Methodology, Theory, or Synthesis (Investigation Type)
A non-field study of archaeological theory, method or technique. These investigations may also include broadly synthetic regional studies.
3,376-3,400 (3,478 Records)
The Vanishing River List of Figures, Plates, Vessels, and Tables contains a table-of-contents style list for all figures, photos, and tables referenced in the Vanishing River volumes.
Vanishing River Volume 2: Agricultural, Subsistence, and Environmental Studies: Part 1: Chapters 1-3 (1997)
The environmental summary presented in Volume 2 forms a backdrop for examining the settlement and subsistence history and dynamics of the lower Verde region (see Volume 4). Because of its geographically and culturally transitional position between major culture areas, the Verde River valley has remained an archaeological and historical enigma. The same can be said with regard to environmental information, for the valley has been less intensively studied than other areas of central Arizona, and...
Vanishing River Volume 2: Agricultural, Subsistence, and Environmental Studies: Part 2: Chapters 4-7 (1997)
Volume 2, Part 2 provides the results of detailed research on prehistoric agricultural systems and sites in the LVAP area. Chapter 4 presents the results of SRI’s field investigations at Classic period dry-farming agricultural fields and associated field houses in an almost-300-acre area west of Horseshoe Dam. This area encompasses the hilly and gently undulating to nearly flat terrain of basalt flows, terraces, and escarpments west of the Verde River floodplain. Within this large area, 23...
Vanishing River Volume 2: Agricultural, Subsistence, and Environmental Studies: Part 3: Chapters 8-11 (1997)
Chapter 8 discusses data from macrofossil and flotation samples from village, hamlet, farmstead, and field house settings along the lower Verde River. Chapter 9 treats the pollen and phytoliths that were isolated from sediment samples collected in a variety of agricultural features including rock piles and alignments, terraces, and field houses, in addition to habitation features such as hearths, living floors, middens, and roasting pits in the LVAP area. The overall goal of these analyses...
Vanishing River Volume 3: Material Culture and Physical Anthropology: Part 1: Chapters 1-6 (1997)
Volume 3 of the Lower Verde Archaeological Project (LVAP) treats the material culture recovered during data recovery efforts at the Pre-Classic and Classic period sites in the project area. Volume 3, Part 1 describes the ceramic assemblages collected during LVAP field work, and provides results of stylistic and technological analysis performed on the colllections. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the analytic methods used for ceramics and the characteristics of LVAP ceramic collections. It...
Vanishing River Volume 3: Material Culture and Physical Anthropology: Part 2: Chapter 7 (1997)
This chapter presents the analysis of flaked and ground stone artifacts from LVAP. It is divided into three sections. First, the analytic methods are presented. Second, an overview of lithic sourcing, technology, and typology is presented. Third, descriptions of the lithic collections from the project sites are provided. The chapter closes with discussion and conclusions. Detailed analytic methods are provided in appendixes. Specific attributes and definitions are provided in Appendix M....
Vanishing River Volume 3: Material Culture and Physical Anthropology: Part 3: Chapter 8-9 (1997)
Volume 3, Part 3 continues the presentation of the material culture analysis recovered from Pre-Classic and Classic period sites investigated during the LVAP. Chapter 8 describes the shell artifacts collected from archaeological sites and activity areas in the project area. The Lower Verde Archaeological Project excavations produced a shell collection of 1,280 pieces from eight sites. It is estimated that this represents approximately 635 individual artifacts and unworked fragments or whole...
Vanishing River Volume 3: Material Culture and Physical Anthropology: Part 4: Chapter 10 (1997)
Volume 3, Part 4 of the LVAP report discusses the mortuary remains encountered during the project's investigations. Chapter 10 describes the human skeletal and dental remains uncovered during data recovery efforts at three archaeological sites: Roadhouse Ruin (AZ U:2:73/167), Scorpion Point Village (AZ U:2:80/819), and CTC site (AZ U:2:95/1134). The chapter treats both inhumations and cremations. Note that the chapter does not describe mortuary features or burial treatment.
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 02: Archaeological Landscapes: A Methodological and Theoretical Discussion (1997)
In chapter 2, Whittlesey discusses some of the intellectual history of landscape theory and defines a landscape approach. She then considers the definition of archaeological landscapes. Finally, she discusses the utility of archaeological landscapes for interpreting both the prehistory and history of an area.
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 06: Yavapai and Western Apache Archaeology of Central Arizona (1997)
This chapter reviews archaeological evidence for Yavapai and Western Apache occupation of central Arizona. Whittlesey begins with a description of the only site – Site 66//1157 -- in the LVAP project area to present clearly identified Yavapai or Western Apache material culture. She also discusses the archaeological data from the Yavapai construction camps at Bartlett and Horseshoe Dams. Whittlesey then provides an overview of archaeological evidence for Yavapai and for Western Apache archaeology...
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 08: Euroamerican History, 1540 to the Present (1997)
In Chapter 8, Whittlesey and her co-authors discuss the historical events and the cultural processes that shaped the use and occupation of central Arizona after AD 1540. The authors focus on broad trends in politics, economics, and the environment that contributed to changes in land-use patterns. They center their discussion on Euro-American populations, but also consider indigenous populations living on reservations. Furthermore, the authors examine patterns in the relations between...
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 09: Environmental Variability and Agricultural Economics along the Lower Verde River, A.D. 750 - 1450 (1997)
In Chapter 9, Van West and Altshcul examine late prehistoric period agriculture in the Transition Zone of central Arizona, and consider how agricultural production influenced population zone in this area. They begin with a description of the Transition Zone’s environmental context. They then present evidence for prehistoric agriculture in the LVAP project area. These authors use these data to model potential agricultural productivity in Horseshoe Basin. Next, they model the population sizes on...
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 10: Temporal Variation in Undecorated Pottery: A Tool for Chronology Building (1997)
Chapter 10 presents results from a ceramic seriation of undecorated pottery to identify temporally-sensitive attributes. Montogomery and Whittlesey describe their analysis of particular undecorated pottery attributes, which were selected based on their potential sensitivity to temporal change. They identify several attributes that are particularly sensitive to time: temper, slip, and polish. They also note several other variables that display slight variation through time. These authors propose...
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 11: Toward a Unified Theory of Ceramic Production and Distribution: Examples from the Central Arizona Deserts (1997)
In Chapter 11, Whittlesey describes the production and distribution of prehistoric ceramics in the lower Verde Valley. She then compares these patterns to similar data from the Agua Fria drainage and the Tonto Basin. Finally, she suggests that production and distribution patterns of ceramics in central Arizona may be better explained with a ceramic environment approach, which highlights the relationships between the landscape and the human use of resources. Whittlesey’s proposed approach centers...
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 12: Chronological Issues of the LVAP (1997)
In Chapter 12, Deaver summarizes research on the chronology of archaeological sites, features, and material remains in the LVAP project area. He begins with a synthetic discussion of the chronologic sequence in the Verde Valley area. He then presents data for the chronologic assignment of archaeological features and sites investigated during the LVAP. Next, Deaver discusses a comparison of the chronologic sequence in the Verde Valley to the sequence in the Hohokam core area in order to evaluate...
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 13: Site Structure and Domestic Organization (1997)
Chapter 13 addresses changes in social organization from the pre-Classic to Classic periods in the lower Verde Valley through an examination of changes in domestic space. First, Klucas and co-authors identify the nature (i.e., composition, arrangement, size) of the domestic residential units that occupied the prehistoric settlements. They then examine differences in these variables between different settlements (e.g., between large settlements and small farmsteads) and across time periods. These...
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 14: Prehistoric Settlement and Demography in the Lower Verde Region (1997)
In Chapter 14, Ciolek-Torello presents one of the first full syntheses of indigenous settlement and demographic patterns in the Verde Valley, without reference to interaction in the Hohokam core area. He begins with a summary of prehistoric settlement patterns from pre-ceramic periods through the Late Classic period across the entire Transition Zone of central Arizona. He then characterizes settlement systems in the lower Verde Valley through time and describes the archaeological sites and...
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 15: Re-Thinking the Core-Periphery Model of the Pre-Classic Period Hohokam (1997)
In Chapter 15, Whittlesey reviews the Hohokam core-periphery model in light of the new data generated by the LVAP. She begins with a description of the intellectual history and the key concepts of the Hohokam core-periphery model and the Hohokam regional system model. She then examines the utility of the core-periphery model for explaining current data on Hohokam prehistory. After reviewing the distribution of several quintessential Hohokam traits among sites in the “core” and in the...
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 16: Return to Migration, Population Movement, and Ethnic Identity in the American Southwest (1997)
In Chapter 16, Reid considers the impact that a return to questions about migration, population movement, and ethnic identity has on the interpretation of Arizona’s prehistory. He begins with an intellectual history of migration research in the Southwest, and offers perspective on the strength of making inferences about migration with archaeological data. He uses the arguments for migration at Grasshopper as an example of building such inferences. Reid then advances into a discussion of...
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 18: Research Design Revisited: Processual Issues in the Prehistory of the Lower Verde Valley (1997)
Chapter 18 provides a summary of the LVAP’s research themes and offers an overview of the research results. Ciolek-Torello synthesizes the chronology and cultural sequence of the lower Verde Valley. He places this sequence and its cultural developments in the context of other cultural sequences in central and southern Arizona. Whittlesey then summarizes the argument for an indigenous cultural tradition in the Transition Zone of central Arizona, one with roots in Mogollon prehistory and with...
Vanishing River Volume 4: Chapter 19: Landscapes and Lives along the Lower Verde River (1997)
Chapter 19 summarizes and compares the prehistoric, historic-period Yavapai and Western Apaches, and Euroamerican landscapes. Whittlesey considers the land-based units (i.e., domestic space, food production spaces, ritual spaces) that define interaction with the landscape during each of these cultural historical periods and attempts to identify landmarks associated with these units. She focuses on the following units: territorial boundaries, agricultural landscapes, procurement spaces, dwelling...
Vanishing River: Attached Report: A Comparison of Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectroscopy Extraction Techniques (1997)
This report presents the results of an experimental study of ceramics from the Lower Verde Archaeological Project (LVAP) designed to test the effectiveness of inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICPS) as a tool for sourcing the locale of ceramic manufacture. A major theme of LVAP research was to explore the parameters of human interaction and exchange within the lower Verde region and adjacent areas of desert Arizona (Ciolek-Torrello et al. 1992). It is necessary to understand...
Vanishing River: Attached Report: Petroglyphs in the Horseshoe Reservoir Area of the Lower Verde Valley, Central Arizona (1997)
This report is focused on the rock art present at a small ridge top agricultural locality in the lower Verde Valley near Horseshoe Dam known as the Crash Landing site, AZ U:2:78/01-278. Four boulders that exhibited over 24 petroglyph design elements were found at this site, as well as numerous other cultural features including a two-room isolated masonry field house and a large agricultural complex with rock piles, contour terraces, and boundary walls. The research design for the Lower...
Vanishing River: Attached Report: Petrographic and Qualitative Analyses of Sands and Sherds from the Lower Verde River Area (1997)
The goal of the present study is to identify the provenance of ceramics recovered from the Lower Verde Archaeological Project (LVAP) sites on the basis of the temper found within them (Ciolek-Torrello et al. 1992:III-75 to III-85). The focus of this attached report is on sand temper used in pottery vessels. Ceramic wares and/or types produced within the study area are distinguished from those imported from other areas. A reconnaissance sample of wash sands from the lower Verde River area was...
Vanishing Treasures:A Legacy in Ruins: Ruins Preservation in American Southwest Strategic Plan (1995)
“Vanishing Treasures: A Legacy in Ruins” is a grass-roots initiative designed to address both the devastating destruction of irreplaceable historic and prehistoric structures as well as the impending loss of preservation expertise. The Vanishing Treasures (VT) Initiative seeks an increased level of funding support for preserving structures and providing for the training and development of preservation specialists. Although the duration of the Initiative depends upon the volume of dollars...