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Recent Submissions
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Faculty Senate Minutes April 5, 2021University of Arizona Faculty Senate (Tucson, AZ), 2021-04-05
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Faculty Senate Minutes March 1, 2021University of Arizona Faculty Senate (Tucson, AZ), 2021-03-01
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The Record of Native People on Gulf of California Islands [No. 201]A century ago it was common knowledge among historians and anthropologists with research interests in northwestern Mexico that Indians had inhabited four large islands in the Gulf of California. Three of these islands—Cerralvo, Espíritu Santo, and San José—are in the far southern Gulf off the coast of Baja California. The fourth island, Isla Tiburón, is located on the mainland side more than 400 km to the northwest, in the constricted region of the Gulf known as the Midriff. At the turn of the twentieth century, Isla Tiburón was well known as the homeland of the Seri Indians and was the only Gulf island still inhabited by native people. Since 1900, ethnohistorical and archaeological research has greatly expanded our knowledge of Indians on both sides of the Gulf. Much of that information, however, pertains to the people living on the peninsula and mainland, and touches on the islands only incidentally. Consequently, few historians or anthropologists are aware that Indians made use of many islands in addition to Cerralvo, Espíritu Santo, San José, and Tiburón. Scholars in other fi elds may not even know that there were Indians on the Gulf islands other than Tiburón. This is particularly unfortunate for ecologists because native people have been in the region for thousands of years and may have played a signifi cant role in shaping the island ecosystems we see today. Although indigenous humans were by far the largest native terrestrial mammal on all but two islands, and the most voracious omnivore on all of them, Homo sapiens does not appear on island species lists, and the potential effects of native people on insular ecosystems have seldom been considered. Discoveries made just in the past decade show that researchers in all fi elds have seriously underestimated the extent to which native people made use of the islands. Reports of early Spanish navigators have established the presence of Indians on many islands in addition to the four listed above. Recent archaeological research on several islands, along with fortuitous observations on others, have revealed evidence of native people on islands with no known documentary record of Indians. Chronological data from the southern Gulf establishes a time depth for indigenous people spanning at least ten millennia. New information from Seri oral history alludes to Seri voyages far beyond Isla Tiburón and greatly expands the picture of indigenous people in the Midriff region. Collectively, these results show that the traditional assumption, that most islands were beyond the range of native people, is dead wrong. It is now clear that Indians knew and exploited nearly every signifi cant island in the Gulf. This study reviews the evidence of native people on each of 32 major Gulf islands. The list includes all 22 islands larger than 2 km2 and 10 smaller islands for which some data exist (summarized in Table 3.2). The data are drawn from historical documents, oral history, and the archaeological record. To the extent possible these data are given as quotations from the original sources. Collectively, the evidence suggests that native people were familiar with at least 29 of the 32 islands. For 19 of the islands the evidence can be considered unequivocal, consisting of unambiguous historical documentation, credible oral history, and/or a clear archaeological record. For ten islands there is some evidence of human use, but it is limited, weak, or equivocal, and therefore, in need of corroboration. There are no data of any kind for two islands, and one small island has produced no evidence of native people despite a comprehensive archaeological survey (these data are summarized in Table 4.1). Of course, Indians made greater use of some islands than others. In general, large islands, with a greater diversity of resources (including fresh water), were exploited more than small islands, and several supported permanent or seasonal communities of people. However, native visitors may have been drawn seasonally or intermittently to even very small islands with special resources, such as nesting seabirds, sea lion colonies, concentrations of cactus fruit, and abundant seed crops that appear after a rain. Historic and ethnographic sources show that islands did not need permanent water to sustain native visitors, who were quite capable of bringing water with them, subsisting on temporary water in tinajas, or utilizing water substitutes. Distance was apparently no barrier to native use of islands. The cane balsa was the universal watercraft, and historic sources suggest that balsa traffi c was extensive throughout the Gulf. In the hands of the Indians, the balsa was a swift and seaworthy craft, and navigation was no doubt facilitated by expert knowledge of winds and currents. All but two islands were within a day’s paddle, and in most cases the overwater distance to the more remote islands could have been reduced by island hopping. Although we now know that native people exploited nearly every signifi cant island, we need much more information about the time span over which those visits took place. Indians were certainly making use of many islands during the seventeenth century when European navigators began keeping careful records. Seri oral history fi rmly places Seri ancestors on several Midriff Islands during the nineteenth century and conceivably earlier. Archaeology is potentially capable of extending island chronologies into the prehistoric past, but there has been only limited progress on this front. Fewer than half of the 32 islands considered in this study have been systematically surveyed, and controlled excavations have been conducted on only three islands. Unfortunately, the archaeological record for many islands consists only of surface remains, and includes few or no time-sensitive artifacts or structures, and little or no organic material suitable for radiocarbon analysis. Clovis projectile points from both the Sonora mainland and the Baja California peninsula indicate that humans were present in the Gulf region by 13,000 years ago, which means that native people have been potential island visitors since that time. So far, radiocarbon dates have been secured for only five islands, and for four of these islands the few dates that are currently available all post-date AD 700. However, a series of 179 radiocarbon dates from 40 sites on Isla Espíritu Santo have clearly established this island’s long occupational sequence, which extends from about 9000 BC to the fi fteenth century AD. Although one site on this island produced spectacular radiocarbon ages on shells from approximately 36,550 to greater than 47,500 BP, these shells were probably already ancient when people collected them. During the late Pleistocene and early Holocene it is likely that not all of today’s islands existed, or existed as islands. Some small volcanic islands may not yet have emerged from the sea, while some of today’s islands were connected to the shore by land bridges because sea level was much lower than it is today. Any island without a landbridge connection at that time would have been accessible only by watercraft. These non-landbridge islands should be considered prime places to search for early evidence of navigation. This in turn raises the question of whether initial human entry into the Americas took place by boat along a Pacifi c coastal route, and whether subsequent dispersal involved the Gulf. In most coastal entry and dispersal scenarios, it is assumed that coastally-adapted boat people arriving at the southern tip of Baja California crossed the mouth of the Gulf to the Mexican mainland, making landfall in Sinaloa or even farther south. However, as R. James Hills has pointed out, this is highly unlikely. People arriving at the southern tip of the peninsula would have seen seemingly endless ocean in all directions except along the peninsular coast leading into the Gulf. There would have been no reason for people adapted to coastal resources to set out into an apparently empty sea. Instead, they would have followed the coastline into the Gulf, presumably exploring the islands along the way. The fi rst reasonable place to cross the Gulf would have been the Midriff, where they could have island-hopped to the mainland with no overwater distance exceeding 17 km. In Hills’ scenario, the Gulf would occupy a pivotal position in human dispersal in the Americas, and it is possible that evidence of this process has been preserved on some of the Gulf islands.
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Hohokam Archaeology Along the Salt Gila Aqueduct Central Arizona Project - Volume VII: Environment and Subsistence [No. 150 Vol. 7]This seventh volume in the nine-volume series showing results of archaeological studies along the Salt-Gila Aqueduct, focuses upon studies of environmental conditions and subsistence practices at the 45 Hohokam sites investigated by the project. These represent an important element of project research and a level of attention to these studies unprecedented in Hohokam archaeology. It is in this volume that the final results of botanical, faunal, and palynological work are reported. In addition, there are summary statements on SGA Project work related to agricultural technology, broader agricultural strategies, and strategies for the exploitation of natural resources of the Sonoran Desert. This work, taken as a whole, reflects the extraordinary diversity and flexibility of Hohokam subsistence strategies. While drought and floods are the inevitable enemies of agricultural populations, the Hohokam appear to have developed the means of coping with their environment early in their history.
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Hohokam Habitation Sites in the Northern Santa Rita Mountains [No. 147, Vol. 2, Part 2]Comparisons show them to be similar to forms known from other Hohokam sites. In the ninth chapter an analysis of the factors influencing settlement location is presented. Variables such as topography, soils, vegetation, elevation, and distance to permanent water are found to have low correlations to site location, but location of sites is highly correlated to stream profile gradient. Comparisons with sites located in similar areas in southeastern Arizona suggest that this variable may have considerable explanatory and predictive power. The last chapter pulls together all available data to examine the nature of the Hohokam occupation of the Rosemont area. Functional site types and intrasite organization are first discussed. Three categories of functional site types (new farmsteads, stable or growing farmsteads, and one site with a ballcourt) are recognized, as is a pattern on intrasite organization which is probably based in part on Hohokam customs and in part on local topography. Economy and subsistence are next examined, and from the meager data available it is proposed that maize agriculture supplemented by hunting and gathering of upland fauna and flora supported the area's inhabitants. Examination of areal and regional relationships indicates principal contacts with the Phoenix Basin Hohokam, the Mogollon, and the Trincheras cultures. Intrusive decorated pottery is the primary evidence for contact, although the presence of a large number of inhumations and certain aspects of architecture provide further documentation of intercultural contact. The nature of the Tucson Basin Hohokam occupation of the area is next traced in terms of site distribution, population distribution, and intersite organization. Possible organization of the Rosemont "local system" is discussed, and reconstructions of temporal trends in settlement and population numbers are presented. Unstable climatic conditions, in conjunction with overexploitation of the local resource base, is suggested to be the ultimate cause of abandonment of the Rosemont area.
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Archaeological Investigations in West-Central Arizona: The Cyprus-Bagdad Project [No. 136]For ten weeks during the late spring and summer of 1976, the Arizona State Museum conducted data recovery operations at seven archaeological sites as part of the Cyprus-Bagdad Project. These sites were located within the right-of-way of a pipeline to be built by the Cyprus-Bagdad Copper Company, and were investigated in an effort to mitigate adverse impacts from pipeline construction. Research conducted within the project was directed primarily toward problems involving prehistoric adaptation to the local environ- ment. The analyzed data were applied to the testing of hypotheses regarding the relationship of site locations to local availability of water and to the locations of economically significant resources. Also tested were hypotheses intended to assess the importance of agriculture as a mode of subsistence for the area's prehistoric inhabitants. The data were also used to determine the functions of individ- ual project sites. Analysis indicates that these sites represent differing functions ranging from specialized activities such as 1ithic raw material procurement and wild plant food procurement and proces- sing to long-term habitation. At least one site possessed material remains that indicated its inhabitants practiced agriculture. Evi- dence from the project sites also suggests that the availability of water was perhaps the primary consideration of the area's prehistoric inhabitants in determining site location. The history of previous anthropological research and the cul- ture history of the project area are briefly discussed. All seven project sites are described in terms of their condition when discov- ered; morphology; environment; architectural and agricultural features; and chipped stone, ground stone, and ceramic assemblages. The appendices to this report discuss the cr i teria used in evaluating the various artifact assemblages and the location and composition of local source areas of lithic raw material.
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Test Excavations at Painted Rock Reservoir: Sites AZ Z:1:7, AZ Z:1:8, and AZ S:16:36 [No. 143]This report describes the results of test excavations undertaken by the Arizona State Museum during 1978 and 1979 in the vicinity of Gila Bend, Arizona, for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Excavations at AZ Z:1 :7 and AZ Z:1 :8 .involved Santa Cruz and Sacaton Phase Hohokam components within an area that was scheduled for agricultural development. Excavations at AZ S:16:36 were undertaken in connection with proposed modifications of the borrow area at Painted Rock Dam. This site consisted of rock circles and was apparently typical of an interesting archaeological complex concentrated on the northern terraces of the Gila River. Testing results were inconclusive with respect to the cultural affiliation and function of these sites. The report includes a reassessment of prehistory in the Gila Bend area. It is intended to provide a context for the evaluation of. the data derived from these sites. This reassessment is unquestionably speculative. It is hoped, however, that it may encourage others to perform further research in the area.
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An Archaeological Sample Survey of the Middle Santa Cruz River Basin, Picacho Reservoir to Tucson, Arizona: A Class II Survey of the Proposed Tucson Aqueduct Phase A, Central Arizona Project [No. 148]This report presents the results of the Class II (sample) survey of the Tucson Division of the Central Arizona Project. The survey was designed to test the predictive model developed as a part of the Class I (overview) survey of the project area (Westfall 1979). Statistical tests using the survey data show that the model was not particularly successful in predicting the location of cultural resources within the survey area and that it definitely underestimated the archaeological sensitivity of Zone 4, the creosote-bur sage community, which covers most of the project area. Although there was no significant difference in the frequency of sites between zones, the survey results suggest that Zone 3, which includes the desert wash systems of the area, is relatively higher in archaeological sensitivity. An alternate model based on topography and availability of water is evaluated using the survey data. This model may provide a more accurate approximation of site distribution. Finally, recommendations for selection of an aqueduct alignment or alignments and for future archaeological work are provided. As suggested by Westfall, the areas along major water sources such as the Santa Cruz River, McClellan, Brady, and possibly Durham washes, are high in archaeological sensitivity. More sites and larger, more complex sites are concentrated in these areas; construction in these areas should be minimized or avoided if possible. Additional archaeological studies should attempt to assess the relationships between sites, and to determine whether the topographic model proposed in this report may be a reliable predictor of site location. Further survey may permit refinement of this model, or may suggest an alternative which is a better estimator of site distribution. The necessary data concerning functional site types are not readily derived from surface observations, and model testing may await excavation of some sites in the area.
