Prehistoric American Southwest Research Articles

Wood lots and horticultural intensification in Prehistoric Tucson, B.C. 2,100-A.D. 500

This study presents the results of a long-term, large-data set paleoethnobotanical study of wood use along the Santa Cruz River floodplain, near Tucson, Arizona. Over the interval from 2,100BCE to A.D.50, local villagers depleted regional saltbush stocks by overharvesting them for fuel. At the same time, they became increasingly reliant on mesquite. We explore the implications of the reduction of saltbush, and the dependence on mesquite. We combine information from ancient wood charcoal assemblages, an ancient pollen assemblage, estimates of likely per capita fuelwood consumption rates, and estimates of mesquite and saltbush productivity. We show that vast amounts of land had to be set aside for sustainable mesquite harvesting. We suggest that the need for mesquite management for fuel emerged coevally with agricultural intensification prior to A.D. 50. Thereafter, additional demands for fuel during the Agua Caliente phase further escalated the need for managing wood lots. This study is germane for scholars of the prehistoric American Southwest, and also for people studying pre-pottery early agricultural societies or prehistoric community resource ownership worldwide.

Hydroclimate Variability Influenced Social Interaction in the Prehistoric American Southwest

When droughts and floods struck ancient agrarian societies, complex networks of exchange and interaction channeled resources into affected settlements and migrant flows away from them. Did these networks evolve in part to connect populations living in differing climate regimes? Here, I examine this relationship with a long-term archaeological case study in the pre-Hispanic North American Southwest, analyzing 4.3 million artifacts from a 250-year period at nearly 500 archaeological sites. I use these artifacts to estimate how the flow of social information changed over time, and to measure how the intensity of social interaction between sites varied as a function of distance and several regional drought patterns. Social interaction decayed with distance, but ties between sites in differing oceanic and continental climate regimes were often stronger than expected by distance alone. Accounting for these different regional drivers of local climate variability will be crucial for understanding the social impacts of droughts and floods in the past and present.

Tiny Perforations in Minute Beads from the Prehistoric Southwest: An Experimental Case for Lithic Minute Microdrills

Minute disc beads from the prehistoric American Southwest often exhibit perforations finer than 0.75 mm in diameter. Early archaeologists postulated that these tiny perforations were created with organic drills made from bone splinters or cactus needles. This article presents an experimental case for flaked-stone minute microdrills, which are refined replicas of more robust documented jewelry microdrills. With experimental lithic minute microdrills, I create perforations that match the size and appearance of tiny perforations observed in archaeological minute beads.

Dental Transfigurement and its Potential for Explaining the Evolution of Post-Archaic Indian Culture in the American Southwest

The term "dental transfirgurement" is suggested for the non-therapeutic modification of prehistoric teeth. In North America, prehistoric dental transfigurement was a common practice only in Mesoamerica. Hence, among the few explanations possible for the rare occurrences of dental transfigurement in the prehistoric American Southwest, the msot likely one is migration, that is, the actual presence of Mesoamericans who traveled to and subsequently died in the American Southwest. One case, especially, may contribute to understanding the rapid development of the large planned prehistoric towns in and around Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. This case, the oldest example of prehistoric American Southwest dental transfigurement known so far, was part of a mass burial in one of the rooms that N. M. Judd excavated at Pueblo Bonito - a room that Judd believed had been built during the initial phase of construction of this great Chacoan town.

Impacted Lower First Molar and Labial Ectopic Upper Canine Eruption in an Individual from the Prehistoric American Southwest

Tooth impactions and other positional anomalies are commonly encountered in clinical situations but are much less frequently seen in, or reported from, prehistoric archaeologically derived contexts. This report examines the occurrence of two positional anomalies, lower first molar impaction and upper canine labial ectopic eruption, in a single individual from the Ancestral Pueblo Gallina Phase (1100-1275 AD) of northern New Mexico. Although outwardly dissimilar, appearing as they do in different tooth classes and both the mandible and maxilla, their underlying similarity implies a common etiology. The co-occurrence of these anomalies presents an opportunity to explore the etiological basis of positional anomalies and possibly provide some insight into the very early stages of dental morphogenesis.

Brief communication: maxillary lateral incisor morphology and uncommon trait expression: a case study from prehistoric Paa-ko, New Mexico

Prehistoric American Southwest exhibits a high frequency of dental morphological variability. This high variability may be the result of gene flow and subsequent genetic drift occurring in early periods (pre CE 900), though few studies report on dental variability in later periods. Morphological traits of the maxillary lateral incisors were analyzed from the Pueblo IV site of Paa-ko, New Mexico (CE 1300-1425) yielding high frequencies of four traits (shovel, double shovel, tuberculum dentale, interruption groove) and uncommon variants (barrel-shovel, triform, peg-shaped). Lateral incisor morphology is underrepresented in the literature but could be useful in determining population migration and affinity.

Turkeys on the fringe: Variable husbandry in “marginal” areas of the prehistoric American Southwest

Previous research reporting stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values of prehistoric turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) remains from the American Southwest indicates that these birds were husbanded in consistent ways: the majority of samples suggest a diet dominated by maize, a domesticate that uses the C4 photosynthetic pathway. However, most of these studies have focused on turkey remains from locations where maize would likely have been readily available. Here we present isotope and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype data from turkey remains from the relatively high-elevation site of Tijeras Pueblo (LA 581), a location where maize production may have been marginal. The Tijeras Pueblo turkeys display a unique carbon isotope pattern in both bone collagen and bone apatite, with half the samples indicating a predominately C3 diet (a signature characteristic of modern wild turkeys) and the other half predominately C4, even though the majority of samples belong to the Southwestern domestic turkey mtDNA lineage identified by Speller et al. (2010). Comparative collagen samples from the Albuquerque Basin and the Gallina region do not follow this pattern. Apatite-collagen δ13C spacing in the Tijeras turkeys suggests these birds were acquiring carbohydrates and protein from a mixture of C3- and C4-based resources. We propose that the C3 Tijeras turkeys were free-ranged, and that the presence of two distinct turkey husbandry regimes at Tijeras Pueblo may reflect Tijeras' geographic location on a cultural boundary between the Plains and Pueblo regions.

Prehistoric Warfare in Central Arizona, USA: Assessing Its Scale with Ceramic Chemistry

The scale of warfare and alliance in the ancient American Southwest is hotly debated for the interval from A.D. 1100 to 1450. Some archaeologists posit conflict persistently waged in central Arizona, which thereby promoted the emergence of region‐sized polities, including the so‐called Verde Confederacy. Relying largely on settlement‐pattern data, these theorists have hypothesized warfare and alliance practiced at a regional scale, apparently larger than anywhere else in the prehistoric American Southwest. Other evidence, however, has challenged the Verde Confederacy model and the level at which hostilities raged in central Arizona. It calls into question the organizational capabilities of hostile tribal groups and their strategic goals. In this paper, we add a new line of complementary information based on the compositional analysis of phyllite‐tempered plain ware ceramics. By reconstructing the pottery's movement and exchange across the region, we outline patterns of interaction useful for evaluating the scale of alliance and warfare in central Arizona. We find, contrary to the expectations of regional scale alliances, that the ceramic exchange networks segregated some populations previously proposed to have been aligned, while integrating groups thought previously to have been enemies. The ceramic data indicate alliances and hostilities at a relatively local scale.

Circularity, Analogy, and Gestalt in the Ancestral Puebloan Cannibalism Debate

This study examines the controversy over alleged cannibalism in the prehistoric American Southwest as it played out in scholarly journals. It also examines the lessons those controversies provide technical communication. Data painstakingly collected from human remains at ancestral Pueblo sites have been interpreted as representing cannibalism and, alternatively, as indicating witchcraft, mutilation of the dead, and warfare. Three focal points of this study are the circular process of developing criteria for analysis in archaeology, the role of analogy in building hypotheses, and the role of gestalt in interpretation of the findings. This study also looks at the ways narratives contribute to knowledge building.

The prehistoric drug trade: widespread consumption of cacao in Ancestral Pueblo and Hohokam communities in the American Southwest

We propose the existence of extensive trade and interaction among the peoples of the American Southwest and Mesoamerica. We base this inference on our detection of the widespread presence of theobromine, the biomarker for cacao, in 50 of 75 vessels used by Ancestral Puebloans (previously referred to as Anasazi) elites and non-elites from the Four Corners area and Hohokam elites of the Gila and Salt river valleys in the prehistoric American Southwest. We used a non-invasive, non-destructive aqueous sampling procedure that provides conservation advantages over the current methods that require crushing and boiling sherds or removing residues from vessel surfaces. Analysis of these samples by sensitive LC-MS instrumentation capable of detecting nanogram quantities of material revealed theobromine in non-local vessel forms found in elite burials in great house and platform mound sites as well as in local vessel forms used by non-elites living in small unit-pueblos. After elimination of plants native to the Southwest as the source of theobromine, we conclude that either Theobroma cacao or Theobroma Bicolor was imported from its homeland in the Mesoamerican tropical coastal lowlands. Our results are at odds with the current consensus that there was little systematic commerce between Mesoamerican and Southwestern polities. We suggest that cacao was exchanged for high quality turquoise such as that mined in the Cerrillos, New Mexico mining district. We conclude that, far from being isolated developmentally, this trade integrally tied populations in the American Southwest to the socio-political and economic activities of Mesoamerican states.

Population Aggregation in Ancient Arid Environments

Human societies have adapted to spatial and temporal variability, such as that found in the prehistoric American Southwest. A question remains as to what the implications are of different social adaptations to long-term vulnerability of small-scale human societies. A stylized agent-based model is presented that captures small-group decision making on movements and resource use in ancient arid environments. The impact of various assumptions concerning storage, exchange, sharing, and migration on indicators of aggregation and sustainability are explored. Climate variability is found to increase the resilience of population levels at the system level. Variability reduces the time a population stays in one location and can degrade the soils. In addition to climate variability, the long-term population dynamics is mainly driven by the level of storage and the decision rules governing when to migrate and with whom to exchange.

Warfare in Neolithic Thessaly: A Case Study

Cross-cultural archaeological and ethnographic evidence for warfare in farming societies invites us to reconsider the traditional picture of the Greek Neolithic (ca. 7000-3400 B.C.) as a period of peaceful coexistence among subsistence farmers. Archaeological correlates of intercommunal conflict in the prehistoric American Southwest and the widespread evidence for warfare in Neolithic Europe suggest that warfare is also likely to have taken place in Neolithic Greece. The well-known Neolithic record for Thessaly reveals evidence for warfare in defensive structures, weapons, and settlement patterns. Competition for resources such as arable land, grazing rights, and water may have contributed to the causes of Greek Neolithic warfare.

Hinterlands and regional dynamics in the ancient Southwest

Hinterlands and Regional Dynamics in the Ancient Southwest is the first volume dedicated to understanding the nature of and changes in regional social autonomy, political hegemony, and organizational complexity across the entire prehistoric American Southwest. With geographic coverage extending from the Great Plains to the Colorado River, and from Mesa Verde to the international border, the volume's ten case studies synthesize research that enhances our understanding of the ancient Southwest's highly variable demographic, land use, and economic histories. For this volume, ?hinterlands are those areas whose archaeological records do not disclose the ceramic, architectural, and network evidence that initially led to the establishment of the Hohokam, Chaco, and Casas Grandes regional systems. Employing a variety of perspectives, such as the cultural landscapes approach, heterarchy, and the common-pool resource model, as well as technical methods, such as petrographic and stylistic-attribute analyses, the volume's contributors explore variation in hinterland identities, subsistence ecology, and sociopolitical organization as regional systems expanded and contracted between the 9th and 14th centuries AD. The hinterlands of the prehistoric Southwest were home to a substantial number of people and were often used as resource catchments by the inhabitants of regional systems. Importantly, hinterlands also influenced developments of nearby regional systems, under whose footprint they managed to retain considerable autonomy. By considering the dynamics between hinterlands and regional systems, the volume reveals unappreciated aspects of the ancient Southwest's peoples and their lives, thereby deepening our awareness of the region's rich and complicated cultural past.

Polydactyly in the prehistoric American Southwest

General surveys of skeletal collections from Arizona for evidence of trauma and pathology led to the identification of polydactyly in two subadults. Polydactyly is a congenital condition characterised by the presence of extra digits on the hands or feet. Both affected subadults exhibit a sixth digit in the form of a branching fifth metatarsal. One of the affected individuals is an infant from the Tapia del Cerrito site exhibiting Y-shaped fifth metatarsals indicative of postaxial type A polydactyly. The second individual is a juvenile from the Nuvakwewtaqa (Chavez Pass Ruin) site exhibiting a left fifth metatarsal with a lateral branch, also diagnosed as postaxial type A polydactyly. These two cases appear to be the first examples of polydactyly from archaeological contexts identified among subadults, and bring the total number of known cases from the American Southwest to six. Discovery of so many examples of this relatively rare condition amongst the Puebloan people of the Southwest adds to the evidence that, rather than simply being an artistic motif, rock art depictions featuring hands and feet with six digits were probably inspired by observation of the condition amongst living people. Furthermore, burial treatment of the Tapia del Cerrito infant suggests that polydactyly may have conferred a special status on the bearer. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ceramic Specialization and Agricultural Marginality: Do Ethnographic Models Explain the Development of Specialized Pottery Production in the Prehistoric American Southwest?

Ethnographic data indicate that historically, ceramic specialization is strongly correlated with agricultural and economic marginality. Where such specialization is concentrated geographically, it often is found in areas having agriculturally poor lands (Arnold 1985). Although this association is well established for modern-day and historic peasant communities, the degree to which this pattern extended into prehistory is unknown. In this paper, I evaluate the applicability of the agricultural marginality model to the prehistoric American Southwest by considering evidence from six areas where specialized pottery production is known to have occurred. The data from these areas suggest that, in the prehistoric Southwest, agricultural marginality was not the primary or sole factor leading to the adoption of part-time ceramic specializations. To understand why the ethnographic model does not apply to the prehistoric Southwest, attention must be focused on understanding the differing social and economic contexts within which prehistoric farmers and historic and modern-day peasants operated.

The evolution of social behavior in the prehistoric American southwest.

Long House Valley, located in the Black Mesa area of northeastern Arizona (USA), was inhabited by the Kayenta Anasazi from circa 1800 B.C. to circa A.D. 1300. These people were prehistoric precursors of the modern Pueblo cultures of the Colorado Plateau. A rich paleoenvironmental record, based on alluvial geomorphology, palynology, and dendroclimatology, permits the accurate quantitative reconstruction of annual fluctuations in potential agricultural production (kg maize/hectare). The archaeological record of Anasazi farming groups from A.D. 200 to 1300 provides information on a millennium of sociocultural stasis, variability, change, and adaptation. We report on a multi-agent computational model of this society that closely reproduces the main features of its actual history, including population ebb and flow, changing spatial settlement patterns, and eventual rapid decline. The agents in the model are monoagriculturalists, who decide both where to situate their fields and where to locate their settlements.

Man corn: Cannibalism and violence in the prehistoric american southwest

Man corn: Cannibalism and violence in the prehistoric american southwest

Pithouse Architecture and the Economics of Household Formation in the Prehistoric American Southwest

Changes in prehistoric Southwestern architecture have been interpreted as the result of increasing dependence on agriculture through time which promoted greater sedentism. Recent archaeological research has produced data that point to changes in labor organization rather than agricultural productivity as the factors that most likely favored new forms of domestic architecture. In fact, some of the most striking temporal shifts in residential architecture may have been associated with declining agricultural productivity.

Great Towns and Regional Polities in the Prehistoric American Southwest and Southeast.:Great Towns and Regional Polities in the Prehistoric American Southwest and Southeast.

Great Towns and Regional Polities in the Prehistoric American Southwest and Southeast. Jill E. Neitzel. ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999. 325 pp.

Impact of Small-Group Decision Making in Reducing Stress Conditions

Employing a theoretical framework based on the prehistoric American Southwest, the impact on survival probability of a small group from environmental stress and household configuration is evaluated using stochastic simulation techniques. Several models were developed based upon a schema which includes population demographics, food procurement strategies, and resource response to varying environmental conditions. We address (1) strategic exploitation of the total range of food resources (wild and cultigens), (2) amelioration of alternative buffering strategies, and (3) impact of household size and composition. These are examined within the context of the cumulative impact of recurrent multiyear stress. The postulated buffering strategies which demonstrated higher probability of success are in agreement with ethnographic descriptions. It is shown that under proper planning assumptions, the impact of ephemeral aberrations in precipitation and household composition should have a minimum influence upon abandonment of small sites.