North America - Southwest (Geographic Keyword)
401-425 (899 Records)
During the 2014 field season, investigations continued at Roberts Great House, a Late Bonito Subphase (1100-1140 CE) site in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Severely threatened by erosion, the site was originally explored by Frank H. H. Roberts in 1926. The aims of the 2014 season of fieldwork were to assess the pace of erosional processes and resolve questions concerning the duration of the site’s occupation and the nature of its abandonment. After thoroughly mapping and imaging arroyo down-cutting,...
In the Land of Lava: Petrographic and Chemical Analysis of Pottery from El Malpais National Monument (2015)
Pottery found at four sites located in the eastern half of El Malpais National Monument offers significant clues into the importance of this area for the southern Chaco cultural extension. Further, the movement of pottery within the area is also significant as is information on local or non-local production. In order to begin to understand these issues, chemical and petrographic analysis was carried out on pottery mostly from the great house site of Las Ventanas. The Cibola White Ware, Socorro...
In the Shadow of the Moor: An Archaeology of Pueblo Resistance in Colonial New Mexico (2015)
Historians and archaeologists often consider the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 to be the final chapter in the saga of early Spanish colonialism in New Mexico. Borderlands scholars endlessly debate the origins of the uprising, and in recent years their attention has turned toward proximate causes. In this paper I take a longer view, investigating how the events of early Spanish contact and colonialism created conditions ripe for Native insurrection. I pay particular attention to the differential...
In the Spirit of Sauer and Brand: Geographic Reflections on the RSV Project (2015)
The Rio Sonora Valley Project directed by Richard A. Pailes in the late 1970s was pivotal in contributing to our understanding of northwest Mexico. It was the first systematic archaeological research conducted in eastern Sonora since Carl Sauer and Donald Brand in the 1930s, and it precipitated later research by John Douglas, Emiliano Gallaga, Elizabeth Bagwell, and most recently Matthew Pailes. The project was not without problems, and critics. As a member of the RSV Project, and one who...
Indexing Mobility in the Western Puerco Region of Arizona using Paleoethnobotanical and Architectural Evidence (2017)
The Western Puerco Region of East-Central Arizona contains a staggering diversity of architecture and material culture eluding to complex mobility practices that varied across time and space. Although archaeologists in the US Southwest/NW Mexico have explored the sociocultural and ecological underpinnings that influenced household mobility, and have identified numerous lines of evidence that indicate increasingly mobile or sedentary habitation strategies, archaeologists have not developed robust...
An Indication of Hunting Activities from Southern Nevada rock art (2015)
Rock art hunting scenes are often ascribed as hunting magic or as part of a shamanistic ritual in which the rock art panel portrays the desired outcome of a hunt. However, it can be argued that there are petroglyph panels that depict what was actually occurring at a site. 26CK383 is a prehistoric site in Southern Nevada with numerous rock art panels, including one panel that shows two anthropomorphs directing desert bighorn sheep into what appears to be a corral. This could be a representation...
Indigenous Way Stations of Colonial New Mexico: New Evidence from the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument (2017)
As the horse spread across the American Southwest on the heels of Spanish colonial project, Native American ways of moving were abruptly transformed. This was particularly the case for the many indigenous peoples from the Plains and Rocky Mountains who used equestrianism to build new regional economies based on wide-ranging nomadism. Along with these new ways of moving came a new emphasis on particular sorts of archaeological sites—notably, on the "way station" as a point on the landscape that...
Inscribed Places: Examining Rock Art Sites on the Pajarito Plateau (2015)
At Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), one constantly encounters cultural remains of the past, whether they are of research buildings utilized during the Manhattan Era, or the remnants of dwellings of Pre-Columbian farmers on the Pajarito Plateau. Rock art sites are often encountered places where images of various meanings have been physically pecked and scratched out by people inscribing their identities and worldviews onto the surrounding landscape. Because a landscape can persist in form...
Integrating Petrographic and INAA Compositional Data: Chupadero Black-on-white Ceramic Production and Distribution in the Salinas and Sierra Blanca regions of New Mexico (2015)
Ceramic research in the American Southwest is increasingly relying on both mineralogical and chemical compositional data to answer questions regarding pottery production and exchange. Due to differences in the structure and nature of these datasets, integrative studies that attempt to incorporate information on both types of compositional data often produce confusing and sometimes seemingly contradictory results. This paper explores the recently developed ‘mixed-mode’ method of data analysis,...
Intensive archaeological sampling for fine-grained resolution of human-environment relationships: fauna from the Sand Canyon Locality and the central Mesa Verde region (2015)
In the Mesa Verde region of the southwest USA the intensity of archaeological excavation, coupled with good preservation and high-resolution dating, creates an unusual opportunity to examine spatial and temporal variation in faunal assemblages. We examine methodological issues associated with the analysis of hundreds of assemblages in a small region, and show how thoughtfully selected data provide opportunities to study a number of phenomena, including: differential human impact on animal...
Inter-Site Visibility in the Mesa Verde Area through Time (2016)
Numerous studies have pointed to a pattern of inter-site visibility in Chaco-era sites, both within Chaco Canyon itself and in other parts of the regional system. These studies suggest inter-site visibility is one line of evidence that supports the development and operation of the regional system in much of the American Southwest during the Pueblo II period (A.D. 900 to 1150). In the Mesa Verde region, community centers were present before the Pueblo II period as evidenced by larger sites, some...
The Interaction of Hohokam Ideology and Religious Beliefs in the Hohokam Practice of Dual Cemeteries (2015)
From A.D. 900 to 1400 Hohokam populations frequently used both corporate and household cemeteries within the same village. The practice became more visible following A.D. 1200, when burial was by inhumation in household cemeteries and by cremation in corporate cemeteries. The choice of cemeteries gave households flexibility in dealing with the tension between Hohokam sociopolitical ideology and religious beliefs. Burial in the privacy of household cemeteries served their egalitarian ideology...
The International Boundary Commission (IBC) and Projects along the U.S. – Mexico Border (1928 – 1941) (2015)
The International Boundary Commission (IBC) conducted many projects along the entire U.S. – Mexico border during the Depression. Many of the projects were in cooperation with the Mexican Commission (Mexico) as per treaty stipulations. These projects were conducted under funds from agencies such as the Public Works Commission (PWC), Works Progress Administration (WPA) and others. Examination of the original documents and maps at the present International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC)...
Interobserver and Intraobserver Error in a New Method of Cut Mark Morphological Analyses (2016)
Determining the types of lithic materials used to produce cut marks can further our knowledge of movement, trade, resource use, and other anthropologically relevant variables. Previous research indicates that lithic materials can be differentiated using a new methodology based on a score derived from the presence/absence of 10 morphological features determined using a stereo microscope with an external light source. Some of the advantages of this methodology are that it is low cost, easy to...
Interpretations of the Use of Avian and Mammalian Fauna at Sapa’owingeh (LA 306) (2015)
Ethnographic reports of ancestral Puebloan peoples from the twentieth century suggested a food taboo for turkeys, except in rare cases. In contrast, some archaeological interpretations involving sites that predate A.D. 1300 have concluded that turkeys were an integral part of the Puebloan diet. From a modern, secular perspective, archaeologists often assume that there is a distinct separation between the use of animals for ritual and dietary purposes. This paper argues that it is impossible to...
Intersite Difference in Distant Interactions, Hohokam Canal System 2, Phoenix Basin, Arizona (2015)
Material evidence of interaction between prehispanic peoples in the U.S. Southwest and Mesoamerica is first detected ca. 2000 BCE with the introduction of maize, figurines, and ceramics. Such markers of long-distance interaction increase in diversity and abundance in later periods, including copper bells, scarlet macaws, and other objects and symbols. These objects and symbols moved up to 2000 km by social actions and mechanisms that remain obscure. Although the Hohokam had the strongest ties to...
Investigating Activities in Spanish Colonial Ranches in 17th-Century New Mexico (2015)
In 17th-century New Mexico, Spanish colonists’ households were an important location for ethnogenesis as colonists and indigenous Pueblo peoples together labored at basic subsistence activities. LA 20,000, a Spanish ranch located about 12 mi southwest of Santa Fe, has the potential to shed light on colonists’ activities and their interactions with indigenous Pueblo and Plains peoples. This site is the most complex rural ranch of the period, with extensive architecture and material culture. Using...
Investigating Cedar Mesa (Utah) Settlement Pattern Behaviors Using Ideal-Free Distribution (2017)
Ideal-Free Distribution (IFD), a behavioral ecology theory, has been increasingly adopted by archaeologists to address questions about the relationship between settlement distribution, environment, and economy. In an anisotropic environment like Cedar Mesa, IFD theorizes that individuals would arrange themselves across the landscape according to habitat suitability and occupy the highest ranked regions first to maximize benefit to the individual. The Ancestral Pueblo of Cedar Mesa subsisted on a...
Investigating Hunter-Gatherer Earth Oven Intensification: a view from the Lower Pecos Canyonlands (2017)
Foraging societies in the semi-arid Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwestern Texas intensified the use of desert succulents over a span of 9,000 years or more for food, fiber, and other uses. Food plants including Agave lechuguilla, sotol, and prickly pear were baked in earth ovens with stone heating elements, an iterative process that left massive residual by-product in the form of fire-cracked rocks and burned and unburned plant refuse in and around baking facilities. The archaeological...
The Ironwood Village Cemeteries: Exploration of Burial Customs at an 8th Century Hohokam Village (2015)
Studies of burial practices in southern Arizona and the Tucson Basin have been limited to data from small scale excavations. Recent excavations were conducted at the Ironwood Village site, a late Pioneer and Colonial Period Hohokam village along the Santa Cruz River. Eleven cemeteries were identified surrounding a central ballcourt and plaza, which included over 250 cremations and 4 inhumations. This paper explores burial methods, physical anthropology, funerary accompaniments, and spatial...
Isolated Human Remains from the Central Mesa Verde Region: Taphonomic Distribution Patterns Across Sites (2015)
This paper examines the taphonomic distribution of isolated human remains at several archaeological sites in southwestern Colorado, an area occupied by Ancestral Pueblo people from the A.D. 500s to around A.D. 1280. The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center defines isolated human remains as fewer than five disarticulated elements. The majority of isolated skeletal elements analyzed were recovered from Pueblo II and III (A.D. 900-1280) contexts, but earlier Basketmaker III (A.D. 500-750) contexts...
Isotopic Approaches to Animas Phase Marine Shell Exchange (2016)
Previous studies of shell exchange in the Greater Southwest have supported archaeological interpretations of competing exchange networks in which the Hohokam, Sinagua, and Anasazi acquired shell from the Gulf of California, while the Casas Grandes, Mimbres, and Western Puebloan groups acquired shell from West Mexico. Notably, these studies found that Animas phase sites, including Joyce Well, clustered with the Casas Grandes shell network. In this study, we attempt to further studies of economic...
Isotopic Evidence for Long-Distance Mammal Procurement, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA (2017)
Previous research on the prehistoric communities of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico (ca. A.D. 800 – 1250) provides evidence of an extensive procurement system of non-local food and economic goods. In this paper we use oxygen, carbon, and strontium isotope analyses to establish whether animal protein followed a similar pattern. We contextualized our analyses of the archaeofaunas from recent excavations at Pueblo Bonito with data on modern faunas across an area of ~100,000 km2 around the site. Our...
Isotopic Evidence for the Presence of Immigrants at Casas Grandes (2016)
Casas Grandes is widely recognized as having cultural characteristics of both Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. Although the presence of objects and ideas from surrounding areas clearly demonstrates some degree of regional interaction, the nature and extent of Casas Grandes’ relationship with neighbouring communities is largely unresolved. In particular, one of the key issues in Chihuahuan archaeology is whether Medio period complexity arose from internal developments or external stimuli,...
It Takes a (Big) Village: Preserving the Legacy of Pueblo Grande (2015)
Archaeology can marshal new digital infrastructure not simply to rescue endangered legacy information, but to revive and enhance those data for innovative research approaches. Over the course of two decades, Soil Systems, Inc. (SSI), collected vast amounts of archaeological information and digital data during the company’s work at Pueblo Grande, one of the largest and most centrally-located of the Classic period Hohokam villages in the Salt River Valley. This poster highlights efforts to...