North America - Southwest (Geographic Keyword)
776-800 (899 Records)
Subconscious expressions of cultural identity can be found in low-visibility attributes of every-day processes such as lithic production. In the late 13th century, Kayenta migrants into the southwestern New Mexico maintained or adapted many archaeologically visible traditions. This research examines lithic debitage assemblage morphology and attributes from three archaeological settings: southwestern New Mexican sites, Kayenta sites, and Salado sites (representing post-migration communities)...
Surface Archaeology as Site Assessment: The Haynie Site and the Northern Chaco Outliers Project (2017)
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center is beginning a multi-year project at the Haynie site, a Chaco outlier in the central Mesa Verde region of southwest Colorado. In 2016, the goal was to assess the spatial and temporal characteristics of Haynie through in-field analyses of pottery and chipped-stone artifacts from the surface. This was done via systematic dog-leash collection units placed across the site, as well as judgmental analysis of artifacts in disturbed contexts. Through analyses of...
Survey in the York-Duncan Valley, Arizona: Understanding Patterns of Mogollon Population Aggregation and Dispersal (2017)
This research project examines prehistoric population aggregation and abandonment processes by analyzing how communities in Arizona’s York-Duncan Valley nucleated, and then dispersed in or abandoned the region from the end of the Early Agricultural period to the Salado period. The Upper Gila River Valley offers a unique opportunity to understand these dynamics. The research explores the interplay of ecological and demographic pressures within a resilience theoretical framework. I suggest that...
SUSTAINING SITES IN A SEDIMENT-DEPRIVED SYSTEM: DESIGNING A MONITORING PROGRAM TO ASSESS GLEN CANYON DAM EFFECTS ON DOWNSTREAM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN GRAND CANYON (2016)
In 1963, construction of Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River was completed, profoundly altering the downstream riverine ecosystem in Grand Canyon National Park. One consequence of the dam and its subsequent operations has been an 85% reduction in the amount of sediment flowing into the Grand Canyon. The paucity of sediment to re-supply sand bars and replenish sand dunes along the river shoreline has not only altered the bio-physical dynamics of the riverine ecosystem but has also affected...
Synergies of Success: Stories of Avocational/Professional Archeology in Arizona (2016)
The history of archaeology is replete with stories about the synergies that have come from relationships between professional and avocational archaeologists whose cooperation repeatedly has produced significant contributions to knowledge. Recalling some of those stories today is a valuable reminder of how such success is crafted, and perhaps a guide to how it again can be realized. Frank Hamilton Cushing, Erich Schmidt, Byron Cummings, Emil Walter Haury and my own experience provide five such...
Tackling the Big Challenges of Big Data: An Example from the U.S. Southwest (2017)
We see archaeology in the twenty-first century as an increasingly cumulative enterprise. The sheer volume of data produced in recent years has both facilitated and necessitated new approaches to synthesis that involve the compilation of massive databases and the development of new platforms for archiving and accessing data. ‘Big data’ compilations are poised to be the backbone of many new advances but with ‘big data’ come big challenges. In this presentation, we summarize several daunting issues...
Take A Knap Inside: Evidence for Lithic Activities and Behaviors in Various Pit Structure Types at a Basketmaker III Settlement in Southwest Colorado (2017)
Basketmaker III (A.D. 500-725) was a period of technological and social change for Ancestral Pueblo peoples of the northern Southwest. Along with population expansion, territorial colonization, and the development of original social institutions, Basketmaker III populations invested in a new technological complex that included fired pottery and dry-land agriculture. Lithic reduction activities are an understudied component of this social and technological complex. Our research captures a range...
Taking a Byte out of Rattlesnake: An Overview of the Rattlesnake Canyon Project (2016)
The Rattlesnake Canyon mural represents one of the most well-preserved and compositionally intricate rock art murals in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands, and perhaps the world. Deposited gravels from a major flood episode in June 2014, however, raised the canyon floor approximately 10 feet, enabling future floods to destroy the fragile panel. The Rattlesnake Canyon Project is an emergency collaborative effort among Texas Tech University, the National Park Service, and Shumla to document this...
The Tale of Rattlesnake Canyon: Ongoing Documentation of an Endangered Rock Art Site (2017)
The Rattlesnake Canyon mural represents one of the most well-preserved and compositionally intricate rock art murals in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands, and perhaps the world. Deposited gravels from a major flood episode in June 2014, however, raised the canyon floor approximately 10 feet, enabling future floods to destroy the fragile panel. This presentation provides an update on emergency documentation efforts currently underway at Rattlesnake Canyon. Documentation and analyses of this mural...
Taming the Beast: Rock Art Data Management and Archival Strategies (2015)
One of the most important, yet often neglected, components of any archaeological project is what happens outside of the field—processing the data. Without meticulously organizing and archiving the data we collect, these fast accumulating pieces of information become no more useful than a pile of papers pushed to the corners of our desks. Worse yet, irreplaceable data could be lost. Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center is taking measures to avoid this pitfall by developing methods...
Taming Wild Plants: How Hard (or Easy) Can It Be? (2017)
Ancient diets in the Hohokam area of central and southern Arizona included indigenous domesticates. Evidence for domesticated Little Barley (Hordeum pusillum), Mexican crucillo (Condalia warnockii), and amaranth (Amaranthus) rests on morphological changes. Range extensions into higher/lower areas are cited for management of agaves (Agave) and cholla (Opuntia) plants. Here I consider the process of domestication, and suggest that one or more mutations in nature plus one observant human may be all...
Taphonomy and Negative Results: An Integrated Approach to Residue Analysis (2015)
Residue preservation within the matrices of artifacts is a complex process that can be better understood when multiple types of biomolecules (e.g., protein and fatty acid residues) are evaluated as part of a systematic whole. Commonly, types of residues are evaluated independently, which may relate to different types of biomolecules requiring distinctive methods for extraction and analysis. Thus, the archaeologist either encounters positive results (a hit for a particular residue, such as a...
Technical Analysis of Hohokam Stone Palettes from Pueblo Grande Museum (2016)
In a graduate seminar on flaked and ground stone analysis, Payson Sheets emphasized the importance of experimental replication of production techniques for lithic analysis. In this study, I build upon the work of another of Payson's students, Devin White, who analyzed Hohokam palettes in the collections at Arizona State Museum in Tucson, and apply his methods to the analysis of palettes at Pueblo Grande Museum in Phoenix. In addition, I attempt to replicate some of the techniques used in the...
Technology and Typology in the Upper Gila: Flaked Stone from the 3-Up and Fornholt Sites, Mule Creek, New Mexico (2015)
Several seasons of field school excavations at the late Pueblo period 3-Up and Fornholt sites in Mule Creek, New Mexico, have produced a substantial number of flaked stone artifacts. Because these sites are located adjacent to the extensive Mule Creek obsidian source, and occupied at a time when Mule Creek obsidian was widely distributed, the collections provide information about lithic technology at sites with immediate access to the material. Obsidian composes a large proportion of the...
Temporal and Spatial Variability in Roosevelt Red Ware Painted Decoration (2015)
Recent research in the southern US Southwest has revealed patterns useful in refining ceramic chronology and investigating communities of practice among 14th and 15th century potters producing Roosevelt Red Ware (Salado polychromes). Analyses of whole and partially reconstructible vessels recovered from stratified contexts in the San Pedro Valley of southeastern Arizona confirm the Roosevelt Red Ware stylistic seriation presented by Patricia Crown in 1994. Combining these results with recent...
Testing Alternative Settlement Models at Las Colinas with Polychrome Dating (2017)
An understanding of the nature of late Classic period settlement at Las Colinas is an important element in understanding the broader social changes that took place across the Phoenix Basin during this time. One perspective on settlement at Las Colinas figures prominently in the recent "core decay" model proposed for the Phoenix Basin Hohokam. In response to this model, we propose new alternative scenarios for late Classic period settlement at Las Colinas. We test these alternative settlement...
Testing Methods for Ceramic Dating on Northern Black Mesa (2017)
The presence and proportions of well-dated ceramic wares and types are used to date the occupation of sites across the Southwest, often to general periods or phases that exceed a site's likely occupation span. Various methods have previously been used to refine the dating of archaeological sites using ceramic artifacts. Recently, Logan Simpson conducted a Class III cultural resources survey of Peabody Western Coal Company's leased lands on northern Black Mesa, Arizona. This study uses ceramic...
Tewa History and the Archaeology of the Peoples (2017)
According to tradition, soon after emergence into this world the Tewa were split into two peoples – the Summer and Winter – and were tasked with finding the "middle place," or the location of their eventual historic villages. The Summer People traveled along the Jemez Mountains practicing agriculture, and the Winter People journeyed along the Sangre de Cristo Mountains eating wild game. On their travels southwards the people stopped twelve times and these are represented as ancient villages....
Tewa Place-Based History (2017)
Tewa history is the story of places. The narrator emplaces a story within the context of Tewa time by naming the place at which the story takes occurs. By using a Tewa place-based approach to narratives of the past, I demonstrate three important points. First, that history is an ethical act. Tewa history helps reproduce the values of good humanness. Second, that Tewa place-based history reconnects the narratives of the past with people’s relationship with land and linked responsibilities. As...
Texas Archeological Research Laboratory: Everything in Texas is Bigger (2016)
The Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) was formally established at the University of Texas in 1963 to preserve an ever growing accumulation of records and collections documenting the unique history and prehistory of Texas for research, teaching and public interest. Acquisition of the collections and archive began ca. 1918. University excavations under the Works Projects Administration, and later the federal River Basins Survey salvage program for sites impacted by dams and reservoir...
There And Back Again: A Geochemical Analysis of Casas Grandes Shell Procurement and Exchange (2015)
Previous studies of shell exchange in the Southwest have supported archaeological interpretations of competing regional 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. This study will build on previous analyses by integrating stylistic analysis with an expanded compositional database to further examine the role of shell exchange in the Animas phase region...
There's No App for This: The Value of Archaeology and Experiential Education in a Digital Universe (2015)
The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, a not-for-profit organization located in southwestern Colorado, has used archaeological research to teach multiple audiences about the human experience for more than 30 years. Changing educational standards and transportation needs have affected Crow Canyon’s student program attendance, and an aging demographic increasingly limits our adult program attendance, with ramifications felt in our membership and donor support. We face the challenge of...
"They Had So Many Stones to Hurl": Evidence of Inter-Indigenous Conflict on the Vázquez de Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542 (2015)
In 1540, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led one of the largest expeditions ever assembled by the Spanish crown into the present-day American southwest. The expedition had 375 European men and was supported by a large contingent of at least 1,300 native Méxican soldiers from various ethnic groups. The native Méxican soldiers likely did much of the advance work, hand-to-hand fighting, guarding, and other military detail. The whole expedition was not well-equipped with European military technology...
Thinking Exponentially: Settlement Scaling and Archaeological Data (2017)
Archaeologists are used to thinking linearly, where sample measures can be well-characterized by a mean, a standard deviation or a proportion. Settlement scaling theory requires us to think exponentially, where all these summary measures change with the scale of the settlement from which they derive. This sounds like a big problem, but once one gets used to it many traditional concerns about the quality of archaeological data turn out to not be all that important, and the archaeological record...
A Three Dimensional Reconstruction of the Pueblo Bonito Mounds (2017)
There are two large mounds on the south side of Pueblo Bonito that were extensively trenched in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Data from the re-excavation of three trenches are combined with new geospatial and remote sensing information to create a three dimensional reconstruction of mound history. Although low walls were built around parts of each mound at some point, there is no evidence that the mounds were ever enclosed by architecture. The mounds consist mostly of household...