The Lower Verde Archaeological Project: Vanishing River Reports: Volume 4

Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the synthesis of the Lower Verde Archaeological Project. Whittlesey and Ciolek-Torello describe the project's environmental context, with a focus on the Verde River and its surrounding landscape. They also offer a brief introduction to the people who inhabited and used this landscape. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the research themes that guided archaeological data recovery and interpretation of the lower Verde River area.

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.

In Chapter 3, Whittlesey provides a description of the current state of the Verde River and discusses the history of intensive landscape modifications to the Verde and other rivers in central and southern Arizona (including the Salt, Gila, Colorado, Little Colorado, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz) . She first reviews archaeological and documentary evidence for changes to Arizona's riverine environments in both the prehistoric and historic periods. She focuses on accounts from the Spanish Colonial...

In Chapter 4, Whittlesey presents a thorough summary of archaeological research and intellectual history in central Arizona. The author's goal is to situate the LVAP research in the context of central Arizona archaeology. Whittlesey provides histories of the research that has been conducted in the Verde drainage, the Tonto Basin, the Agua Fria drainage, and the Phoenix Basin. She concludes with a summary of the research trajectories and the different explanatory models applied to central...

In Chapter 5, Whittlesey and Benaron provide a synthesis of the ethnohistoric data and archaeological evidence for Yavapai and Western occupation of central Arizona. The authors summarize available information on Yavapai and Apache domestic remains and material culture to assist identification in the archaeological record. They also describe subsistence and land use patterns.

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...

Chapter 7 documents two previously unpublished events that have figured prominently in Yavapai and Western Apache archaeology in central Arizona. First, Ferg details the Goodwin and Sayles 1937 Verde Survey. He argues that this three-day trip into the Verde Valley in the fall of 1937 marks the beginnings of ethnoarchaeological studies of the Western Apache. He provides thorough descriptions of all the sites located during the survey in an effort to differentiate Yavapai and Western Apache...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Chapter 17 highlights the full scope of the LVAP as a big project and places it in the context of other big archaeological projects. Altschul begins with historical sketches over other large archaeological projects, ranging from WPA efforts to the River Basin Surveys to large NSF-funded research. He then provides a history of the LVAP to illustrate how a large CRM-based project is conducted. He concludes with a discussion of four components that he defines as critical to the ultimate success of...

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...

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...

Chapter 20 provides a brief retrospective of the LVAP. Altschul and the other authors discuss changes to the archaeological data recovery efforts and re-orientation of theoretical perspectives that took place over the six years of the project. They conclude with an overview of the project’s results and its implications for the prehistory and history of the Southwest.

This document contains the references cited for the Lower Verde Archaeological Project summary volume. It also provides a list of contributors and a brief summary of Statiscal Research, Inc. and its mission.

The Lower Verde Archaeological Project (LVAP) was a four-year data recovery project conducted by Statistical Research, Inc. (SRI) in the lower Verde River region of central Arizona. The project was designed to mitigate any adverse effects to cultural resources from modifications to Horseshoe and Bartlett Dams. The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Arizona Project’s Office sponsored the research program in compliance with historic preservation legislation. The LVAP’s...