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INTRODUCTION The Tule Springs project came into being a s the re su lt of a m eeting in Los Angeles on February 28, 19 62, attended by W allace Broecker, J. Desmond C lark, G. J. Fergusson, R. F. H eizer, Carl H ubbs, W illard F. Libby, Clem ent M eighan, H. B. N icholson, Phil C . Orr, C harles R ozaire, Richard Shutler, J r ., and H erschel C. Smith. The m eeting w as c alle d by Dr. W illard F. Libby, D irector of the In stitu te of G eo p h y sics, U niversity of C alifornia at Los A ngeles, for the purpose of d isc u ssin g m atters relatin g to a b etter coordination and understanding of radiocarbon dating in relatio n to a rch a e ­ology. D r. Libby, alw ays in terested in the problem s of Early M an in the W estern Hemi­sp h ere, offered the fa c ilitie s .o f the U .C .L .A . radiocarbon laboratory if a su itab le Early Man p ro ject could be organized. A number of p roposals were co n sid ered , but the Tule Springs Site proved to be the stro n g est can d id ate for ex ten siv e excavation and m u ltid iscip lin ary s tu d ie s . Previous ex ­cav atio n s there had suggested th at man w as p resen t a t th is lo catio n more than 28,000 years ago (Harrington and Simpson, 19 61). Some a rch a eo lo g ists considered the evidence in co n clu siv e, but, in 19 62, largely on the b a sis of finds reported for Tule Springs, a number of prom inent s p e c ia lis ts in the Early M an field w ere p o stu latin g th at men w ith a p re -p ro je c tile point culture had entered the New W orld some 30,000 or more years ag o . In 1933, in a side gully of Tule Springs W ash, Fenley Hunter of the American M u­seum of N atural H istory had found a concen­tration of ch arco al a sso c ia te d with bones of ex tin ct cam el, horse and bison (Simpson, 1933). In the m atrix of charcoal and bone w as an o bsidian fla k e, not retouched, but un­doubtedly made by m an. Later in the year, M . R. H arrington of the Southw est M useum v isite d the lo c a lity and excavated two more bone d e p o sits a ss o c ia te d with "c h a rc o a l". In one of th e se were found two bone o b jects w hich he considered to be a rtifa c ts . The ex ­a c t stratig rap h ic lo catio n of th ese o b jects is not known. In 1954, a mixed sam ple taken from the Hunter lo c a lity and from the bone bed e x ca ­vated by H arrington w as sen t to Dr. Libby for radiocarbon d atin g . It provided a date in e x c e ss of 23,800 years ago (Libby, 1955). In 1955, the Southw est M useum under­took survey and mapping work, and te ste d 18 lo c a litie s . In the follow ing year, 13 more lo c a litie s , some previously recorded, were te s te d . In one of th e s e , Ruth D. Simp­son found a scrap er. A radiocarbon sam ple from th is lo c ality provided a date in e x ce ss of 28,000 B. P. (Broecker and Kulp, 1957). The p articip an ts a t the 19 62 m eeting were agreed th at the site had g reat p oten­tia l im portance, and th at the g eo lo g ical, p aleontological and arch aeo lo g ical problem s were so com plex th at an in terd iscip lin ary ap p ro ach w as e s s e n tia l. Due to the siz e of the site and the com plexity of the problem s, it w as apparent th at operations would have to be on a much larger sc a le than those undertaken in the p a st w hich had not been of the m agnitude n e c e ssa ry to provide w holly conclu siv e ev id en ce. After the d isc u ssio n w as concluded, Dr. R. F. H eizer proposed th a t a major effort be made to determ ine if man and P leisto cen e fauna were contem poraneous a t Tule Springs and, if so , on w hat time le v e l. He suggested th at the project be under the d irectio n of the w riter. I agreed, providing th at it be a c o ­operative project of the N evada State Museum and the Southw est M useum and, in addition, I stip u lated th at adequate support for the p roject be obtained; and th a t, as d irecto r, I should have com plete freedom of actio n con­cerning the many d e c isio n s th at would a rise in relatio n to the p ro ject. I further announced th at I would appoint an advisory com m ittee of recognized experts on Early Man problem s. My in stitu tio n , the N evada State M u­seum , gave whole hearted support to a ll p h a se s of the project including the handling of the adm inistrative and fin an cial a sp e c ts of the p ro ject, and publication of th is final report and Nevada State M useum Anthropolog­ic al Papers 10 and 12. The Southw est M u­seum agreed to the cooperative project and contributed the serv ice s of M iss Ruth D. Simpson for eight w eeks during the field se a so n . 3