Archaeology of the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Archaeology of the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Inhabiting the far western edge of the Puebloan world, the Virgin Branch people have been subjected to far less research than those of most other Southwest archaeological cultures. Recent academic and contract projects in the region, however, are beginning to illuminate previously underexplored aspects of Virgin Branch lifeways. This poster session brings together archaeologists working in the Virgin Branch region to explore new findings from this culture area.

Other Keywords
Ancestral Pueblo • Survey • Ceramic Analysis • Architecture • Zooarchaeology • Dating Techniques • Photogrammetry • Petroglyphs • Experimental Archaeology • Construction

Geographic Keywords
United States of America (Country) • North America (Continent) • USA (Country) • Arizona (State / Territory) • New Mexico (State / Territory) • Oklahoma (State / Territory) • Texas (State / Territory) • Sonora (State / Territory) • Chihuahua (State / Territory) • Utah (State / Territory)

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

  • Documents (9)
Documents
  • Architectural Investigations at a Multicomponent Site on the Shivwits Plateau (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Benjamin Van Alstyne.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the summer of 2019, members of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, excavated two rooms within Pete’s Pocket, a Virgin Branch Puebloan site located on the Shivwits Plateau, Arizona. The rooms, located about 300 m from the north rim of the Grand Canyon, were contiguous and circular, forming an almost Figure 8 shape. An unusually...

  • Cave du Pont and the Western Basketmaker World (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Karen Harry. Michael Terlep. William Bryce.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the last two decades, new archaeological findings have challenged traditional ideas about the Western Basketmaker culture. We now know that the processes involved in the origin and spread of early farming in the western Puebloan region were much more complex than previously recognized. Rather than resulting from a single wave of...

  • Context for Petroglyphs: Recent Results from the Valley of Fire Archaeological Project (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Andrew McCarthy. Arthur Krupicz. Kevin Rafferty. Barbara Roth. Samantha Rubinson.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Famous for its striking natural landscapes, abundant petroglyphs and important prehistory, Nevada’s Valley of Fire State Park is well known to the public, but our picture of the archaeological remains from here is piecemeal rather than comprehensive. A new joint project by College of Southern Nevada, Nevada State Parks, the State Historic...

  • An Evaluation of Virgin Branch Social and Political Complexity through Painted Ceramic Design and Style (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Daniel Perez.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Social complexity in prehispanic societies within the North American Southwest has been studied through a variety of research avenues. Among the Virgin Branch people within the Moapa Valley of southern Nevada, archaeologists have pursued this topic through the study of architecture, burials and associated grave goods, and exchange...

  • Leaving It Where It Lays: How Noninvasive Archaeology Has Contributed to Recent Findings on the Shivwits Plateau (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only William Willis. Sarah MacIntosh.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The landscape of archaeological research is rapidly changing in the United States which requires a paradigm shift in how we (as archaeologists) conduct our trade. This poster recounts the major successes that non-invasive survey methods have produced for researchers on the far southern Shivwits Plateau of northern Arizona. Focusing on the...

  • Precontact Domestic Dogs in the Moapa Valley (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Virginia Lucas.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since the domestication of the dog (Canis familiaris), they have been granted various roles within human society. Because of the often close relationship with people, domestic dogs were often given similar burial customs as people. Precontact dog burials have been recovered throughout many regions in North America. Although some of these...

  • Reconstruction of the Site History of the “Zip Code Site,” a Large Virgin Branch Puebloan Site at the Mt. Trumbull Area in the Arizona Strip (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sachiko Sakai. Steven Wong.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The goal of this study is to gain a better understanding of the settlement patterns among the Virgin Branch Puebloans, who were small-scale farmers living in the marginal environment at the Mt. Trumbull area in the Arizona Strip. The Zip Code Site (131BLM) is a large site with multiple pueblo structures at least 200 m long. One of the...

  • The Role of Fire-Processed Limestone at the Shivwits Plateau, Arizona (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Manuel De Cespedes. Karen Harry. Liam Frink. Brian Hedlund.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study explores the role of limestone as a potential element in hide working among the Virgin Puebloan Branch people who inhabited the Shivwits Plateau, Arizona, in precontact times (~ 300 BC–AD 1200). Hide working is generally a female related activity that is lacking research in archaeology. This study demonstrates the importance of...

  • Understanding Ecological and Social Diversity in the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region (2024)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Haley Dougherty.

    This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of the Virgin Branch Puebloan Region" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Virgin Branch Puebloan (VBP) region is pronounced by its ecological and social diversity much like other areas of the US Southwest, including Puebloan “core” areas like Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon regions. This research will examine archaeological materials from Moapa Valley (a lowland area of the VBP region, located in the Virgin...