Archaic and Early Agricultural period land use in Cienega Valley, southeastern Arizona

Abstract

A model for differential land use during the Archaic (8500-1700 B.C.) and Early Agricultural (1700 B.C.-A.D. 150/50) periods in southeastern Arizona, specifically the Cienega Valley, the greater Tucson Basin, and the middle San Pedro Valley, is postulated based on the environmental structures of each geographic area. In the Cienega Valley, the model is evaluated by reconstructing land use, settlement patterns, and mobility strategies of foragers and early farmers during the Archaic and Early Agricultural periods from new archaeological survey data and intensive surface collection of 14 Archaic and Early Agricultural period sites. Artifact assemblages, site structure, and artifact distributions from surface collected sites are analyzed. In the greater Tucson Basin and middle San Pedro Valley, land use, settlement patterns, land mobility strategies are reconstructed from Arizona State Museum site files and published archaeological survey and excavation reports. Finally, settlement patterns, land use, and mobility strategies during the Archaic and Early Agricultural periods are compared among the three geographic areas. In Cienega Valley, results indicate temporal variability in Middle Archaic and Early Agricultural lithic technology, settlement patterns, and mobility strategies largely reflect regional trends. Similarities in settlement types and distributions in the Middle Archaic and Early Agricultural periods suggest a major reorganization of settlement did not occur between the two periods, indicating regional cultural continuity during the interval when cultigens were adopted. There are many similarities across the study area in material culture during the Middle Archaic and Early Agricultural periods. These similarities suggest groups in all areas either shared the same culture or had abundant social interaction. However, the physical and vegetative structure of each geographic area produced different availability, abundance, diversity, and types of food resources. As a result, Middle Archaic and Early Agricultural foragers and early farmer/foragers employed somewhat different land use strategies in each geographic area. Finally, this study indicates many subsistence and mobility strategies are possible within an area of shared material culture traits during the transition to agriculture and that this variability needs to be incorporated in models of land use during transitions to agriculture.