The upland areas surrounding the wetlands provided access to deer, pronghorn, and other terrestrial game, as well as the pinyon pine nuts and other plant foods that would become staples of Great Basin diet in later periods.

The people who lived along the ancient lake margins were not primitive survivors.

They were sophisticated hunter-gatherers who understood their landscape with the intimate knowledge that comes from generations of experience — who knew when the fish would run, where the waterfowl would be at different seasons, which upland areas produced the best hunting at specific times of year.

The Spirit Cave Man was part of this world.

The isotope evidence from his remains showed a diet that combined freshwater fish with terrestrial protein sources — exactly the combination you would expect from someone who spent significant time in the wetland-upland mosaic environment of the ancient Lahontan Basin.