Archaeological Research in Petrified Forest National Park

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Archaeological Research in Petrified Forest National Park," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Petrified Forest National park has been the subject of archaeological research for well over 100 years. In 2004 Congress authorized a boundary expansion, effectively doubling the protected land in Petrified Forest National Park. As these lands are slowly added to the park, new and exciting research opportunities are available for archaeological research. Work both inside and outside these expansion lands has found a stunning density and diversity of archaeological remains. Archaeological sites spanning the last 10,000 years of human occupation have been identified and recorded, including most notably extensive preceramic sites and lithic landscapes, large Basketmaker villages, and a densely settled Puebloan landscape. The National Park Service has taken this opportunity to use the boundary expansion project as a teaching laboratory and platform for future investigation, incorporating student interns and researchers into the project. Work of interns and researchers has allowed the NPS to study a diversity of research questions which would typically be out of reach of typical section 110 work. This session presents an update of the recent archaeology completed in Petrified Forest, and highlights some of the ongoing research projects.