This monograph reports on four seasons of archaeological excavation at three separate localities at Givens Hot Springs. Givens Hot Springs is located on the south bank of the Snake River in Owyhee County in southwest Idaho between the modern towns of Murphy and Marsing. Map Rock, one of Idaho’s most famous petroglyphs, is located directly across the Snake River from Givens. The area was also a preferred camping spot for emigrants traveling the southern route of the Oregon Trail.

The excavations at Givens were an outgrowth of a project started in 1975 by Dr. Peter Schmidt, the first Idaho State Archaeologist. In conjunction with the Great Basin Chapter of the Idaho Archaeological Society, Schmidt began a project to record archaeological sites in western Owyhee County and to document collections from the area. The initial goal of the project was to gather general information so that detailed archaeological projects could be planned. The project continued under Thomas J. Green's supervision, as the second Idaho State Archaeologist, after Schmidt left Idaho in 1976 to conduct field work in East Africa. The formal sponsor of the project was the Idaho State Historical Society.

Between 1975 and 1978 a number of sites and collections were recorded. Everett Clark, member of the Idaho Archaeological Society, former stockman, and a local public official in Owyhee County, reported the owners of Givens Hot Springs planned to subdivide the land and develop it. Knowing the importance of the sites around the springs, Mr. Clark was concerned that important information would be lost if they were destroyed. For these reasons, further survey and testing in the Owyhee Mountains was abandoned and plans were made to work at Givens.