This study explores aspects of the development and organization of a mid-thirteenth through fourteenth-century, ancestral Hopi settlement cluster at Homol'ovi, located in the central Little Colorado River valley in north-central Arizona. The Homol'ovi cluster has been the subject of an intensive, 20-plus year program of excavation and survey by the Arizona State Museum's Homol'ovi Research Program. Homol'ovi I, an 1100-room pueblo occupied from approximately A.D. 1290 to 1400, was excavated between 1994 and 1999 and yielded deeply stratified, intact cultural deposits. The present study develops an internal, ceramic-based chronology of deposits at Homol'ovi I; establishes temporal relationships between occupational components at Homol'ovi I and other Pueblo IV period sites in the Homol'ovi cluster; and explores spatial and temporal variation in ritual activities within the Homol'ovi cluster through the lens of zooarchaeology.The Homol'ovi I chronology developed in this study is based on frequency seriation of imported Jeddito Yellow Ware pottery; stylistic, formal, and technological analysis of Jeddito Yellow Ware; ceramic cross-dating; and high-precision AMS radiocarbon dating. These dating techniques make it possible to seriate cultural deposits at Homol'ovi I, and to tie deposits from other local sites into the Homol'ovi I sequence. Additionally, some of the techniques potentially can be applied to date sites in other regions where Jeddito Yellow Ware pottery is found. This chronological research establishes a framework for tracking behavioral and organizational changes within the village of Homol'ovi I, and for situating events and processes in the life history of this community within a broader, regional context.One potential application of this chronological framework is explored through a zooarchaeological study that addresses temporal and site-to-site variation in the use and deposition of ritually sensitive categories of fauna at Homol'ovi I and other nearby villages, including Homol'ovi II, III, and IV. The fauna of interest include birds, carnivores, artiodactyls, and certain reptiles and amphibians. This study identifies a number of temporal trends that may be related to a major, late-fourteenth century reorganization of the Homol'ovi cluster and its external relations. In doing so, it lays a foundation for further research into the ritual organization of the Homol'ovi cluster.

LA-UR-09-02500A wide range of theories - resilience theory and the study of complex adaptive systems, for example - are advancing our understanding of anthropological systems. Recently, anthropologists have applied the panarchy framework to study socionatural systems. This framework allows researchers to assess growth, conservation, release, and reorganization in this nested-cycle model that operates simultaneously at multiple spatio-temporal scales. The long time-depth of the archaeological record is a critical factor in our ability to investigate human behavior within the panarchy's set of nested adaptive cycles.Archaeological investigation in the US Southwest has focused on processes of aggregation and culture change due to varying environmental and social conditions; the Pajarito Plateau, NM, has been the subject of archaeological research since the late 1800s. The Los Alamos National Laboratory portion of the Plateau has been thoroughly surveyed for cultural resources, but has received less attention by scholars than surrounding areas, including Bandelier National Monument. I use the panarchy framework to build a model of Puebloan settlement, land use, demography, and adaptation to assess the utility of the panarchy model for anthropological systems and fill a void in archaeologists' understanding of the Puebloan Southwest.I analyze patterns of residential and agricultural land use during the Rio Grande Coalition and Classic periods (A.D. 1150-1600) for the Pajarito Plateau. I conclude that there is no major change in the use of various landscape ranges between these periods. I reconstruct regional Puebloan momentary population and investigate recent evidence that supports a San Juan Basin source of the dramatic population increase during the Late Coalition. I also investigate aggregation into large plaza pueblos, the development of craft specialization, agricultural intensification, architectural change, and increased participation in the wider Rio Grande marketplace economy as responses of households, clans, villages, and the entire Pajarito population to the highly fluctuating climate of the local landscape. I address these results within the panarchy framework. Further, I argue that the Pajarito Plateau system continued after the population dispersed into the Rio Grande Valley below, to be closer to reliable sources of water and the growing Rio Grande economy.

The study of archaeology within an ecological and evolutionary framework began with the study of changes in human subsistence through time. Within the last few decades archaeologists have expanded applications of evolutionary ecology (EE) beyond the dietary emphasis of the prey choice model toward increasingly complex and novel applications. The chapters in this dissertation provide several examples of this expansion, through novel examinations of the complex relationships between humans and their environment, as well as thoughtful examinations of social systems and non-subsistence related behavior through the prism of EE. Appendix A asks at what transport distance from a central place does big game become costly to procure relative to smaller local game? Results from this study show that big game is an economical choice at a one-way transport distance of over 100 km. These results are then used in Appendix B where isotope geochemistry is used to show both large and small game from Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon were transported over 70 km to the Canyon. Without the results from Appendix A, one would be inclined to describe the long-distance transport of large game as a costly signal, when in fact it is an economical choice, particularly in a depressed or low productivity habitat. Appendix C, demonstrates the applicability of costly signaling theory to non-dietary artifacts, by showing how geochemically sourced non-local goods contain a variety of social meaning.

abstract: Understanding agricultural land use requires the integration of natural factors, such as climate and nutrients, as well as human factors, such as agricultural intensification. Employing an agroecological framework, I use the Perry Mesa landscape, located in central Arizona, as a case study to explore the intersection of these factors to investigate prehistoric agriculture from A.D. 1275-1450. Ancient Perry Mesa farmers used a runoff agricultural strategy and constructed extensive alignments, or terraces, on gentle hillslopes to slow and capture nutrient rich surface runoff generated from intense rainfall. I investigate how the construction of agricultural terraces altered key parameters (water and nutrients) necessary for successful agriculture in this arid region. Building upon past work focused on agricultural terraces in general, I gathered empirical data pertaining to nutrient renewal and water retention from one ancient runoff field. I developed a long-term model of maize growth and soil nutrient dynamics parameterized using nutrient analyses of runoff collected from the sample prehistoric field. This model resulted in an estimate of ideal field use and fallow periods for maintaining long-term soil fertility under different climatic regimes. The results of the model were integrated with estimates of prehistoric population distribution and geographical characterizations of the arable lands to evaluate the places and periods when sufficient arable land was available for the type of cropping and fallowing systems suggested by the model (given the known climatic trends and land use requirements). Results indicate that not only do dry climatic periods put stress on crops due to reduced precipitation but that a reduction in expected runoff events results in a reduction in the amount of nutrient renewal due to fewer runoff events. This reduction lengthens estimated fallow cycles, and probably would have increased the amount of land necessary to maintain sustainable agricultural production. While the overall Perry Mesa area was not limited in terms of arable land, this analysis demonstrates the likely presence of arable land pressures in the immediate vicinity of some communities. Anthropological understandings of agricultural land use combined with ecological tools for investigating nutrient dynamics provides a comprehensive understanding of ancient land use in arid regions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Anthropology 2013

Cebolla Canyon, in the El Malpais National Conservation Area, New Mexico, was homesteaded extensively in the late 18th and early 19th centuries by Hispanic and Euro-American families. The local environment provided grazing resources for sheep and cows, and the ability to homestead in this area allowed families to pursue seasonal or year-round occupation. The regional histories of these migrants differ, but the exploitation possibilities of land and timber provided people with the promise of land ownership and sustainability with respect to their necessities and desires; these are strongly based on sociopolitical factors of the time. Focus here is on Hispanic and Euro-American homesteading sites, comparatively. Dendrochronology can provide target dates for felling events, and in combination with archaeological remains we can grasp the duration of occupation for homesteading sites. We can also identify methods in which ethnicity can be delineated in the historical archaeological record. Further insight is provided by historical documents, such as census records and homesteading patents that can give us an idea of how people institutionally- or self-identified as an ethnic group. Additionally, information about interactions between ethnic groups can be parsed from historical documents that may not be fully present in the archaeological record.

abstract: This study evaluates five different hypotheses potentially accounting for the prehistoric movement of vesicular basalt during the Hohokam occupation of the Salt-Gila Basin (ca. A.D. 700-1450): 1) direct procurement; 2) direct exchange; 3) down-the-line exchange; 4) market exchange; and 5) elite-controlled exchange. The plausibility of each hypothesis is assessed by examining the relative frequency of different vesicular basalt source types at sites as related to the geographic distance from their source; intra-site variance in vesicular basalt source type diversity; inter-site variance in vesicular basalt source type diversity; and temporal specificity and continuity in source preference. The study sample is comprised of 484 vesicular basalt artifacts recovered from nine Hohokam sites: Casa Grande, Gila Crossing, the Hospital Site, La Plaza, Las Colinas, Los Hornos, Lower Santan, Pueblo Grande, and Upper Santan. Geographic provenance data for artifacts are generated by comparing their chemical composition to a geochemical reference database composed of more than 700 vesicular basalt raw material samples from 17 different source areas in the Salt-Gila Basin. Geochemical data for both artifact and raw material samples were collected using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer and a newly developed sampling procedure that provides an efficient, reliable, and nondestructive means of analysis. The results of the hypothesis testing found that direct procurement is a possible material provisioning practice for perhaps only a small number of households in the Salt-Gila Basin; specifically those located less than 10 km from a vesicular basalt outcrop. Direct exchange is also an unlikely explanation, though it cannot be rejected outright. The other exchange hypotheses, down-the-line, market, and elite-controlled exchange, as defined in this study, are all rejected as possible explanations. From these results, a new model of Hohokam vesicular basalt provisioning practices is developed for future testing. This model posits that vesicular basalt groundstone tools were produced by specialists in a handful of locations during both the Preclassic and Classic periods, and that finished tools were acquired through workshop procurement or local distributers. The implications of these findings for understanding the organization of Hohokam domestic and political economies are also discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2014

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This dissertation challenges traditional interpretations that indigenous groups who settled the Grand Canyon during the Pueblo Period (AD 700 -1225) relied heavily on maize to meet their subsistence needs. Instead they are viewed as dynamic ecosystem engineers who employed fire and natural plant succession to engage in a wild plant subsistence strategy that was supplemented to varying degrees by maize. By examining the relationship between archaeological sites and the natural environment throughout the Canyon, new settlement pattern models were developed. These models attempt to account for the spatial distribution of Virgin people, as represented by Virgin Gray Ware ceramics, Kayenta as represented by Tusayan Gray Ware ceramics, and the Cohonina as represented by San Francisco Mountain Gray Ware ceramics, through an examination of the relationships of sites to various aspects of the natural environment (biotic communities, soils, physical geography, and hydrology). Inferences constructed from the results of geographic information system analyses of the Park’s legacy site data, indicate that Virgin groups were the first to arrive at the Canyon, around AD 700 and leaving around AD 1200. They practiced a split subsistence strategy, which included seasonal movements between maize agricultural areas in the western Inner Canyon and wild resource production areas in the pinyon-juniper forests on the western North Rim plateaus. The Kayenta occupied the North Rim, South Rim and Inner Canyon, throughout the entire Pueblo Period. Their subsistence system relied heavily on wild resource production on both rims supplemented by low-level maize agriculture practiced seasonally on the wide deltas in the eastern Inner Canyon. The Cohonina were the last to arrive and the first to leave, as they occupied the Canyon for about 300 years from AD 800–1100. They were the most prolific maize farmers, practicing it in the Inner Canyon near the mouth of Havasu Creek, but still seasonally exploiting wild resource on the western South Rim. Based on my interpretations, use of the Canyon from AD 700-1225, is viewed as a dynamic interplay between indigenous groups and their environment. As they settled into the Canyon and managed the diverse ecology to meet their subsistence needs.

The archaeology of the Northern Rio Grande region of New Mexico has recently received an increased amount scholarly attention. In particular, understanding past trends in demographics, agricultural productivity, violence, and social networks have been primary goals of archaeological research. Understanding patterns in animal exploitation has, however, received far less attention due to a small yet growing regional zooarchaeological database. Through the identification of animal remains from a site called Ponsipa (occupied ca. A.D. 1300 to 1600), this thesis adds one large dataset to this growing database. In addition, this thesis expands on the pre-impoundment distribution of an endangered native freshwater fish species in the state of New Mexico called the blue sucker (Cycleptus elongatus). The blue sucker is a unique fish that is currently experiencing range reduction across all of its known North American distribution due to anthropogenic habitat fragmentation and degradation. Skeletal remains that were identified from Ponsipa represent the farthest known northern record of its occurrence in the state of New Mexico and highlight the extent of range restriction of the species in the area. The data concerning the historical biogeography of the blue sucker from Ponsipa have implications for the effective conservation and restoration of blue sucker located in the Rio Grande Basin.