The Site as a Moving Target: Forty Years of Change on the Dynamic Landscape of Black Mesa

Summary

In the context of surface archaeological inventory, sites are typically regarded as static entities about which numerous inferences can be made regarding function, temporal affiliation, and potential for subsurface deposits. These inferences are often the primary tool used to inform National Register of Historic Places eligibility recommendations, as well as guide testing and/or data recovery strategies ahead of various development or other federal undertakings. In many regional areas and with many site types, this process can be more or less straightforward. In areas subject to intense erosion and/or deposition, and with certain site types—specifically, small artifact scatters—the process can become more complicated. Comparing previous survey and testing data from the Black Mesa Archaeological Project (BMAP) conducted between 1967 and 1983 with almost 4,000 acres of recent survey by Logan Simpson of the same area, this poster examines the effects of approximately 40 years of erosion and deposition on the surface manifestation of small artifact scatters on Northern Black Mesa, Arizona.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17616