North America - Southwest (Geographic Keyword)
626-650 (899 Records)
The Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas retain hundreds of rock art murals exhibiting varying degrees of preservation. Since 2009 Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center has been documenting the murals, some of which date back 4,000 years. As part of this project, we collect Legacy Photographs to assess historic deterioration of the art. Analysis of these photographs has revealed significant changes in the imagery over the past 50 years; however, the factors affecting its...
Probing the Nexus between Hohokam Demography and Agricultural Productivity across the Pre-Classic/Classic Transition (2017)
The onset of the Hohokam Classic Period witnessed the consolidation of settlements within the major river valleys of southern Arizona, a demographic reorganization that culminated after centuries of regional expansion, population growth, and cultural florescence. In the Salt River Valley, the resultant demographic packing was unprecedented and appears to have promoted environmental degradation, aggravated biological stress, and suppressed birth rates. It has been suggested that communities...
Problems at the Peaks: A Zooarchaeological Analysis of Subsistence Stress at Elden Pueblo (2015)
When past populations experienced extended periods of resource shortages, acquisition and processing strategies changed to secure enough food. Understanding how faunal materials reflect those prehistoric reactions to subsistence stress remains a relatively unexplored topic in Southwest archaeology. Elden Pueblo, located in Northern Arizona, provides insight into this topic. As one of the final Sinagua occupation sites in the San Francisco Peaks region, the site’s abandonment during a cool and...
The Production and Exchange of Chupadero Black-on-white Pottery and Its Relationship to Social Identity (2017)
Produced between A.D. 1150 and 1550, Chupadero Black‐on‐white pottery is found throughout central and southern New Mexico, and adjacent parts of Texas, Arizona, and Chihuahua, Mexico. Despite its widespread distribution, chemical and mineralogical compositional data indicate that the pottery was manufactured in only two areas of central New Mexico – the Jumanos portion of the Salinas province and Sierra Blanca region. Distributional studies indicate that the Chupadero pottery produced in the two...
Projectile Point Temporal Trends During the Mimbres Georgetown Phase (2015)
Past excavations of Mimbres Georgetown phase occupations at the Diablo Village and Cuchillo sites produced assemblages critical to the refinement of the Mimbres projectile point chronology. Derived from structures and tightly dated contexts ranging between the late AD 500s and the 600s, these assemblages reveal evidence of diachronic technological and morphological changes not clearly represented in currently established Mimbres typologies. Of particular interest, a new arrow type called the...
The Proof is in the Pots: Residue Analysis of Virgin Branch Puebloan Ceramics (2016)
This study analyzes ceramics from Virgin Branch Puebloan sites on the Shivwits Plateau and in the Moapa Valley in order to examine differences in the types of foods cooked and stored in each area. Residue analyses, by means of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, were performed on body sherds from ceramic jars. Three types of wares were included in this research: Shivwits Plain Ware, Moapa Gray Ware, and Tusayan Sand-Tempered. The former two ceramic wares were included in a ceramic...
Protecting Greater Chaco: Recent Efforts to Save a Fragile Cultural Landscape (2016)
The Greater Chaco Landscape of northwest New Mexico is threatened by increasing drilling activity associated with development of the Mancos Shale via fracking. Many groups and individuals have spoken up and banded together to fight this threat. Archaeology Southwest has been actively engaged in this process for a couple years. In this presentation, I summarize our work and detail the steps taken to help ensure greater protection for the irreplaceable landscape associated with Chacoan Society.
Provenance Analysis of Obsidian Artifacts from 76 Draw, New Mexico (2015)
During the 13th and 14th Centuries, southern New Mexico was a borderland where the Medio period Casas Grandes, Salado, and El Paso phase cultures intersected. The complex cultural setting is illustrated by contemporaneous settlements associated with the various cultures in close proximity of each other. Recent research at 76 Draw, a large Medio period settlement near Demin, New Mexico, focused on understanding the nature and degree of interaction among the various cultures. We hope to contribute...
THE PROYECTO ARQUEOLOGICO RÍO SAHUARIPA: INTERACTION, INTEGRATION AND CULTURAL DYNAMICS IN THE SONORAN SERRANíA (2015)
The characterization and descriptions of the Rio Sonora and Serrana (formerly known as the southern or Alamos branch of Rio Sonora) archaeological traditions exemplify Richard Pailes’ contributions to the archaeology of Sonora (and northeastern Sinaloa as well) and our current understanding of the serranía region. The Proyecto Arqueológico Río Sahuaripa (PARS) represents the first systematic archaeological investigation of the Sahuaripa River basin, located in eastern Sonora. The primary...
The Public Benefit of Archaeology: An Economic Perspective from the Wide Ruins Community. (2015)
A re-occurring theme in current Cultural Resource Management activities involve the term "Public Benefit". A majority of the discussions using that term refer to archaeological contributions to our understanding of a shared cultural patrimony. A lesser known aspect of Public Benefit is the direct monetary gain a community sees as a result of CRM work. On a general level, archaeological projects contribute via payroll and sales taxes. On a local level, area businesses benefit from spending by...
Pueblo Bonito as a Material and Spatial Network (2016)
While formal network analyses (and traditional statistical analyses) can be used to understand the network relationships between archaeological sites they can also be geared towards understanding relationships within sites, both between architectural units and between different classes of artifacts. Using these techniques on a network of general material categories (like turquoise or shell) from different room contexts within Pueblo Bonito potentially reveals different "sets" of material classes...
Pueblo I/Pueblo II subsistence strategy in Klethla Valley: a view from a resource processing/storage site along Begashibito Wash (2015)
The Arizona Department of Transportation conducted a highway widening project on US 160 between Cow Springs and Tonalea which required archaeological excavations at site AZ-J-33-35 (NN) as mitigation. The site is along Begashibito Wash in the western reaches of the Klethla Valley in northern Arizona. The excavations at AZ-J-33-35 (NN) uncovered an architecturally unique resource processing/storage site where locally available plants and corn were harvested, processed, and stored. Evidence for...
Pueblo Regalia and the Cosmos: Past and Present (2017)
Images of the human form can be analyzed for what they reveal about social roles, hierarchy, and other identities, as well as culturally determined perceptions about humanity’s relationships to the natural environment and supernatural realm. It is proposed that the portrayal of the multitudinous human subjects related to religious ideology and practice in Rio Grande Tradition and Navajo rock art focuses on the interconnectedness of all things, deflecting meaning away from human beings as prime...
Quad Maps: Integration of Archaeological Data in GIS (2015)
For most federal agencies using GIS has become standard practice. Hardware and software, such as mobile GPS units and ESRI products, are incorporated into archaeological work flows around the country. These are used to collect information pertaining to artifacts, sites, and surveys; however, this has not always been the case. Prior to these innovations, compasses and topographic maps were used to track this information. At the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Roswell Field Office (RFO), two...
Queer Rations: Foodways at a 19th Century Military Fort (2015)
This paper explores the ways that Queer Theory can be used in the archaeological study of foodways using materials from Fort Davis, Texas. At this nineteenth century military outpost, a racially, ethnically and economically diverse community sidestepped normative notions of foodstuffs. By engaging a queer framework, this research investigates how consumption practices on the American frontier were less regulated and more fluid than previously interpreted. Fort Davis’ foodways - including...
Queering 'American': Archaeological Investigations of a 19th c. Military Fort in West Texas (2015)
This paper investigates how racial identity impacted the creation and maintenance of an American frontier and border community using an assemblage from a 19th century American Army encampment from Fort Davis, Texas as a case study. By engaging a queer theoretical framework, this research focuses on how Black, Mexican, and immigrant bodies challenged ideals of normative White citizenship during a period of great social upheaval and racial tension. With thousands of European immigrants and newly...
Quids with Wild Tobacco (Nicotiana) Flowering Stems Inside (2015)
Unburned yucca (Yucca) quids with wild tobacco (Nicotiana) contents have preserved within Antelope Cave in northwestern Arizona. Although the cave was visited during the Archaic, Southern Paiute, and Euro-American periods, material culture remains and radiocarbon dates indicate heaviest use by the Virgin Anasazi (A.D. 1 - 1000). Quids are wads of fiber twisted or knotted into a ball for insertion into the mouth. Ten of the quids examined were clearly made from the fibers of Yucca plants, based...
Radiocarbon and the Stable Isotope Chemistry of Grand Gulch Basketmaker II Burials: Age-Based Dietary Patterning and Geolocation. (2015)
The stable isotope chemistry of 149 directly dated Basketmaker II burials from the Four Corners region of the American Southwest indicates relatively heavy reliance on maize and low animal protein intake. Sex and age patterning reveals differences in adult male versus female diets and distinguishes adolescent diets from those of adult males. Hydroxyapatite oxygen isotope values effectively sort individuals relative to the latitude and elevation of burial sites and are further used to clarify the...
Rain, Birds, and Whistle Tunes: Tewa Pueblo Rainmaking and the Ecological Importance of Bone Aerophones at Sapa'owingeh, New Mexico (2017)
Bone whistles recovered from archaeological sites of the Rio Chama watershed are recognized widely as markers of the ceremonial elaboration that accompanied coalescence, the concentration of large populations into dense settlements, and set the Pueblo IV period (AD 1275-1600) apart from earlier occupation in the region. And yet, we know little about how ancestral Pueblo groups employed these instruments and even less about the socio-environmental contexts and relationships to sound generation...
Rancho La Cueva: Agaves and Casas Grandes in a cliff dwelling (2017)
La Cueva is a cliff dwelling built by the Casas Grandes people in the Sierra Madre Occidental in Sonora, México. It has been studied by the Sierra Alta de Sonora Archaeological Project with the aim of understanding the Subregional System on the mountains. So far, we have identified a protohistoric component and a prehistoric occupation from the Viejo and Medio Period (900-1450 A.D.). But the most relevant information is related with the mezcaleros knives, an industry well identified. At the...
The Rancho Santa María II: an archaic site in the Galeana Valley, Chihuahua. (2015)
In the summer of 2014, we conducted a rescue project in the Galeana Valley, Chihuahua on a site recorded early on. The site name is Rancho Santa María II, has a surface of 30,000 m2, and was identified for the high amount of FCR on surface mainly from ovens (several of them identified in surface). In addition, nearly 350 projectile points were found (fragments 70% and complete 30 %), some of them from the Paleo-Indian period. Four excavation units were performed at the site, mainly on ovens to...
Raptor Management and Whistle/Flute Production in Pueblo IV New Mexico (2017)
The Pueblo IV period (ca. AD 1300–1600) in New Mexico was a time of great societal change, and the religious significance of birds is thought to have flourished during this time period. In particular, whistles and flutes, commonly made from the ulnae of birds of prey, become ubiquitous in the Pueblo IV Middle and Northern Rio Grande. The importance of birds to Puebloan society has been well-documented ethnographically: raptors (primarily eagles) held captive by modern Puebloan groups are...
Rare Glimpses: Well-Preserved Weaving Tools, Technologies, and Textiles from the North American Southwest (2017)
Perishable materials that provide information about prehistoric weaving traditions rarely survive in archaeological contexts. The arid environment in the U.S. Southwest, however, has allowed many perishable materials to preserve in excellent condition. Numerous objects collected from the U.S. Southwest, and which are spread out in museum collections across the United States, represent a varied range of textiles and also the material correlates of textile production, including wooden spinning and...
The re-evaluating diachronic trends of corrugated ware and rim eversion of jars in the Virgin Branch Ancestral Pueblo ceramics using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating (2017)
Although the ceramic chronology in the Virgin Branch Ancestral Puebloan area requires more well-dated ceramic assemblage, there are some generally accepted diachronic trends based on surface treatment and form. Corrugated ware, for example, is believed to date around A.D. 1050. Rim eversion of jar is also often used as time indicator; sharply everted rim is considered to be associated to later time period, and little or no everted rim is associated to earlier time period. This information may be...
Reading Between the Lines: A Biscuitware Analysis in the Lower Chama Valley (2017)
Archaeologists have long understood that the Lower Chama Valley in New Mexico was home to a large Tewa population during the Classic Period (A.D. 1340-1540) but the area underwent dramatic depopulation by A.D. 1600. The precise timing, motivation and movements of people are unclear due to the lack of chronological control in the region. One way to address this chronological problem in the Lower Chama Valley is through analysis of the abundant and locally produced biscuitware pottery. Bandelier...