An Introduction to the Study of Southwestern Archaeology

An Introduction to the Study of Southwestern Archaeology
Author: Alfred Vincent Kidder
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2000-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780300082975

Alfred Vincent Kidder's Introduction to the Study of Southwestern Archaeology was the first regional synthesis and summary of Peublo archaeology. It is a guide to historic and prehistoric sites of the Southwest as well as a preliminary account of Kidder's exemplary excavation at Pecos.

Living Histories

Living Histories
Author: Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2010-11-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 075911997X

This book is about the tangled relationship between Native peoples and archaeologists in the American Southwest. Even as this relationship has become increasingly significant for both "real world" archaeological practice and studies in the history of anthropology, no other single book has synthetically examined how Native Americans have shaped archaeological practice in the Southwest and how archaeological practice has shaped Native American communities. From oral traditions to repatriations to disputes over sacred sites, the next generation of archaeologists (as much as the current generation) needs to grapple with the complex social and political history of the Southwest's Indigenous communities, the values and interests those communities have in their own cultural legacies, and how archaeological science has impacted and continues to impact Indian country.

Ancient Puebloan Southwest

Ancient Puebloan Southwest
Author: John Kantner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2004-11-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780521788809

An introduction to the history of the Puebloan Southwest from the AD 1000s to the sixteenth century, first published in 2004.

A History of the Ancient Southwest

A History of the Ancient Southwest
Author: Stephen H. Lekson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 460
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN:

According to archaeologist Stephen H. Lekson, much of what we think we know about the Southwest has been compressed into conventions and classifications and orthodoxies. This book challenges and reconfigures these accepted notions by telling two parallel stories, one about the development, personalities, and institutions of Southwestern archaeology and the other about interpretations of what actually happened in the ancient past. While many works would have us believe that nothing much ever happened in the ancient Southwest, this book argues that the region experienced rises and falls, kings and commoners, war and peace, triumphs and failures. In this view, Chaco Canyon was a geopolitical reaction to the "Colonial Period" Hohokam expansion and the Hohokam "Classic Period" was the product of refugee Chacoan nobles, chased off the Colorado Plateau by angry farmers. Far to the south, Casas Grandes was a failed attempt to create a Mesoamerican state, and modern Pueblo people--with societies so different from those at Chaco and Casas Grandes--deliberately rejected these monumental, hierarchical episodes of their past. From the publisher: The second printing of A History of the Ancient Southwest has corrected the errors noted below. SAR Press regrets an error on Page 72, paragraph 4 (also Page 275, note 2) regarding "absolute dates." "50,000 dates" was incorrectly published as "half a million dates." Also P. 125, lines 13-14: "Between 21,000 and 27,000 people lived there" should read "Between 2,100 and 2,700 people lived there."

Landscape of the Spirits

Landscape of the Spirits
Author: Todd W. Bostwick
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2002-09-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780816521845

High above the noise and traffic of metropolitan Phoenix, Native American rock art offers mute testimony that another civilization once thrived in the Arizona desert. In the city's South Mountains, prehispanic peoples pecked thousands of images into the mountains' boulders and outcroppings—images that today's hikers can encounter with every bend in the trail. Todd Bostwick, an archaeologist who has studied the Hohokam for more than twenty years, and Peter Krocek, a professional photographer with a passion for archaeology, have combed the South Mountains to locate nearly all of the ancient petroglyphs found in the canyons and ridges. Their years of learning the landscape and investigating the ancient designs have resulted in a book that explores this wealth of prehistoric rock art within its natural and cultural contexts, revealing what these carvings might mean, how they got there, and when they were made. Landscape of the Spirits is the first book to cover these ancient images and is one of the most comprehensive treatments of a rock art location ever published. It conveys the range of different rock art elements and compositions found in the South Mountains—animals, humans, and geometric shapes, as well as celestial and calendrical markings at key sites—through accurate descriptions, drawings, and photographs. Interpretations of the petroglyphs are based on Native American ethnographic accounts and consider the most recent theories concerning shamanism and archaeoastronomy. Written in a simple and accessible style, Landscape of the Spirits is an indispensable volume for anyone exploring the South Mountains, and for rock art enthusiasts everywhere who wish to broaden their understanding of the prehistoric world. It is both an authoritative overview of these ancient wonders and an unprecedented benchmark in southwestern rock art research at a single geographic location.

Social Violence in the Prehispanic American Southwest

Social Violence in the Prehispanic American Southwest
Author: Deborah L. Nichols
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2008-05-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780816526215

Spontaneous acts of violence born of human emotions like anger or greed are probably universal, but social violenceÑviolence resulting from social relationships within and between groups of peopleÑis a much more complex issue with implications beyond archaeology. Recent research has generated multiple interpretations about the forms, intensity, and underlying causes of social violence in the ancient Southwest. Deborah L. Nichols and Patricia L. Crown have gathered nine contributions from a variety of disciplines to examine social violence in the prehispanic American Southwest. Not only offering specific case studies but also delving into theoretical aspects, this volume looks at archaeological interpretations, multidisciplinary approaches, and the implications of archaeological research for Native peoples and how they are impacted by what archaeologists say about their past. Specific chapters address the impacts of raiding and warfare, the possible origins of ritual violence, the evidence for social violence manifested in human skeletal remains, the implications of witchcraft persecution, and an examination of the reasons behind apparent anthropophagy. There is little question that social violence occurred in the American Southwest. These contributions support the need for further discussion and investigation into its causes and the broader implications for archaeology and anthropology. CONTENTS 1. Introduction Patricia Crown and Deborah Nichols 2. Dismembering the Trope: Imagining Cannibalism in the Ancient Pueblo World Randall H. McGuire and Ruth Van Dyke 3. An Outbreak of Violence and Raiding in the Central Mesa Verde Region in the 12th Century AD Brian R. Billman 4. Chaco Horrificus? Wendy Bustard 5. Inscribed in the Body, Written in Bones: The Consequences of Social Violence at La Plata Debra L. Martin, Nancy Akins, Bradley Crenshaw, and Pamela K. Stone 6. Veneration or Violence: A Study of Variations in Patterns of Human Bone Modification at La Quemada Ventura R. PŽrez, Ben A. Nelson, and Debra L. Martin 7. Witches, Practice, and the Context of Pueblo Cannibalism William H. Walker 8. Explanation vs. Sensation: The Discourse of Cannibalism at AwatÕovi Peter Whiteley 9. Devouring Ourselves George J. Armelagos References Cited About the Contributors Index

Ancient Burial Practices in the American Southwest

Ancient Burial Practices in the American Southwest
Author: Douglas R. Mitchell
Publisher: UNM Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780826334619

Prehistoric burial practices provide an unparalleled opportunity for understanding and reconstructing ancient civilizations and for identifying the influences that helped shape them.

The Archaeology of Ancient Arizona

The Archaeology of Ancient Arizona
Author: J. Jefferson Reid
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 1997-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780816517091

Carved from cliffs and canyons, buried in desert rock and sand are pieces of the ancient past that beckon thousands of visitors every year to the American Southwest. Whether Montezuma Castle or a chunk of pottery, these traces of prehistory also bring archaeologists from all over the world, and their work gives us fresh insight and information on an almost day-to-day basis. Who hasn't dreamed of boarding a time machine for a trip into the past? This book invites us to step into a Hohokam village with its sounds of barking dogs, children's laughter, and the ever-present grinding of mano on metate to produce the daily bread. Here, too, readers will marvel at the skills of Clovis elephant hunters and touch the lives of other ancestral people known as Mogollon, Anasazi, Sinagua, and Salado. Descriptions of long-ago people are balanced with tales about the archaeologists who have devoted their lives to learning more about "those who came before." Trekking through the desert with the famed Emil Haury, readers will stumble upon Ventana Cave, his "answer to a prayer." With amateur archaeologist Richard Wetherill, they will sense the peril of crossing the flooded San Juan River on the way to Chaco Canyon. Others profiled in the book are A. V. Kidder, Andrew Ellicott Douglass, Julian Hayden, Harold S. Gladwin, and many more names synonymous with the continuing saga of southwestern archaeology. This book is an open invitation to general readers to join in solving the great archaeological puzzles of this part of the world. Moreover, it is the only up-to-date summary of a field advancing so rapidly that much of the material is new even to professional archaeologists. Lively and fast paced, the book will appeal to anyone who finds magic in a broken bowl or pueblo wall touched by human hands hundreds of years ago. For all readers, these pages offer a sense of adventure, that "you are there" stir of excitement that comes only with making new discoveries about the distant past.

Graphing Culture Change in North American Archaeology

Graphing Culture Change in North American Archaeology
Author: R. Lee Lyman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2021
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0198871155

Documentation, analysis, and explanation of culture change have long been goals of archaeology. Scientific graphs facilitate the visual thinking that allow archaeologists to determine the relationship between variables, and, if well designed, comprehend the processes implied by the relationship. Different graph types suggest different ontologies and theories of change, and particular techniques of parsing temporally continuous morphological variation of artefacts into types influence graph form. North American archaeologists have grappled with finding a graph that effectively and efficiently displays culture change over time. Line graphs, bar graphs, and numerous one-off graph types were used between 1910 and 1950, after which spindle graphs displaying temporal frequency distributions of specimens within each of multiple artefact types emerged as the most readily deciphered diagram. The variety of graph types used over the twentieth century indicate archaeologists often mixed elements of both Darwinian variational evolutionary change and Midas-touch like transformational change. Today, there is minimal discussion of graph theory or graph grammar in introductory archaeology textbooks or advanced texts, and elements of the two theories of evolution are still mixed. Culture has changed, and archaeology provides unique access to the totality of humankind's cultural past. It is therefore crucial that graph theory, construction, and decipherment are revived in archaeological discussion.

Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest

Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest
Author: Arthur H. Rohn
Publisher: UNM Press
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2006
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780826339706

Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest offers a complete picture of Puebloan culture from its prehistoric beginnings through twenty-five hundred years of growth and change, ending with the modern-day Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Arizona. Aerial and ground photographs, over 325 in color, and sixty settlement plans provide an armchair trip to ruins that are open to the public and that may be visited or viewed from nearby. Included, too, are the living pueblos from Taos in north central New Mexico along the Rio Grande Valley to Isleta, and westward through Acoma and Zuni to the Hopi pueblos in Arizona. In addition to the architecture of the ruins, Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest gives a detailed overview of the Pueblo Indians' lifestyles including their spiritual practices, food, clothing, shelter, physical appearance, tools, government, water management, trade, ceramics, and migrations.