Tonto National Monument was established by President Theodore Roosevelt on December 19, 1907 in order to protect and preserve the cliff structures and other archeological sites that were deemed places of “great ethnographic, scientific and educational interest” for future generations. The land that encompasses Tonto National Monument has been used by Native American peoples for at least 10,000 years. For the purpose of addressing their consultation responsibilities under the federal law and mandates, the National Park Service contracted with the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology (BARA) at the University of Arizona (UofA) to complete a Native American site interpretation study at Tonto National Monument. The purpose of this study is to bring forth Native American perspectives and understandings of the land and the resources. This study has helped to foster relationships between the Monument and the tribes. Close relationships with contemporary tribes hold the potential of learning more about the Monument’s cultural history and its continuing significance to Indian peoples. This increased awareness of contemporary Indian ties to the Monument, and to the surrounding region, will help the NPS design interpretative programs and manage resources in a culturally sensitive manner.

This report summarizes information on the prehistoric, historic, and ethnographic foundations for the cultural affiliation of burials and associated funerary objects from Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in Casa Grande, Arizona. This study was commissioned by the National Park Service’s Applied Ethnography Program in Washington, D.C., to identify American Indian tribes potentially affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary objects from Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. This study is one of the responses by the National Park Service to the requirements stipulated in the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. The report should provide sufficient criteria for determining potentially affiliated individuals and tribes to be contacted for future consultation. This research determined the following Native American ethnic groups are affiliated to the national monument: Akimel O'odham, Tohono O’Odham, Zuni, Hopi, and Maricopa.

This report is a Southern Paiute ethnographic study of the Grand Staircase- Escalante NM. This is the first report of activities conducted by the University of Arizona regarding Kaibab Paiute ethnographic resources currently within the boundaries of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM). The GSENM is a very large area that has been carved out of some of the most topographically and ecologically diverse lands in North America and contain a range of important Southern Paiute cultural resources and places. The Kaibab Paiute people were one of a number of Southern Paiute districts of the Southern Paiute nation who traditionally and aboriginally occupied and used the biotic and abiotic resources of this area. This study details the physical, prehistoric, historic, and cultural ties between the Southern Paiutes and the GSENM. In addition, this report presents the current relations of Southern Paiutes to this cultural landscape and the ways in which resource appropriation from the past continues to impact expressions of power in the present.

The Petroglyph National Monument Rapid Ethnographic Assessment Project had two primary goals. One was the identification of those American Indian Tribes, Pueblos, and Spanish heritage groups who wanted to participate in a long -term consultation process with the National Park Service about the management of the new Petroglyph National Monument located outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The second goal was to document the cultural resource concerns of the Native Americans and the Spanish heritage people, so that protection of these cultural resources could be incorporated into the General Management Plan that the National Park Service is developing for the Petroglyph National Monument.

No description available.

The holotypic locality of the brachiosaurid titanosauriform sauropod, Abydosaurus mcintoshi, is quarry DNM-16, located in Dinosaur National Monument. The bones are preserved near the base of a heterolithic, trough cross stratified to planar bedded sandstone channel complex. The trough cross to planar bedded sandstones mark times of variable flow with times of high flow velocity based on bones whose upper surfaces were eroded before final burial. The abundance of mud with the dominant medium to fine sand, and poorly confined sandstone channels indicate the bones were transported and buried in medial to distal intermittent flows of a distributive fluvial system. The quarry is at the base of the Naturita Formation, the base of which is latest Albian in age. The sauropods lived and died in the middle Cretaceous as the Cretaceous seaway advanced southward. The unconformity below the Naturita Formation and on top of the underlying the Ruby Ranch Member represents the LK-2 sequence boundary. The quarry produced ~260 bones, all of which represent Abydosaurus, except for several small theropod teeth, denoting a single catastrophic event acting on a group of sauropods. About one-third of the bones occur in close association or articulation, including three skulls (one articulated with the first five cervical vertebrae), five limbs, and strings of caudal vertebrae. There is no evidence of preburial weathering or breakage, and trample scratch marks are rare. More than 20% of the bones exhibit irregular, mm-scale pits occur on the shafts and the articular ends of limb bones are commonly hollowed out. The irregular pits are termite foraging traces, and hollows indicate extensive mining by these insects. At least seven individuals of Abydosaurus are present, representing at least two ontogenetic stages (juveniles and subadults).Together, these observations indicate the following: (1) the catastrophic death of a sauropod herd; (2) partial carcass maceration; (3) minor transportation, including articulated units (skulls, vertebrae, limbs); (4) rapid burial in migrating, ephemeral, branches of a distributary fluvial system; (5) channel migration resulting in in-situ scouring of the upper surface of some bones; (6) burial of scoured bones. Termite infestation occurred both prior to, and after, fluvial entrainment and burial.

The Carnegie Quarry in northeastern Utah is world-renowned for the dinosaur skeletons it has produced and for its in situ display of dinosaur bones. The specimens excavated at Carnegie Quarry are displayed and curated in 20 repositories, most in North America. Data on these specimens in the forms of notes, photographs, publications, field maps, and so on, are scattered in an array of formats and institutions. The primary goal of this thesis is to develop a database linking these data with a digital map (GIS system) to make them readily accessible. To this end, a relational database was created using Microsoft Access linked to a vector-based map developed using Avenza MAPublisher running in Adobe Illustrator. Analyzing these data, the Carnegie Quarry produced 4146 specimens representing at least 105 individuals pertaining to 18 genera; 12 dinosaurs, one crocodylomorph, two turtles, Unio utahensis (a freshwater clam), and one plant. The map is based on high resolution photographs of the current quarry face merged with historic maps of previously excavated portions of the quarry. Previous attempts to develop a complete map were hindered by the large number of maps, primarily from four institutions that excavated at the site, and the lack of an accurate map of the current quarry face (due to substantial relief, the 67° dip of strata, and the lack of a permanent grid). The new maps will provide invaluable insights into the depositional setting, taphonomy and paleoecology of the site. The map and database provide a single access point for data on specimens from 20 widely dispersed repositories linking them their original quarry positions. This expandable tool will be invaluable to scientists and the caretakers of Dinosaur National Monument and is recommended for adoption at other quarries.

The Green River canyons of the eastern Uinta Mountains have experienced a 5- year period of high debris flow activity. Catchment factors were studied in watersheds and on debris fans with recent debris flows, leading to the development of a conceptual framework of the hillslope and debris flow processes that deliver sediment to the Green River. Two recent fan deposits were monitored to determine the magnitude and processes of reworking that occur during mainstem floods of varying magnitude. The dominant debris flow initiation mechanism, termed the firehose effect, occurs when overland flow generated on bedrock slopes cascades down steep cliffs and saturates and impacts colluvium stored in bedrock hollows, causing failure. The dry climate and high strength of bedrock cause hillslopes to be weathering-limited, prohibiting the formation of extensive regolith and vegetative cover. This reduces the degree vegetation regulates geomorphic processes and causes wildfire to have little influence on debris flow initiation. The dry climate and strong rocks also lead to high runoff ratios and steep escarpments that result in debris flow initiation via the firehose effect. This initiation process also dominates in Grand Canyon, where geologic and topographic characteristics are similar, but differs from locations in the Rocky Mountains where fire has a strong influence on debris flow processes. Monitoring of two recently aggraded debris fans shows that mainstem floods with magnitudes as low as 75% of the pre-dam 2-year flood cause significant erosion of fan deposits, whereas floods with magnitudes less than 40% of the pre-dam 2-year flood do little reworking. Armoring of the debris fan surface limited the degree ofreworking done by successive floods. Eroded material was deposited directly downstream of the fan, not at the expansion gravel bar. This depositional location represents a change in the organization of the fan-eddy complex, potentially altering the location of recirculating eddies and associated backwater habitats. These results indicate that the firehose effect may be the dominant initiation processes in the steep canyons of the Colorado Plateau and that dam releases that significantly rework fan deposits are within the operational range of large dams in the Colorado River system.

No description available.

No description available.