The Coronado Project: Anasazi Settlements Overlooking the Puerco Valley, Arizona, Volume 2

Summary

The three volumes of The Coronado Project present a wealth of information on the archaeology of the Puerco Valley of east-central Arizona.

Volume 2 presents the analytical data for each artifact category and for the biological resources. Project authors examine the available resources, their acquisition, and the paleoeconomy in relation to the physical setting of the project area sites. They also present results of the human remains analyses, including a review of the remains recovered from the previous excavations at Cottonwood Seep.

In examining the material remains and botanical evidence from the Coronado Project, three procurement zones were recognized as physical or geographical sources of acquisition, or more appropriately, catchment areas. Site catchment area is defined as the zone of resources, both wild and domestic, that occurs within reasonable walking distance of a given village (Flannery 1976:91). Based on the results of the following analytical chapters, it is apparent that site occupants acquired subsistence items from an area much greater than the immediate project area.

Analyses of material collected from the project include: ceramics, flaked stone, ground stone, faunal remains, shell artifacts, human skeletal remains, and pollen and macrofloral. As a whole, the assemblage of artifacts and materials from the Coronado sites pointed to a primary concern with subsistence. The artifacts were utilitarian, with few ritual items present. Low-cost tools and materials predominated. Locally available materials had been used to produce most tools, and potentially costly items that would have been obtained through trade were rare. Thus, the material remains from the Coronado sites appeared to be the result and reflection of a "subsistence economy." This interpretation is incomplete, however. The two Basketmaker Ill-Pueblo I sites, Cottonwood Seep and Cottonwood South, were apparently occupied seasonally. Consistency in the architectural forms adds further support to this interpretation, a point that will be considered further in Volume 3, Chapter 1. As seasonally occupied sites, their remains reflected only a portion of the material culture of their inhabitants. To reconstruct this material culture, therefore, one must go beyond the project sites and consider the archaeological record of the wider region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Salt River Project Digital Library

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Salt River Project Cultural Resource Manager

Contributor(s): David H. Greenwald; Richard V. N. Ahlstrom; Kelley Ann Hays; Dawn M. Greenwald; Scott Kuhr; Susan K. Stratton; Arthur W. Vokes; Kathryn Lee Wullstein; Linda Scott Cummings; Kathryn Puseman; Laurie Webster; M. Steven Shackley; Liu Wu; Christy G. Turner II

Repository(s): Salt River Project, Tempe, AZ

Prepared By(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

Record Identifiers

Salt River Project Library Barcode No.(s): 00090550

SWCA Anthropological Research Paper Number(s): 3

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