stemmed projectile points. Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian analysis indicate an age between 16,560 and 15,280 years before present. Humans therefore arrived in the Americas before an…

  • The Initial Upper Paleolithic at Shuidonggou, Northwestern China

    P Jeffrey Brantingham, Xing Gao et al.CHAPTEREarly Upper Paleolithic Beyond…2019

  • The Upper Paleolithic of the Americas

    Thomas J Williams, Thomas Williams et al.ARTICLEPaleoAmerica2019Cited by: 16References: 60

    Substantial archaeological and genetic data suggest that the initial occupation of the Americas is more complex and diverse than previously thought. As evidence for multiple patterns and/or adaptive strategies in distinct areas of the western hemisphere emerge, the terminology remains incoherent. Most terms are applied arbitrarily, incorporate “Clovis,” or refer only to single populations and not the chronological period. We argue for inclusion o…

  • Orbital scale lake evolution in the Ejina Basin, central Gobi Desert, China revealed by K-feldspar luminescence dating of paleolake shoreline features

    Open AccessGuoqiang Li, David B Madsen et al.ARTICLEQuaternary International2018

  • The incredible edible hare

    D N Schmitt, K D Lupo et al.ARTICLEHunter Gatherer Research2018

    Hares (Lepus spp) have been common residents of Great Basin valley bottoms and piedmonts throughout the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Although their skeletal remains often dominate regional zooarchaeological collections and ethnographic records across the American West detail the importance of Lepus to native peoples, many studies of human subsistence productivity consider these mammals to be a low-ranked resource. We critique some methodologica…

  • Early foraging settlement of the Tibetan Plateau highlands

    Open AccessDavid B Madsen, Charles Perreault et al.ARTICLEArchaeological Research in Asia2017Cited by: 25References: 9

  • The Early Human Occupation of the Bonneville Basin

    Open AccessDavid B MadsenCHAPTERLake Bonneville2016

  • Conceptualizing the Tibetan Plateau

    Open AccessDavid B MadsenARTICLEArchaeological Research in Asia2016Cited by: 4References: 29

  • Early Holocene Great Salt Lake, USA

    Open AccessCharles G Oviatt, David B Madsen et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2015

    Shorelines and surficial deposits (including buried forest-floor mats and organic-rich wetland sediments) show that Great Salt Lake did not rise higher than modern lake levels during the earliest Holocene (11.5–10.2 cal ka BP; 10–9 14 C ka BP). During that period, finely laminated, organic-rich muds (sapropel) containing brine-shrimp cysts and pellets and interbedded sodium-sulfate salts were deposited on the lake floor. Sapropel deposition was p…

  • Early Holocene Great Salt Lake

    Open AccessCharles G Oviatt, David B MadsenARTICLEQuaternary Research2015

    This article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy .

  • A Framework for the Initial Occupation of the Americas

    David B MadsenARTICLEPaleoAmerica2015

    A substantial amount of archaeological data suggests groups with markedly different lithic technologies and subsistence adaptations were widespread throughout both American continents by ∼13–13.5 ka. While there are fewer archaeological sites credibly dated to ∼13.5–15.5 ka, they are sufficient to indicate human foragers occupied at least the Pacific coasts of both continents and probably interior continental locations as well. Assuming it requir…

  • Characterization of obsidian from the Tibetan Plateau by XRF and NAA

    Open AccessCharles Perreault, M T Boulanger et al.ARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science…2015Cited by: 2References: 19

  • Landscape evolution of the Ulan Buh Desert in northern China during the late Quaternary

    Open AccessFahu Chen, Guoqiang Li et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2014

    The evolution of arid environments in northern China was a major environmental change during the Quaternary. Here we present the dating and environmental proxy results from a 35 m long core (A-WL10ZK-1) collected from the Ulan Buh Desert (UBD), along with supplemental data from four other cores. The UBD is one of the main desert dune fields in China and our results indicate the UBD has undergone complex evolution during the late Quaternary. Most …

  • The earliest well-dated archeological site in the hyper-arid Tarim Basin and its implications for prehistoric human migration and climatic change

    Open AccessWenxia Han, Lupeng Yu et al.ARTICLEQuaternary Research2014

    The routes and timing of human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are crucial for understanding the evolution of Tibetan populations and associated paleoclimatic conditions. Many archeological sites have been found in/around the Tarim Basin, on the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Unfortunately, most of these sites are surface sites and cannot be directly dated. Their ages can only be estimated based on imprecise artifact comparisons. …

  • Mind the gaps

    Open AccessD Rhode, P Jeffrey Brantingham et al.ARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science2014Cited by: 25References: 9

  • The early appearance of Shuidonggou core-and-blade technology in north China

    Open AccessDavid B Madsen, Charles G Oviatt et al.ARTICLEQuaternary International2014Cited by: 18References: 16

  • Late Occupation of the High‐Elevation Northern Tibetan Plateau Based on Cosmogenic, Luminescence, and Radiocarbon Ages

    Open AccessP Jeffrey Brantingham, Xing Gao et al.ARTICLEGeoarchaeology2013Cited by: 14References: 26

    10 Be‐ 26 Al cosmogenic surface exposure, optically stimulated luminescence, and radiocarbon dates from the site of Xidatan 2 (∼4300 m above sea level [asl] in the Kunlun Pass, northern Tibetan Plateau) suggest the site was intermittently and briefly occupied approximately 9200–6400 yr B.P. This age is substantially younger than expected given the late Upper Paleolithic character of the lithic assemblage, which is dominated by microlithic and uni…