Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, a largely understudied region in the North American Southwest, represents part of the northern periphery of the prehistoric Southwest, affiliated with the Virgin Branch Puebloan culture. Divided into three general zones--the Moapa Valley, St. George Basin, and Colorado Plateaus--research into the Virgin Branch Puebloan region has historically pertained to the lowland region (namely, the St. George Basin and the Moapa Valley of Southern Nevada), leaving the upland zone of the Virgin Branch region proportionately understudied. This session presents research from the upland zone of the Virgin Branch Puebloan region--specifically, the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument--providing new insights into this largely understudied area as well as a context for understanding part of this borderland region of the prehistoric American Southwest.

Other Keywords
Ancestral Pueblo • Settlement patterns • Survey • Architecture • Chronology • Dating Techniques • Cultural Resource Management • Paleoethnobotany • Use-Wear Analysis • Landscape Archaeology

Geographic Keywords
United States of America (Country) • Idaho (State / Territory) • Oregon (State / Territory) • Wyoming (State / Territory) • North America (Continent) • USA (Country) • North America: Northern Southwest U.S.

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-9 of 9)

  • Documents (9)
Documents
  • Examining the Architectural Technology at Lava Ridge Ruin, Arizona (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Benjamin Van Alstyne.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. One component of the archaeological record that can shed light on human behavior is architectural remains. Architectural studies in archaeology have mostly focused on evaluating the mechanical properties of construction materials, the amount of labor, time, and materials needed for construction, and room function to make...

  • The First Excavation of a Pithouse Site in the Mt. Trumbull Area (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sachiko Sakai.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The first excavation of Virgin Ancestral Pueblo structures was conducted at Mt. Trumbull during the summer of 2018 after more than 15 years of intense surface surveys. The goal of this study is to gain a better understanding of the settlement patterns and changes in adaptive strategies among the Ancestral Puebloans who lived in...

  • Geochemical Characterization of Sediments for the Understanding of Site Occupation History in Mt. Trumbull (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Chad Rankle. Sachiko Sakai. Alondra Garcia. Enadina Lozano.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The first excavation of the pithouse structure site was conducted during the summer of 2018 in Mt. Trumbull as a part of settlement pattern investigation in this area. A long trench excavation conducted at the center of a depression observed in this site revealed a large pithouse floor in the limestone bedrock. The profile of...

  • An Historic Summary of Parashant National Monument, Arizona (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Christine Nycz.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The land that now comprises Grand Canyon - Parashant National Monument has a long, unique history stretching back to the early years of exploration and discovery in the American Southwest. This paper summarizes the history of the area that became Parashant NM and introduces several methods that the National Park Service uses to...

  • Puebloan Occupation of the Shivwits Plateau, North Rim of the Grand Canyon (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Karen Harry. William Willis.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper we examine the archaeology of the southwestern portion of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. Drawing on an extensive survey database of more than 600 site records, we trace the Puebloan occupation of the area from the initial settlement at around A.D. 900/1000 to abandonment at about A.D. 1250. In...

  • Puebloan Subsistence Patterns on the Shivwits Plateau, North Rim of the Grand Canyon (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alexandria Flynn. Karen Harry. Leilani Lucas.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Based on fieldwork from the South Rim, Alan Sullivan has argued that ancient Puebloans in the Grand Canyon region practiced little or no corn agriculture. Instead, he proposes they relied on the gathering and processing of wild plants such as pinyon nuts, amaranth, and goosefoot. Here, we evaluate the applicability of this...

  • Specialized Production Sites among the Virgin Branch Puebloan People? New Findings in Shivwits Plateau Archaeology on the Parashant National Monument (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only William Willis. Haley Dougherty. Joseph Curran. Eric Fries. Benjamin Van Alstyne.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the summer of 2018, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Shivwits Research Project conducted an archaeological survey and documentation project on the remote southern end of the Shivwits Plateau. This region has seen little anthropological research since it was first explored by archaeologists in the early to mid-20th...

  • Substance and Subsistence: A Use-Wear Analysis on Ground Stone from the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Daniel Perez.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological investigations pertaining to the upland zone of the Virgin Branch Puebloan region—namely, the Colorado Plateaus—have historically been limited in both number and scope. Recent expeditions to various sites on the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, however, have helped expand the archaeological record of the...

  • Utilizing Cumulative Viewshed Analysis to Explore Virgin Branch Ancestral Pueblo Settlement Choice (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Marty Kooistra.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Prehistoric habitation structures located in the Mount Trumbull region of northwest Arizona are constructed across a diverse topographic landscape. Several archaeological site records for the Mt. Trumbull region allude to the exceptional views from habitation structures despite their often non-obtrusive locations. The following...