Anthropology

This study addresses buff-firing clay sources in dynamic alluvial settings along Arizona’s Gila River. We establish clay resource distribution relative to the geomorphic histories of the Lower and Middle Gila River based on 38 clay samples and ethnographic data from two US Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) projects. Buff-firing clayey alluvium, deposited in the Gila River floodplain 800 to 1,500 or more years ago, was a surficial ceramic raw material source for prehistoric Hohokam and lowland Patayan potters. This geomorphic unit was later removed in some places and buried by up to 3-4 m of sediment in others, reducing the availability of buff-firing clays in the Hohokam Classic period and requiring historic Pee Posh and Akimel O’odham potters to dig pits to access it. Sources were further destroyed in catastrophic floods in the late 19th and early 20th century, affecting ceramic manufacture patterns and ultimately contributing to the decline of pottery production by the O’odham living in the Gila River Valley. Our results contribute to regional ceramic ecology and should also be of interest to others investigating alluvial clay use in general or buff-firing alluvial clays in particular. The study also illustrates the value of combining geomorphic and ethnographic data to examine major changes in resource distribution and use.

While most archaeological measures of population rely on material proxies uncovered through excavation (rooms, hearths, etc.), we identify a technique to estimate population at unexcavated sites (the majority of the archaeological record). Our case study focuses on ancestral Tewa Pueblo villages in northern New Mexico. Uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) and instrument mapping enables us to quantify the volume of adobe architectural rubble and to construct a decomposition model that estimates numbers of rooms and roofed over space. The resulting metric is applied at ten Pueblo villages in the region to ‘rebuild’ architecture, and calculate maximum architectural capacity and the maximum extent of population size. While our focus is on population histories for large Classic period (A.D. 1350–1598) pueblos in the American Southwest, the model and method may be applied to a variety of archaeological contexts worldwide and is not limited to building material, site size, or construction technique.

Book Chapter (from Extinctions in Near Time, R.D.E. MacPhee, editor, 1999): The chapter addresses questions about Paleoindian foraging, and discusses conceptual, theoretical, and empirical issues in assigning causes to mammoth extinction in North America.

Previous research on agriculture in the American Southwest focuses overwhelmingly on archaeological survey methods to discern surface agricultural features, which, in combination with climatological, geological, and geographical variables, are used to create models about agricultural productivity in the past. However, with few exceptions, the role of floodplain irrigation and floodwater farming in ancestral Pueblo agriculture is generally downplayed in scholarly discourse. Using a variety of methods, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), satellite imagery, pedestrian survey, and supervised classification of remotely sensed imagery, we examine this issue through a consideration of how ancestral Ohkay Owingeh (Tewa) people solved the challenges of arid land farming in the lower Rio Chama watershed of New Mexico during the Classic period (A.D. 1350–1598). Based on acreage estimates, our results indicate that runoff and rainwater fields in terrace environments would have been insufficient to supply the nutritional needs of an ancestral Tewa population exceeding 10,000 individuals. Based on these observations, we present a case for the substantial role of subsistence agriculture in the floodplain of the Rio Chama and its associated tributaries. Las investigaciones previas sobre la agricultura en el suroeste de Estados Unidos se centran principalmente en los métodos para identificar los rasgos agrícolas en superficie durante las prospecciones arqueológicas. En combinación con datos climatológicos, geológicos y variables geográficas, esta información se utiliza para crear modelos sobre la productividad agrícola en el pasado. Sin embargo, con pocas excepciones, los discursos académicos tienden a minimizar el papel del riego por inundación y del cultivo de llanuras aluviales con aguas de crecida en la agricultura de los pueblo ancestrales. Usando una variedad de métodos, incluyendo vehículos aéreos no tripulados (UAV), imágenes de satélite, prospecciones a pie y clasificación supervisada de imágenes de teledetección, examinamos esta cuestión a través de un análisis de como las comunidades Ohkay Owingeh (tewa) ancestrales resolvieron los desafíos de la agricultura en tierras áridas en la cuenca baja del río Chama de Nuevo México durante el periodo clásico (1350–1598 d.C.). Sobre la base de las estimaciones de superficie, nuestros resultados indican que los campos sujetos a riego por medio de la captación del agua de lluvia y de la escorrentía superficial en terrazas habrían sido insuficientes para satisfacer las necesidades nutricionales de una población ancestral tewa superior a 10 000 individuos. Con base en estas observaciones, argumentamos sobre la importancia de la agricultura de subsistencia en la llanura de inundación del río Chama y sus afluentes asociados.

Worldwide applications of ochre analysis continue to develop at a rapid pace, highlighting a number of analytical and interpretative issues. As regional source databases continue to grow, researchers have turned to the thornier issues of source allocation. In this study, we utilize LA–ICP–MS and NAA to examine archaeological pigments, ceramic paints and
experimental tiles from geological sources and Hohokam ceramics in central Arizona. Archaeological pigments and paint on sherds are successfully source matched based on trace element content, with implications for understanding paint production, sociocultural relations
governing trade in pigment and the use of different resource landscapes over time.