Southwest (Other Keyword)
1-25 (71 Records)
Garden Canyon Village is a large multi-component formative period site located in southeastern Arizona on the Fort Huachuca military reservation. Located 10 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico Border and 65 miles southeast of the Tucson Basin, Garden Canyon Village was located on the frontier of Hohokam, Mogollon, Casas Grandes, and Trincheras culture areas. This poster presents the final results from an analysis of Garden Canyon Village’s ground and chipped stone artifacts. In addition to providing...
Ancestral Pueblo Site Distribution Data from Los Alamos National Laboratory on the Pajarito Plateau (2015)
The Pajarito Plateau of northern New Mexico has been a place of significant archaeological study for over one hundred years. Situated just north of Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is situated on 25,395 acres of the northern Pajarito Plateau, 90.9% of which has been surveyed for heritage resources, LANL manages over 2,000 archaeological sites, 1,505 of which are affiliated with the Ancestral Pueblo culture. This study has two primary objectives: the first is to...
The Archaeology of Aztec North (2017)
Our paper reports on our recent archaeological testing at the previously unexcavated Aztec North great house at Aztec Ruins National Monument. Standing on the river terrace behind and above the better-known valley great houses, Aztec North is out of sight of those great houses but tightly bound to them as part of the formalized cultural landscape of Aztec Ruins. It is a crucial site for understanding the development of Chaco Canyon’s outliers, as it was likely the earliest great house built in...
Architecture of the late Pueblo in southern Southwest and Northwest Mexico. (2016)
The pueblo tradition, located in the American Southwest and Mexican Northwest, has received greater attention in the United States than in Mexico until recently. The present research evaluates how the Mexican Northwest differs from the southern portion of the American Southwest using architectural characteristics. The use of consecutive rooms at ground level characterize the architecture of the puebloan communities in the study area. These room-blocks had different construction techniques and...
Black and White and Shades of Gray: Projectile Points and Bifaces from the Dinwiddie Site, Southwestern New Mexico (2015)
During Archaeology Southwest and University of Arizona’s 2013 and 2014 field school seasons, close to a hundred bifaces were recovered from the Dinwiddie site, a Cliff phase (A.D. 1300-1450) Salado site in southwestern New Mexico. These artifacts include Archaic and late Pueblo period projectile point styles and several bifaces interpreted as having been discarded during the manufacturing process. This poster presents the biface and projectile point analyses results, expanding on a study...
Caught Between Two Regions: A Historical Perspective on How Archaeologists Understand the Fremont Regional System (2016)
Like every archaeological region, current views concerning Fremont are influenced as much by the history of archaeologists as it is by the archaeology itself. This paper presents a (very brief) history of Fremont archaeology and archaeological thought, focusing on how particular developments and individuals influenced how Fremont was understood. Our aim is not to be comprehensive, and we will undoubtedly omit important events and information, including contributions of many in attendance. Our...
Celebrating Native Interpretations of "Rock Art" on the Gila National Forest (2016)
Commonly known as “rock art,” pictographs (pigment on rock) and petroglyphs (images pecked or incised into rock) are much more than art. They reflect the history and values of peoples who once lived here and are a tangible reminder of their connection to the landscape. The Gila National Forest is installing interpretive signage at or near multiple well-known “rock art” sites in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). These signs, and additional...
Ceramic analysis of site 291, a historic Casas Grandes site. (2016)
Casas Grandes is an archaeological prehistoric site located in the state of Chihuahua, Northwest Mexico. The region’s chronology remains unclear, with knowledge gaps between its time periods, one of these gaps includes the possible social configurations after the collapse of Casas Grandes. This research aims to provide new data obtained from the analysis of the ceramic assemblage of an archaeological site whose architecture seems to linger between late Casas Grandes and Spanish. This site, 291,...
Ceramic Sociology Revisited: Ceramic Design Analysis in the Sand Canyon Locality (2017)
Tracing complicated social links such as kinship through the material record has fallen in and out of favor in anthropological discourse. The ceramic sociologists of the 1960s and 1970s (Hill 1966; Longacre 1970) focused on tracking kinship through spatial patterning of ceramic designs among Pueblo sites in the American Southwest. The concept of ceramic sociology sparked many critiques within archaeology (Allen and Richardson 1971). These critiques were tied to a need for better understanding of...
Clarifying Late Archaic, Basketmaker, and Pueblo I Project Point Types at Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona (2016)
Late Archaic, Basketmaker, and Pueblo I time period projectile point types are problematic in the greater Southwest because many exhibit considerable morphological overlap. The sizable collections from Petrified Forest National Park represent an excellent test case where all of these time periods are well represented. To characterize their considerable morphological range we analyze over 80 projectile points from cross dated surface finds and the excavated sites of the Basketmaker-era Flattop...
Climate Change Challenges at Bandelier National Monument: Adapting Conservation and Monitoring Responses for Cultural Sites in the Desert Southwest (2016)
The Ancestral Puebloan sites at Bandelier National Monument include both masonry pueblos and man-made cave sites. The dry climate of Northern New Mexico in conjunction with the environmental awareness and architectural ingenuity of the builders have played an important role in the preservation of these sites, which continue to yield valuable archaeological information. Changes in the semi-arid climate in which the monument is located have begun to threaten the equilibrium between these...
Clovis to San Pedro: Projectile Points and Land Use in the Southern Colorado Plateau (2017)
Recent research done by the University of Arizona at Rock Art Ranch, located on the southern Colorado Plateau near Winslow, Arizona, yielded a wealth of information on preceramic land use in an area where prior research had not been conducted. Survey of a six square mile area recovered more than 140 projectile points ranging from Clovis to San Pedro, 50 bifaces, and 88 sites. Multiple canyons crosscutting the ranch carry water that results in a diverse range of flora and attracted animals to the...
Colonowares and Colono-kachinas in the Spanish-American Borderlands: Appropriation and Authenticity in Pueblo Material Culture, 1600-1950 (2016)
Following the Spanish colonization of New Mexico, Pueblo peoples began to adopt various technologies, cultural practices, and beliefs introduced to them by their colonial overlords. This tradition continues today, with contemporary appropriations of "foreign" elements into "traditional" Pueblo practices. How should we as historical archaeologists interpret this appropriation of outside influences and material culture? This paper explores the phenomenon of post-colonial difference through case...
The Conceptual Metaphor Expanded: A Visual Study of Whole Vessels in the Mesa Verde Region (2016)
Previous research into the conceptual foundations of the Mesa Verde style has found that ceramic imagery is conceptualized as textile designs and is representative of a worldview grounded in container imagery (Ortman 2000). However, these conclusions derive from patterns observable on sherds. In this study I examine designs on whole vessels using the same framework to determine whether the same worldview of textiles and ceramic imagery is seen in a complete context. Examining design constraints...
Connecting Tijeras Pueblo: Identifying Utility Ware Communities of Practice (2015)
This poster summarizes data on Southwestern utility wares from Tijeras Pueblo (LA 581), a fourteenth century village site in the Central Rio Grande region of New Mexico. Attributes such as paste color, vessel form, and surface modification were analyzed in order to characterize utility ware "communities of practice" at Tijeras Pueblo. Furthermore my research seeks to compare these aspects of utility ware form, style and production methods with those from adjacent areas of the Rio Grande a well...
Cross-Cultural Examination of Mortuary Practices of the Southern Sinagua and Prescott Culture (2016)
The burials from the Oak Creek Valley Pueblo and the Dewey Archaeological sites provide data for interpreting the mortuary practices and burial rituals of the Southern Sinagua and Prescott cultures. The variability exhibited in the burials uncovered at these sites, which include the remains of an adult male, two adult females, infant burials, and one dog, allows for an examination of mortuary practices as they relate to social structure and the role of children, symbolism, environmental...
Deciphering Bone Tool Production and Use: A Comparative Assessment of Quantitative Approaches to Microwear Analysis (2016)
Recent research in the pre-Columbian Pueblo Southwest has demonstrated the importance of understanding trends in bone industries that closely track other, related economic sectors such as perishable craft production. A vital next step in this line of inquiry is the identification the specific types of production activities in which bone tools are employed and variation across time and space. As illustrated by the results of this pilot study, texture analysis methods, developed within the...
Documenting Lithic Landscapes of Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona (2015)
Archaeological lithic landscapes can encompass a broad range of geographic settings – local to regional – where lithic procurement activities by people have left indelible evidence of lithic resource use. The Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO), Arizona on the Colorado Plateau is best known for its massive exposure of late Triassic period petrified logs in the park. Petrified wood lithic debitage and tools dominate the lithic assemblages of prehistoric sites at the park. However, the park also...
Early Pithouse Period Ceramics in the Upper Gila: A Look from Winn Canyon (2015)
The Early Pithouse period (AD 200 to 550) is characterized by circular pithouse structures often located on isolated knolls, an abundance of undecorated brownware, and a small percentage of red-slipped ceramics generally associated with the end of the time period. Few studies have focused on these Early Pithouse period ceramics. To help fill this gap, a preliminary study was conducted on a sample of the ceramics from Winn Canyon, an Early Pithouse period site in the Cliff Valley in the Upper...
Eastern New Mexico University Archaeological Collections (2016)
Home of the Clovis type-site and the Blackwater Draw Museum, as well as the Agency for Conservation Archaeology, Eastern New Mexico University serves as a repository for varied collections from within the state of New Mexico and from farther afield. Numerous well-known and respected archaeologists have held positions at the university and conducted fieldwork in the region, leaving their archaeological materials in trust. Additionally, the USDA Forest Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers...
An Examination of Gallina Utility Ware: Vessel Morphology and Function (2015)
The morphology of a ceramic vessel is directly related to intended use, and potters consider function during manufacture. Functional types such as cooking vessels, ollas, water jars, seed jars, bowls, and pitchers, are common in our ceramic lexicon. However, the relationship between morphology and function is not always intuitive, especially when considering secondary function and special use. The Gallina (A.D. 1050-1300) produced a wide variety of utility wares, but archaeologists have...
Examining Variable Funerary Practices at Pottery Mound, New Mexico (2017)
Pottery Mound (LA 416) is a Pueblo IV village site located on the Rio Puerco in central New Mexico southwest of the modern city of Albuquerque and was occupied from the mid-14th to mid-15th centuries. This site is most notable for its abundance of local and non-local ceramic types and elaborate kiva murals (Schaafsma 2007). Excavations at Pottery Mound took place during several University of New Mexico (UNM) field schools under direction of Frank Hibben and later Linda Cordell between the 1950s...
An Exploration of Indigenous Participation in Spanish Economic Activities in 17th-century New Mexico (2017)
When the viceroy of New Spain gave permission for the establishment the colony of New Mexico in the late 16th century, he acknowledged the importance of indigenous people to the colonial enterprise, urging the governor to treat indigenous Pueblo people kindly so that they would work for the colonists. The Spanish colonists’ economy largely consisted of the barter of subsistence goods. Throughout the 17th century, Pueblos and other indigenous peoples both engaged and were integrated into the...
Exploring Archaeological Collections and Research Possibilities at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (2016)
The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC) acts as the Repository for the State of New Mexico, curating archaeological materials from Federal, state, and tribal lands, and private donations. The Archaeological Research Collections (ARC) is the museum’s largest collection, with Paleoindian through historic material from New Mexico and the greater Southwest. The collection is housed at the Center for New Mexico Archaeology, a new state-of-the-art facility shared with the Office of Archaeological...
Feasting and the Ritual Mode of Production in the Mesa Verde Region of the American Southwest (2017)
In the Southwest, feasting is understood as one of the primary mechanisms whereby small-scale agriculturalists of the past increased the social, demographic, and political scale of their societies. This study examines both artifact assemblages and communal architecture from a number of prehistoric sites in the Mesa Verde area. Consistent increases in the number and elaborateness of decorated serving bowls and the size of communal spaces suggest an increase in the frequency, intensity, and scale...