Identifying subordinate groups in the archaeological record in colonial situations has gained currency as historical archaeologists have sought to describe and investigate how the perspectives of and roles played by the colonized and the colonizers contribute to processes of culture change in colonial society. Neither the culture of the colonizing group nor the culture(s) of the peoples colonized can really be characterized as a single unit, because a culture represents the reflexive interaction of different groups within the culture. Archaeological interpretation at colonial sites should recognize and incorporate the perspectives of these groups. The model developed in this dissertation uses a processual-plus perspective (Hegmon 2003) to ask questions about gender in a systematic fashion. The author constructs a model for the identification of women at historical sites using ethnographic information and colonial documents and paintings. Archaeological collections from the pueblo of Tubac and Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate are then used to evaluate the model. The archaeological site of Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate (AZ EE:4:11[ASM]) on the Río San Pedro represents a Spanish military installation on the eastern border of the Spanish Pimería Alta. Little documentation has been found that describes the residents or society at the presidio. Charles Di Peso excavated at the site in the 1950s (Di Peso 1953), and a crew from the University of Arizona conducted a surface survey and collection of artifacts in 1993. The colonial pueblo of Tubac was established in 1752 under the protection of Presidio San Ignacio de Tubac. The author had access to Spanish colonial documents that described the society at Tubac. The South Barrio of Tubac (AZ DD:8:33[ASM]) is a site that represents a much disturbed area of colonial-period structures. It was surveyed and excavated by a graduate student at the University of Arizona. Because of problems in the contextual information from both sites and the poor condition of the artifacts, the information proved to be inadequate for evaluating the model. At sites with better contexts and excavation strategies, this model should allow investigation of the material correlates of female activities.

This dissertation explores some of the thousands of smaller Native American archaeological sites with meager architectural elements commonly found along part of the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau in east-central Arizona in an area known as the Mogollon Plateau. Small surface structures of less than five rooms were typically built of a combination of stone masonry and wattle and daub, and they are generally interpreted as evidence of repeated occupations of limited duration, primarily dating between AD 800 and 1300. Accordingly, these small sites have also served a number of roles in ongoing discussions of settlement systems and land use, and they present challenges for cultural resources management. The fundamental characteristics (or lack thereof) typically used to classify small sites have traditionally relegated them to settlement pattern studies rather than extensive excavation, generating a broad range of hypotheses concerning their significance and drawing heavily upon historical ecology. GIS methods are used to explore several ecologically and socially-driven models and examine the roles of small architectural sites in archaeological and systemic landscapes. Common pool resources offer some explanatory power regarding small sites, but some have suggested competition and conflict led to a "tragedy of the commons" and environmental degradation. Two primary site concentrations are identified, and the evidence supports an interpretation of extensive and sustainable use of the area, much of which seems to have been a frontier. Recommendations for research-driven management and preservation of cultural resources are provided.

The Protohistoric period in the Pimería Alta marks the transition from prehistory to history, when the social identities among and between historically documented ethnic groups were shaped and negotiated. This period was characterized by social upheaval and demographic change, marked by the transformation of large archaeological complexes after A.D. 1450, the reorganization of the Southwest demographic landscape during the sixteenth century, and the slow yet inexorable encroachment of Spanish colonialism during the seventeenth century. While the Protohistoric period is central to our understanding of culture change and the negotiation of social identity, this period is not well understood from an anthropological perspective, which obscures our understanding of the relationships among and between archaeological cultures and historically documented ethnic groups. Following a reanalysis of archaeological data, written accounts, oral histories, and ethnographic observations, three models of protohistoric demographic change were evaluated within an ethnohistorical framework. Existing data suggest that historically documented ethnic groups have antecedents in multiple archaeological traditions, rather than a single group. Furthermore, inconsistencies in extant archaeological typologies were identified, resulting in a reevaluation of the validity of the use of these typologies as markers of cultural affiliation. An attribute analysis of these typologies reveals that they are not well defined and cannot be reliably associated with a single ethnic group. This analysis demonstrates that there is rarely a one-to-one correlation between an artifact type and an ethnic identity; rather, it is necessary to examine the practices and behaviors that produce materiality and shape residential spaces to understand the suite of practices that construct and/or express ethnic identity.

After being a dominant decorated ware in the northern Southwest for centuries, Cibola White Ware ceased to be produced in the Grasshopper region of Arizona within a single generation, sometime between A.D. 1300--1325. The demise of Cibola White Ware and the increase in locally-produced Roosevelt and Grasshopper red wares coincided with the transition to full dependence on agriculture in this region. This study draws on feminist theory, theories of technological change, and an extremely robust archaeological record to construct an explanatory model of this ceramic transition by exploring one critical feature of the context in which it occurred: the labor of Grasshopper women. The model proposes that Roosevelt and Grasshopper red ware pottery were less labor-intensive than Cibola White Ware pottery to produce and that their adoption was related to women's scheduling constraints associated with the rapid transition to agriculture.

Among Julian Hayden's many substantial contributions to southwestern prehistory is what can be termed the Malpais model. Developed over the course of decades, Hayden's view of prehistory in the extreme deserts of Mexico's Sierra Pinacate region eventually upheld the Malpais model as a pre-Clovis claim. While Julian Hayden's observations and ideas engaged the interest and participation of numerous archaeologists and geologists in his Sierra Pinacate work, the complicated nature of the sites he studied has left the age and nature of Malpais sites an open question. A re-evaluation of Julian Hayden's Malpais model requires: (1) exploration of documents related to Haydens' Sierra Pinacate fieldwork and the conceptual development of the Malpais model; (2) review of current geological and archaeological studies related to the formation processes of sites located in areas of desert pavement; and (3) an examination of the Malpais model with respect to the Clovis versus pre-Clovis controversy.

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.

This paper presents research on isolated human remains from Grasshopper Pueblo and analyzes the processes by which bone becomes displaced from burials. Isolated human bone has never been systematically examined, which represents a significant gap in the study of the prehistoric American Southwest. This research is important because it is the first determination of the pattern of isolated bone found at an archaeological site and the formation processes that are responsible. It is also relevant for the creation of a standard isolated bone methodology and because it enables a better understanding of burial assemblages and anomalous assemblages of culturally modified bone.Subadults dominate the assemblage and larger elements are better represented than smaller elements. Most of the modifications present are postmortem but perimortem breakage and toolmarks are also present. This research produced a baseline of detailed data on isolated human bone in which patterns and anomalies can be inferred; the results suggest multiple causes of the isolation of the specimens, including prehistoric cultural disturbance, rodent disturbance, and the process of excavation.

Pueblito sites include masonry structures and forked-stick hogans in defensible positions in the traditional Navajo homeland of Dinetah. Pueblitos have been a key piece of evidence used to infer a massive immigration of Puebloans into the Navajo country following the Spanish Reconquest of New Mexico. Archaeological and tree-ring evidence places the sites in their proper temporal and geographic perspectives and suggests that immigration has been overstated as a factor in models of Navajo cultural development. An expanded pueblito site tree-ring database illuminates early Navajo wood use behavior, the temporal and spatial patterning of pueblito site occupations, and relationships between climate and the Navajo occupation and abandonment of Dinetah. Wood use behaviors identified at the pueblito sites include construction with freshly cut and stockpiled timbers, beam reuse, repair and remodeling of structures, and dead wood use. Different selection criteria by the builders, combined with differential preservation, have resulted in different qualitative and quantitative data for pueblitos and forked-stick hogans. The wood use model developed has serious implications for dating early Navajo structures. The tree-ring and archaeological data indicate that most pueblitos are neither temporally nor spatially related to Puebloan immigration or the Spanish Reconquest. Masonry structures and hogans at the sites are contemporaneous and were constructed by Navajos for protection against Ute raiders. Furthermore, most pueblitos were occupied for relatively short periods of time and the regional population density was much lower than has been previously assumed. A dendroclimatic reconstruction indicates that the 1300s and late 1400s were both periods of relatively stable and favorable conditions that may have facilitated Navajo entry into the Dinetah. The drought of 1748, often cited as a cause of the abandonment of the Dinetah, was a single-year event and probably not a "push" in the abandonment. The wide geographic distribution of early Navajo settlement has been ignored because of the spectacular nature of and good preservation in pueblitos. A new model of Navajo ethnogenesis is based on a different early Navajo population distribution and a variety of other means of incorporating non-Athapaskan elements into Navajo culture.

Migration, ethnicity and cultural pattern are reviewed. The research questions how accurately the prehistoric archaeologist can interpret migration and ethnicity by means of a review of the modern migration of a group of Russian sectarians to Baja California, Mexico. Excavations undertaken in seven households at different levels of assimilation with their Mexican and Indian neighbors suggests that material culture does reflect ethnicity under these best of all archaeological circumstances. A methodology for the determination of prehistoric migrations is suggested. It concludes that "cultural pattern" is a more useful concept than "ethnicity" in the determination of archaeological migrations.

The primary goal of this dissertation is to present an outline of the culture history of the site of La Milpa and its immediate sustaining area through the elaboration and elucidation of a ceramic chronology and typology. However, an equally important aspect of this dissertation is a thorough critique of the type-variety/mode (T-V) system of classification upon which Maya ceramic analysis has been based over the last forty years. The analysis presented here was completed using a relational database (Microsoft Access). By using this database program, it became clear that it is necessary to rethink the basis and use of the type-variety system and how (or whether) it can be adapted as a tool for use in database driven analysis.