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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Explorations In Viejo Period Archaeology At The Vista Del Valle Site In Chihuahua, Mexico, Michael T. Searcy, Todd Pitezel
Explorations In Viejo Period Archaeology At The Vista Del Valle Site In Chihuahua, Mexico, Michael T. Searcy, Todd Pitezel
Faculty Publications
Since Charles Di Peso’s excavations from 1958 to 1961, there has been little research on the Viejo period (700–1200 A.D.) in the northern Casas Grandes area. As director of the Proyecto Arqueológico Chihuahua, Jane Kelley and her colleagues have added significantly to our knowledge of this time period in the southern area where this cultural tradition also flourished. Following her lead, we recently embarked to better understand the Viejo period in the north by excavating at a site along the Palanganas River, just south of the Casas Grandes River valley. This paper reports the initial results of our 2015 excavations …
Recent Explorations For Casas Grandes Viejo Period Settlement, Todd Pitezel, Michael T. Searcy
Recent Explorations For Casas Grandes Viejo Period Settlement, Todd Pitezel, Michael T. Searcy
Faculty Publications
Much is known about political, social, economic, and ritual organization during the Casas Grandes Medio period (ca. A.D. 1200-1450). A looming question is, What are the roots of the Medio period? The preceding Viejo period, assumed to begin around A.D. 500, is poorly understood because so little work has been conducted at Viejo sites, and few sites from this time period are known. We recently conducted reconnaissance and systematic survey north and south of the Medio capital settlement of Paquimé and identified six previously unrecorded sites. We present the characteristics of each site, including a ground stone quarry, and how …
Navigating The Faa’S Turbulent Airspace In The United States Regarding Uavs, Michael T. Searcy
Navigating The Faa’S Turbulent Airspace In The United States Regarding Uavs, Michael T. Searcy
Faculty Publications
There has been a significant increase in the use of UAVs throughout the world to aid in archaeological investigations. Unfortunately the current U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has enforced strict policies that prohibit most institutions and private firms to use these aerial vehicles. As a result archaeologists in the United States are falling behind in implementing an important tool in archaeological reconnaissance. This paper outlines the progress made thus far by the FAA to reform these regulations.
Obsidian Provenance Studies Of Sites In Northern Utah, Jeffrey Ferguson, James R. Allison
Obsidian Provenance Studies Of Sites In Northern Utah, Jeffrey Ferguson, James R. Allison
Faculty Publications
Previous studies of obsidian from archaeological sites in Utah Valley and the Salt Lake Valley have used relatively small samples to document temporal shifts in obsidian procurement, with southern sources (especially Black Rock) dominating Fremont assemblages, while most post-Fremont obsidian comes from the Malad source to the north. Our greatly expanded XRF analysis of almost 4,000 obsidian artifacts from sites in Utah and Salt Lake Valleys confirms the temporal change noted by earlier researchers, but also shows site- and source-specific patterns of obsidian use, as well as variation in the frequency of different obsidian sources in tools, debitage, and micro-debitage.
Neutron Activation Analysis Of San Juan Red Ware Pottery, James R. Allison, Jeffrey R. Ferguson
Neutron Activation Analysis Of San Juan Red Ware Pottery, James R. Allison, Jeffrey R. Ferguson
Faculty Publications
San Juan Red Ware pottery is most common in southeastern Utah, where most of it appears to have been made, but is widely distributed throughout the Four Corners region from about A.D. 750 to 1100. Neutron Activation Analysis of San Juan Red Ware potsherds shows that there were numerous production locales, and red ware pottery from southeast Utah falls into several distinguishable chemical groups. These chemical groups have distributions that suggest relatively little exchange among the production area sites. Despite differing from red ware producers in styles of material culture (ceramics, architecture, and settlement patterns), and probably social identity, Pueblo …
Notes For The Next Century: Kiva Mini Essay, Michael T. Searcy
Notes For The Next Century: Kiva Mini Essay, Michael T. Searcy
Faculty Publications
Northwest Mexico and the U.S. Southwest are in reality one region divided by a modern political border. Bi-national archaeological research and collaborations have been difficult to conduct due to the recent crime-wave that has take hold of Northern Mexico in recent years. Fear and U.S. sanctioned travel bans have driven scholars out of this region. In addition, the recent and pending retirements of academics have contributed to the diminishing number of archaeologists conducting research in Northwest Mexico. As a dual-citizen ad as an archaeologist with research interests on both sides of the border, I believe that research institutions and governments …
Wolf Village: New Insights On The Fremont, James R. Allison
Wolf Village: New Insights On The Fremont, James R. Allison
Faculty Publications
Wolf Village is remarkable for its architectural diversity, its large and diverse artifact assemblages, and the insights into Fremont social organization and ritual practices it offers. Officially designated 42UT273, the site is on and just below a hill adjacent to Currant Creek, near the town of Goshen at the south end of Utah valley. From 2009 through 2013, the Brigham Young University archaeological field school spent five field seasons there, uncovering the remnants of seven semi-subterranean pit structures and two adobe surface houses. People built and used those structures in the A.D. 1000s or early 1100s, although the radiocarbon dates …
Introducing The Fremont, James R. Allison
Introducing The Fremont, James R. Allison
Faculty Publications
“Fremont” is a label archaeologists use for the northern con- temporaries of Ancestral Pueblo people. Fremont peoples lived mostly in what is now the state of Utah, in the eastern Great Basin and on the northern Colorado Plateau. Their range extended slightly beyond the modern borders of Utah. Sometime during the first few centuries A.D., people began growing maize (corn) in the region. The first farmers might have been immigrants from the south, or indigenous hunter-gatherers who incorporated maize into their diet; most archaeologists think evidence shows a combination of both patterns. Over the next several hundred years, people across …
Beginnings: The Viejo Period, Jane H. Kelley, Michael T. Searcy
Beginnings: The Viejo Period, Jane H. Kelley, Michael T. Searcy
Faculty Publications
he history of the Medio Period is marked by population growth, aggregation, ideological shifts, and the building of the large, central polity of Paquimé (Casas Grandes). But before this colossal social transformation took place, people in northwest Chihuahua lived a lifestyle that had persisted for at least 400 years, which is known as the Viejo Period. his period is far from the beginning of human occupation in this area; Paleo points, extensive Archaic remains, the early agricultural site of Cerro Juanaqueña (Hard and Roney 1998), and an early pithouse period preceded Paquimé and can be seen as more distant precursors …