The Late Holocene Dry Period (LHDP) was a one-plus millennial megadrought (3100–1800 cal BP) that delivered challenges and windfalls to Indigenous communities of the central Great Basin (United States). New pollen and sedimentation rate studies, combined with existing tree-ring data, submerged stump ages, and lake-level evidence, demonstrate that the LHDP was the driest Great Basin climate within the last 6,000 years—more extreme than the well-known Medieval Climatic Anomaly. New evidence reported here documents that most Great Basin archaeological sites south of 40° N latitude were abandoned during the long dry phase of the LHDP (3100–2200 cal BP), sometimes reoccupied during a wet interval (2200–2000 cal BP), and abandoned again during the most extreme drought (2000–1800 cal BP). Even in the face of epic drought, this is a story of remarkable survivance by some people who adjusted to their drought-stricken landscape where they had lived for millennia. Some moved on, but other resilient foragers refused to abandon their homeland, taking advantage of glacier-fed mountain springs with cooler alpine temperatures and greater moisture retention at high altitude, a result of early Neoglaciation conditions across many Great Basin ranges, despite epic drought conditions in the lowlands.

全新世晚期干旱期 (LHDP) 是一场一千年特大干旱（距今 3100-1800 年），给大盆地中部（美国）的土著社区带来了挑战和意外之财。新的花粉和沉降率研究，结合现有的树木年轮数据、水下树桩年龄和湖面证据，表明 LHDP 是过去 6,000 年来最干燥的大盆地气候，比众所周知的中世纪气候更极端异常。这里报告的新证据表明，北纬 40° 以南的大多数大盆地考古遗址在 LHDP 的长期干旱阶段（3100-2200 cal BP）被废弃，有时在湿润期（2200-2000 cal BP）重新被占领，并且在最极端的干旱期间（2000-1800 cal BP）再次被遗弃。即使面对特大干旱，这是一个关于一些人适应了他们生活了几千年的干旱环境的非凡生存的故事。一些人继续前进，但其他坚韧的觅食者拒绝放弃自己的家园，他们利用冰川滋养的山泉，高山温度较低，高海拔地区的保湿性更强，这是许多大盆地范围内早期新冰川条件的结果，尽管出现了严重的干旱在低地。