Pre-Columbian Archaeology of North America

1. Pre-Columbian Archaeology of North America Week 3: History of Archaeology in North America: The Twentieth Century

2. The Classificatory-Historical Period • Nels C. Nelson • 1916 • Chronology for southwestern United States • Based on work at Pecos Pueblo • A. V. Kidder (Alfred Vincent) • Followed on in Nelson’s work at Pecos • Integrated the stratigraphic method into a regional studies of chronology and culture change • Key work: An Introduction to the Study of Southwestern Archaeology (1924) N

3. Pecos Pueblo:Kidd’s Excavations (1920s)

4. First pre-Holocene artifacts • Jesse Figgins, director of the Colorado Museum of Natural History • A paleontologist • In 1925, given bones of extinct bison (Bison antiquus) found together with a spear point in Folsom, New Mexico in 1908 • Showed them to Hrdlička who was skeptical of the context • Scholars invited to Folsom to see for themselves and more evidence found in situ in 1928 • First good evidence of pre-Holocene occupation of the New World N

5. Ancient bison • Bison antiquus • 15-20% larger than the modern American bison/buffalo (Bison bison) • 220 cm at top of hump, 1300 kg • Considered ancestral • Similar behavior pattern/range as modern bison

6. The Gladwins • Harold S. and Winifred Gladwin • Extended series of publications between 1928 and 1937 • Outlined principles of site description, methodology and nomenclature • Excavated at the sites of Casa Grande and Snaketown (Arizona) • Major works include: • Method for Designation of Ruins in the Southwest (1928) • A Method for Designation of Cultures and their Variations (1934) • A series of publications (1929-31) entitled The Ancient Civilization of Southern Arizona • Focused on “red-on-buff” culture N

7. Red-on-buff Ceramics • Examples of red-on-buff ceramics: • Santa Cruz red-on-buff • Hohokam culture (ca. 700-900 AD) • Paddle and anvil technique • Top: olla (19.05 cm high)

8. Paddle and anvil technique • In paddle and anvil thinning, the potter holds the anvil on the interior of the vessel while beating the exterior of the vessel with the paddle • Replicas of southwestern tools

9. Absolute Dating Techniques • Dendrochronology • Developed by A. E. Douglass • An astronomer working in the first half of the 20th century • First began developing series in 1913 • Floating chronology based on archaeological finds tied to fixed chronology in 1929 • Built master series of growth ring data from long-lived tree species • Bristlecone pine • Methodology • Critical in the development of chronologies in desert environments • Also important in the calibration of radiocarbon dating (C14) • Developed by physicist Willard F. Libby in 1949 • Amount of carbon-14 deposited not consistent over time N

10. Bristlecone pine • Pinus longaeva, Pinus aristata • Western United States at high elevations (above 2500 m) • Max. height: 18 m • Max. girth: 11 m • Methuselah: 4,767 years old

11. Dendrochronology • Wood preserved in desert environment of the Southwest could be compared to the master series and an absolute date determined • Current master series dates back to 7000 BC • Sensitivity of rings to climactic change depends on their location, soil, etc.

12. Clovis • In 1932, amateur collectors find projectile points on the shore of a shallow dry lake in association with the bones of extinct animals • Determined to predate Folsom (stratigraphic position) • Marked beginning of numerous finds of pre-Holocene artifacts

13. Franz Boas (1858-1942) • German-born anthropologist and ethnologist • Help establish field in North America (Columbia University) • His influences directed people to create time sequences for projectile point shapes, pottery styles and other material items • Culture was defined by him as “a conglomerate of traits coalesced and held by a group of people resulting either from that group’s own peculiar history of invention or from contact with new ideas originating outside their society.” • A major goal was the complete description of artifacts and the grouping of artifacts into categories that could be subdivided into artifact types. • Archaeologists worked to define which cultures were associated with certain types of artifacts. They classified potsherds, arrow points and burial mounds as belonging to certain cultures.

14. Other importantmid-century theories • Structuralism /Structural-functionalism • Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955) • Holds that culture traits serve some useful purpose or function in the maintenance of society • Holds that culture traits serve to maintain society's social structure

15. Cultural Ecology • Julian Steward (1902-1972) • Major works • Theory of Culture Change; The methodology of Multilinear Evolution (1955) • Evolution and Ecology (1977) • Attempted to integrate the various subfields of anthropology • Similar environmental challenges resulted in similar cultural outcomes • Focused on how individual cultures evolved and how environment affects culture • Rejected unilineal evolution of culture as proposed by Edward Tylor (1832-1917) and Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881). N

16. Cultural Evolution • First developed in late 19th century using Darwinian models of biological evolution and applying them to cultures. • Tylor and Morgan proposed three stages of cultural evolution: • Savage • The lowest stage, subsistence on wild plants, no soil tilling or animal domestication • Barbaric • Starting to use agriculture • Civilization • Begins with the art of writing, which binds together the past and the future

17. Post-World War II • Beginnings of salvage archaeology in the United States • Interagency Archaeological Salvage Program • Excavated sites located along rivers prior to their being dammed. • Especially active on the Great Plains • Missouri River Basin Project • First salvage project • Lasted from 1946-1967 • Discovered and recorded more than 20,000 sites • Conducted more than 500 major excavations • More than 2,600 reports and manuscripts

18. Site nomenclature in the United States • Site numbers are assigned based on the standard developed by the Smithsonian Institution in the 1940’s for an archaeological River Basin Survey project. • Site numbers are composed of three components, which result in a unique number, but also allow for the identification of a site's state and county level location.

19. Walter W. Taylor • Walter W. Taylor (1913-1997) • Carried out research in the American southwest and Mexico • 1948 doctoral dissertation (later published as A Study of Archaeology) • Landmark work in the history of North American archaeology • Criticized archaeologists for not focusing on anthropology. He said that archaeology as it was currently being conducted was not archaeology; rather, it was historical reconstruction. • This was one of the first times that archaeology and cultural processes were deemed important aspects of archaeology.

20. Taylor’s reforms • Reforms for the current (1940s) archaeological manner of thinking are proposed by Taylor: • (1) inferences should be based on fact (use of the scientific method); • (2) archaeologists need more categories, not fewer, and need to divide those into empirical versus cultural categories; • (3) archaeologists need an emic outlook for typology issues; • (4) all research should involve a geographical background; and • (5) cultural ethnography should be done if possible. • Taylor also outlines the need for field schools, or places that students can learn from professional archaeologists while the professional archaeologists benefit by getting free, trained labor. • Other reforms that Taylor advocates are: • (1) data should be quantified; • (2) hypotheses should be tested; • (3) archaeologists should excavate less extensively and more intensively; • (4) nothing on a site should be thrown away, not even food remains; • (5) archaeology should embrace more specialties, such as zoology and botany; and • (6) archaeologists should write more effective site reports, including things like provenience.

21. New Archaeology • Lewis R. Binford (b. 1930) • New Perspectives in Archaeology (1968) • Edited with his wife Sally Binford • An Archaeological Perspective (1972) • Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology (1978) • In Pursuit of the Past: Decoding the Archaeological Record (1983) • Often referred to as “processal archaeology” • Develop general laws of cultural processes • Understanding the archaeological record is only possible through an understanding of the process through which it was formed • Stressed the importance of “ethnoarchaeology” • the study of living peoples and their material cultures with the goal being the more complete understanding of the archaeological record. • Challenged assumption that much of the past was unknowable merely because the data did not survive: the job was to develop methods for extracting such information • Dominant theoretical perspective in the Americas from the 1960s onwards

22. Other important theoretical approaches in the Americas • Cultural materialism • Marvin Harris (b. 1927) • Cows, Pigs, Wars & Witches: The Riddles of Culture (1974) • Cannibals and Kings: The Origins of Culture (1978) • Cultural materialists study technology, environment, and economic factors. • They believe that these material constraints are the primary cause of cultural variation. • They divide cultural traits into three categories: the infrastructure, structure and superstructure. • The infrastructure is what determines cultural variation and change as infrastructure contains sociocultural systems that are materialistic, such as physical, mechanical, genetic or biological systems. • Cultural materialists argue that feedback relationships between culture and environment select for certain traits within a culture. They also argue that the development of new technology precedes, and results in cultural change • Opponents of cultural materialism argue that cultural materialists ignore the importance that ideas and political ideologies can have on cultures and culture change.

23. Marxism • Still very important in American academia • Marx was strongly influenced by Lewis Henry Morgan • Unilinear cultural evolution • Cultural materialists often have strong Marxist leanings • Stress on modes of production as correlating with cultural manifestations • Emphasis on material culture has provided a strong connection for many archaeologists

24. Federal legislation concerning archaeology I • Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities (1906) • First law of its kind in the United States • Fine of $500 for the unauthorized excavation, injury, destruction or appropriation of historic or pre-historic sites • Historic Preservation Act 1966 • Created the National Register of Historic Places that would include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that were significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, and culture. • National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 • Federal agencies have to write an environmental impact statement for all major federal actions affecting both the natural and man-made environment. • Also applies to any project receiving federal funding (roads, etc.)

25. Federal legislation concerning archaeology II • Archaeological Resources Protection Act 1979 • It covers all land that the United States holds and Native American lands, which are held in trust by the U.S • Definition of archaeological resources and how to go about researching them. • archaeological resource if material remains of past human life or activities are found. These items must be at least 100 years old and contain information dealing with human life or activities. • Nothing that has been found on federal or Native American lands can be sold, exchanged, etc. • Fines of up to $100,000 and prison time of up to five years could be handed out for breaking these provisions. • Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 • Museums and agencies that receive federal funding must keep and inventory all human remains, funerary objects, and sacred objects. • Federally recognized Native American Tribes, including Native Hawaiian organizations can repatriate these items. • A federal agency or tribe must deal with any graves that are inadvertently discovered. They then contact the affiliated Native American group. N

26. Week 2 – Sites (West) • Pecos Pueblo • Folsom • Casa Grande / Snaketown • Clovis

27. Major Missouri River Basin Project Excavations

30. The End