Antelope Cave and Far Western Anasazi Lifeways of the Virgin River Region

Summary

The dry deposits of Antelope Cave on the Uinkaret Plateau in northwestern Arizona have yielded a rich artifact assemblage and abundant faunal and botanical remains dating to the late Archaic, Basketmaker II, and especially late Pueblo I/early Pueblo II times,. The collections recovered through archaeological work provide especially useful insights into Ancestral Puebloan life in this region. These activities include rabbit drives for food and the production of rabbit skin textiles, sandal repair and perhaps construction, and evidence of wide ranging forays for food and raw material for various material goods. The subsistence-related data sets demonstrate the importance of hunted prey, farming, and gathered foods. These data provide critical and rare perspectives on resource use that contrasts starkly with many Virgin Anasazi sites to the north. These contrasts are particularly visible in the archaeofauna recovered from the cave when compared to assemblages along the Virgin River. Taken together the recovered record provides substantive evidence that Puebloan people practiced seasonal movements and the use of both wild and cultivated resources. This flexible subsistence strategy crosscut a diverse landscape and illustrates how Ancestral Puebloan people exercised their intimate knowledge of the land.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Antelope Cave: A Dry Ancestral Puebloan (Virgin Anasazi) Site in Northwestern Arizona

Keywords

Spatial Coverage