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More than 50 years ago archaeologists identified a high-density of small Puebloan habitations on the Kaiparowits Plateau in southern Utah. Analysis of pottery from these habitations by James Gunner...

Nineteen obsidian artifacts from surface contexts of probable Dismal River complex sites in the Sand Hills of Nebraska were analyzed via energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry. T...

Flat and curved sticks with longitudinal facial grooves were dredged from the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza in the early 1900s. They are similar to specimens recovered from the North American Southwest, where a suggested function was for defense against atlatl darts. By accepting this interpretation, Mesoamerican archaeologists identified such artifacts as fending sticks. Hassig (1992:112–114, 126–127, 2001:810–811) disputes this role, arguing that the sticks were specialized short swords for close fighting. This sword interpretation is not supported by my analysis of the Chichen Itza artifacts or the mural evidence at that site. Defense against atlatl darts is possible but unlikely to have occurred in warfare and, in any case, Maya/Toltec warriors carried shields to protect themselves against darts and other weapons. Fending darts in ritual fights such as an atlatl duel is a plausible scenario, perhaps to prove warrior mettle or as a gladiatorial blood sport. Another possible use is for subduing captives after military victory: a throwing stick to disable humans for later sacrifice.

Radiocarbon dates on artifacts from a Puebloan shrine in New Mexico reveal a persistence in ritual practice for some 3,800 years. The dates indicate that the shrine had become an important location for ceremonial observances related to warfare by almost 2000 cal. B.C., coinciding with the time when food production was first practiced in the Southwest. The shrine exhibits continuity of ritual behavior, something that Puebloans may find unsurprising, but also changes in the artifacts deposited that indicate new technology, transformations of belief, and perhaps shifting cultural boundaries. After briefly describing this shrine, we discuss some of the artifacts that were deposited there, in particular atlatl darts and flat curved sticks with longitudinal facial grooves. We argue that both were used in ritual fights and then deposited in the shrine as offerings, establishing a behavioral tradition that set the precedent for ethnographic recognition of the site as an important war shrine. Atlatl darts are analogous with prayer sticks, the latter representing a derived form of this offering with arrows as an intermediary form. Flat curved sticks were used for defense against atlatl darts in duels that enhanced warrior status.

“Massacre” was the accepted interpretation for a prehistoric skeletal assemblage of around 90 individuals from Cave 7 in the SE Utah of the North American Southwest since the 1890s. Coltrain and others (Journal of Archaeological Science 39, 2220–2230) rejected this account based on a dispersed suite of AMS radiocarbon dates on purified bone collagen from the interred individuals. Since dates from skeletons exhibiting perimortem damage were scattered across some 400 radiocarbon years, Coltrain et al. argued for multiple interments of victims of violence and related kin spread across several centuries. The temporal placement of interment events in Cave 7 clearly cannot be known independent of radiocarbon assays but such assays should not be privileged above contextual information about which individuals were interred together unless verified by an independent dating laboratory. Only by ignoring important information about burial context in the 1893 field record can the dates of Coltrain et al. be accepted as accurate estimates of time of death. We redated residual collagen from 11 of the Cave 7 individuals because of significant contextual anomalies with some of the prior results. The new assays combined with contextual evidence demonstrate that some of Coltrain et al.’s dates are either too old or too young; the dates are neither sufficiently accurate (true estimates of sample age) nor sufficiently precise (small confidence intervals) to refute a single-event massacre or to confirm multiple interment events in Cave 7. Nonetheless, dates that meet these criteria disclose at least two interment events, a large one of mostly adult males, many exhibiting perimortem damage (a massacre assemblage), and a small one consisting of an adult female with three children. A third interment event of a few adult females and child is possible based primarily on context since the date distribution in this case overlaps substantially with that of the massacre victims; context also hints at other interment events. Aside from chronology we clarify the number of Basketmaker individuals interred at the site and the incidence of perimortem violence. A single-event mass killing continues to be the most likely interpretation for around 58 individuals, mostly adult males (at least 35) but also adult females and children. This incident occurred between cal. AD 20–80 and doubtless had a significant social impact at the time because of its scale, reverberating throughout the early farming communities of the Southwest.

In the ancient American Southwest, use of the bow developed relatively rapidly among Pueblo people by the fifth century AD. This new technology replaced the millennia-old atlatl and dart weaponry system. Roughly 150 years later in the AD 600s, Pueblo socioeconomic organization began to evolve rapidly, as many groups adopted a much more sedentary life. Multiple factors converged to allow this sedentary pattern to emerge, but the role of the bow in this process has not been fully explored. In this paper, we trace the development of the bow and discuss its role as sedentism emerged and social changes occurred in ancient Puebloan society from the fifth through seventh centuries AD.

Harsh high-altitude environments were among the last landscapes to be settled by humans during the Late Pleistocene between ∼15,000 and 11,000 calendar years before present (cal yr BP). Successful colonization required physiological adaptations to hypoxia and cultural adaptations to limited resources and cold temperatures. How and when humans colonized Andean South America has been poorly understood owing to controversial early archaeological sites and questions about the impact of environmental factors, including the presence of glaciers. Here we report the reexamination and direct dating of six finely woven textiles and cords from Guitarrero Cave, Peru, that identify South America’s earliest textiles and show that occupation of the Andes had begun by ∼12,000 cal yr BP. Additional evidence for plant processing and fiber-artifact construction suggests women’s presence among these earliest foraging groups. Previous research suggested use of the highlands by small groups of male foragers between 15,000 and ...

Credible interpretation of pollen recovered from archaeological sites hinges upon understanding how pollen becomes deposited by both the environment and human behavior. The environmental role has been studied to some extent, but how the activities of people have formed the pollen assemblages at archaeological sites is usually just assumed rather than considered explicitly. Moreover, the complexity involved in the interaction between human behavior and pollen ecology is seldom considered. An archaeological case study of grinding tool pollen washes highlights the ambiguities of standard practice because the results confound common assumptions about pollen washes. A series of experimental seed and grinding tool washes designed to test the relationships between the processing of seeds and the deposition of pollen help explain why, for most situations, artifact pollen washes do not provide direct or even faithful records of plant processing. These results highlight the need for further experimental research with pollen so that we are warranted in making behavioral inferences from palynology. This conclusion is easily extended to other microbotanical data classes that archaeologists regularly employ.

Here we present a detailed analysis and description of a leather bag and its contents. The find came from the Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon, Utah, an impressive rock art site within Canyonlands National Park. The bag contained marsh elder (Iva xanthifolia Nutt.) seeds and an assortment of flakes and other artifacts that appear related to arrow point production. The bag was made and cached at the site sometime during the interval of cal. A.D. 770–970. This age assignment is based on the average of three AMS radiocarbon dates on separate components of the bag.

Despite ranking at the low end of the continuum in net caloric benefit relative to other foods, small seeds assumed great dietary importance in many parts of the world, including western North America. In a series of publications, Adovasio (1970a, 1974, 1980, 1986) argued that coiled basketry technology was invented in the eastern Great Basin during the early Holocene as a specialized food-processing technique. Coiled baskets are indeed useful for collecting and processing seeds, but it does not necessarily follow that they were originally designed for this purpose. A whole basket recently discovered at Cowboy Cave in southeastern Utah returned an AMS radiocarbon assay of 7960 ± 50 B.P., making it currently the earliest directly dated coiled basket from the Americas. This basket is not a parching tray and likely had nothing to do with harvesting seeds. We discuss the implications of this find with regard to tracking the temporal spread of coiled basketry technology in western North America and the role of coiled and twined forms in the initiation of small seed exploitation. Coiled and twined baskets for small seed processing may result from reconfiguration of existing technologies to create novel forms suited to a new food exploitation strategy.

When ancient hearths at open archaeological sites do not yield carbonized annual plant remains or other high-quality samples, wood charcoal is commonly used for radiocarbon dating. Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.), a shrub frequently used for fuel across much of the western United States, seems a potentially better candidate for 14C dating than tree wood since the possibility for significant age discrepancy might be less. A comparison of multiple assays from single features reveals that sagebrush can overestimate age more than even tree wood charcoal. A plausible cause of this appears to be persistence of the shrub on the ground surface for an extended interval after death, such that use as fuel almost invariably occurs hundreds of years after fixation of carbon. The potential for age discrepancy may decrease as population density increases because the demand for fuel wood would have resulted in a more rapid turnover of the fuel biomass. This is not true for Archaic period foragers of western North America when population levels were likely quite low and residential mobility quite high.

An earthen terrace has been identified at Bluff Great House, a Chacoan site located in SE Utah. The Bluff site was part of the Chacoan regional system that operated in the northern part of the American Southwest between about A.D. 900 and 1150 and was focused on Chaco Canyon in NW New Mexico. Several types of earthen structures have been identified at great houses in Chaco Canyon and throughout its region, usually associated with the construction of ritual landscapes. The Bluff terrace is part of this tradition of earthen construction, but is unlike most other reported examples. It seems to express the same concern with creating an appropriate setting, however, and may be interpreted as part of the ritual landscape that surrounded and defined the Bluff great house, although other interpretations are considered. It dates not only to the Chaco era, but also to the first part of the post-Chaco era (A.D. 1150–1225).

Three AMS radiocarbon assays on separate components of a hunter's tool bag cached at Sand Dune Cave demonstrate that the assemblage dates to cal. A.D. 80–330 (two-sigma range based on the average). These are the first direct dates on Basketmaker II remains from this site. They reveal that the mountain sheep horn flakers included in the cache have a minimal age on the Rainbow Plateau of the late Basketmaker II period. Horn flakers have relevance for examining the role of farmer migration during the Archaic-Formative transition, especially if it can be shown that these tools appeared concurrent with the first cultigens in the region.

The fluting of Folsom points is an elegant technological solution to several problems faced by highly mobile hunters focused on bison procurement. The symmetrical, bifluted form allowed a split, facial-contact haft to extend nearly to the tip, thereby controlling both location and extent of fracture and allowing many cycles of point reworking. Extreme thinness achieved by fluting facilitated leading edge sharpness for enhanced penetration. The near-constant cross- section from tip to base meant no loss of leading edge acuteness upon resharpening and inter-changeability of broken segments. The high-friction, forwardly adjustable haft assured firm mounting even with shortened, reused point segments. This efficient design was critical for groups who spent weeks and maybe months away from raw material sources in pursuit of game. Short, exhausted Folsom points or “slugs” are what archaeologists most commonly find and study. In contrast, a quite long, fully fluted point made from a yet longer preform was the intended product of the Folsom knapper. The model presented here can be tested through study of preform length, finished point proportions, fracture patterns, haft element features, and use-wear analysis in archaeological specimens, as well as actualistic hunting experiments. The engine driving persistent use of snap blade, full fluted projectile technology was focused commitment to a single, highly mobile game species (bison). This specific technofunctional element in Folsom culture reveals a weapon system designed to mitigate against extreme risk regarding access to raw material. Continuing research should demonstrate that the appearance, geographic distribution, persistence, and disappearance of the Folsom fluted point relate closely to juxtapositions of climatic change, biotic change, and human population movements that occurred near the end of the Pleistocene.

Perishable artifacts provide an alternative to projectile points for examining spatial patterns in Archaic material culture between northern and southern portions of the Colorado Plateau of the North American Southwest. This is so because they possess a potential great variety of specific construction and design attributes and can be directly dated to establish independent chronologies of development. The analysis and dating of a collection of warp-faced plain weave sandals from Chevelon Canyon, Arizona demonstrates the potential utility of perishable artifacts to our understanding of prehistory. The collection provides an important first sample of early Archaic footwear for the southern Colorado Plateau. AMS dating reveals that the oldest Chevelon Canyon sandal (8300 ± 60 B.P.) is 1,500 years earlier than the oldest directly dated sandal of this style on the northern Colorado Plateau. Most of the Chevelon Canyon sandals date from 7500 to 6000 cal. B.C., contemporaneous with open-twined sandals on the northern Colorado Plateau. This study provides another contrast in forager material culture between southern and northern portions of the plateau during the early Archaic, prior to ca. 5700 cal. B.C. After this time, the plain weave sandal style was adopted on the northern Colorado Plateau but not because of population replacement.

In the ancient American Southwest, use of the bow developed relatively rapidly among Pueblo people by the fifth century AD. This new technology replaced the millennia-old atlatl and dart weaponry system. Roughly 150 years later in the AD 600s, Pueblo socioeconomic organization began to evolve rapidly, as many groups adopted a much more sedentary life. Multiple factors converged to allow this sedentary pattern to emerge, but the role of the bow in this process has not been fully explored. In this paper, we trace the development of the bow and discuss its role as sedentism emerged and social changes occurred in ancient Puebloan society from the fifth through seventh centuries AD.

Recently found at two separate locations on the Kaibito Plateau of northeastern Arizona are a fragmentary untyped fluted point and a complete Clovis point. The points and their locations are described. The discovery context of the Clovis point is notable for the presence of probable Pleistocene sediments.

A recent test excavation of a late preceramic period site near Cibecue in east-central Arizona has revealed evidence of maize agriculture. This report describes the site, its setting, and the investigative methods. A large sample of lithic artifacts was obtained from surface collection and excavation, including Cienega projectile points and numerous bifaces. Five hearths were uncovered in the test, four of which were excavated. AMS dating of maize recovered from two of the hearths places site occupancy in the early centuries after Christ. The nature of the occupation is discussed, along with the role maize agriculture may have played in the subsistence-settlement system of these late preceramic farmer-foragers.

Resolving the question of Anasazi origins partially depends upon finding Basketmaker II antecedents. An essential place to search for antecedents is in the Cedar Mesa area of southeast Utah where Basketmaker II remains were first discovered in the late 1800s, and where subsequent investigators have documented various aspects of Basketmaker II lifeways. Old Man Cave, located along the northeast edge of Cedar Mesa, casts some light on the origins issue. Test excavations at this site revealed Basketmaker II remains above a series of Archaic strata dating back to 7,790 years B.P. Since a substantial occupational hiatus is apparent, this site must be added to the list of sampled dry shelters in southeast Utah and northeast Arizona that do not contain evidence in support of the in situ model of Anasazi origins.

Recovering dietary and parasitological data from skeletonized burials is often overlooked or attempted without sufficient consideration of preservation possibilities, quality sampling areas or the confounding influences of post-interment processes. A case study of a skeletonized Anasazi burial is presented to demonstrate three important points. First, that macrobotanical remains can be preserved in addition to the more durable pollen and parasite eggs. Second, that the sacrum can act as a structural container for the contents of the lower digestive tract upon decomposition of the body, thereby providing a productive sampling area. Finally, that reliable interpretation of any biological remains from skeletonized burials depends upon the analysis of several control samples. Since awareness of probable data sources plays a central role in what is actually collected and analysed, it is important to alert archaeologists to the possibilities of colon content analysis from skeletonized burials.

Some measure of chronometric control is essential if the important symbolic content of prehistoric rock art is to be fully exploited for interpretative purposes. The relative stylistic chronologies proposed for rock art in various regions of the world are hypotheses needing to be tested. Two recently-processed radiocarbon dates provide the first chronometric evaluation of the suggested chronology for Fremont anthropomorphic depiction on the northern Colorado Plateau of the North American Southwest. A perishable artifact associated with a large pictograph panel was dated 1200 ± 80 years b.p., while AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) dating of charcoal pigment of a pictograph from an adjacent site yielded an age of 675 ± 55 years b.p. These radiocarbon determinations have important implications for the culture history of south-central Utah. The dates come from previously-unrecorded rock art sites that exemplify the elaborate nature of anthropomorph pictographs in the extreme SE portion of the Frem...

A cache of three Basketmaker II wooden tools was found in a shallow alcove of lower Glen Canyon. The cache includes a digging stick and a complete and fragmentary 5-shaped stick of the type recovered from BMII sites such as White Dog Cave, and variously referred to as clubs, rabbit-sticks, and fending sticks. The complete 5-shaped stick is believed to have been used as a fending stick, whereas the fragmentary example apparently had been recycled as a throwing stick. The grass lining of the cache pit has a calibrated 2 sigma radiocarbon age of 760 to 200 B.c. This date corroborates another early date on BMII remains from the nearby Rock Creek Alcove and supports the conclusion that the ancestral Anasazi had occupied lower Glen Canyon as early as 400 B.C.

A thermal infrared aerial image revealed evidence of human alteration of Sunset Crater basaltic ash over a 2 sq km area in north-central Arizona. Field investigation confirmed the presence of 19 linear ash ridges, reaching areal dimensions of 20 × 150 m, and 25 circular ash mounds ranging from 10 to 24 m in diameter. Independent lines of evidence (archaeological, chemical, and palynological) support the interpretation of these features as previously-unrecognized prehistoric agricultural plots. Associated ceramics place the use of these fields sometime between A.C. 1150 and A.C. 1250, a time when local Sinagua populations experienced significant changes in their social and natural environment. Pollen remains suggest that the fields were most likely used for growing Chenopodium or Amaranthus—annual herbs with edible greens and seeds—rather than corn and squash. This unusual ridge-and-mound field system provides another example of the extent to which the Sinagua invested labor in agricultural product...

Pebble-sized polishing stones are common finds at Southwestern archaeological sites. Pottery-polishing is the principal function assigned to these tools based on ethnographic analogy. Rather than a...

Microscopic examination of ceramic collections from nearly 300 sites, coupled with petrographic analysis of selected sherds, establishes that volcanic ash was often used as temper in Tusayan White Ware by the Kayenta Anasazi. Based on distributional data, oxidation experiments, and geologic sourcing of both clays and volcanic ash, a production zone for the ash-tempered white ware is isolated. The occurrence of this pottery on Kayenta sites outside of the production zone is interpreted as resulting from intraregional exchange that started during Pueblo II. By middle Pueblo III production and exchange of the ash-tempered white ware intensified, so that by late Pueblo III this pottery constituted a majority of the white ware at many Kayenta sites. Based on our research findings, we suggest avenues for future investigation of intraregional Kayenta ceramic exchange.