The Archaic Occupation of the Rosemont Area, Northern Santa Rita Mountains, Southeastern Arizona [No. 147, Vol. 1]
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1984Keywords
Excavations (Archaeology) -- Arizona -- Rosemont Area, Santa Rita Mountains.Archaeological sites -- Rosemont Area, Santa Rita Mountains.
Archaeology -- Arizona -- Rosemont Area, Santa Rita Mountains.
Antiquities.
Archaeology.
Excavations (Archaeology)
Rosemont Area (Ariz.) -- Antiquities.
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Arizona State Museum Archaeological Series No. 147, Vol. 1Citation
Huckell, Bruce B. 1984. The Archaic Occupation of the Rosemont Area, Northern Santa Rita Mountains, Southeastern Arizona. Arizona State Museum Archaeological Series No. 147, Vol. 1. Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson.Description
The Archaic Occupation of the Rosemont Area, Northern Santa Rita Mountains, Southeastern Arizona by Bruce B. Huckell. Contributions by Lisa W. Huckell, Robert S. Thompson. Submitted by Cultural Resource Management Division, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona. Prepared for ANAMAX Mining Company, 1984. Archaeological Series No. 147, Vol. 1.Abstract
This report describes and discusses data recovery operations at 10 Archaic sites within the ANAMAX-Rosemont land exchange area in the northern Santa Rita Mountains on the Coronado National Forest, south- eastern Arizona. The nature of the post-Paleo-Indian, preceramic occupation of the Southwestern region is briefly discussed, and use of the term "Archaic" to describe this occupation is justified. A general description of the upland or montane environmental setting of the Rosemont area is provided, and a brief discussion of paleoenvironmental conditions is presented. Theoretical foundations for the study of the sites as examples of the use of the area by prehistoric hunting- gathering societies are also stated, as are the principal research problem domains: the cultural and temporal affinities, and the subsistence-settlement systems reflected by the sites. Field methods are discussed, followed by specific descriptions of the results of investigations conducted at each site. The methods by which the artifact assemblages from the sites were analyzed are next presented, and the nature and composition of the artifact assemblage from each site is described in detail. Three periods of occupation: Early(?), Middle, and Late Archaic, are represented in these assemblages. Each of these periods is defined and discussed, and extensive comparisons of the artifact assemblages from the Rosemont sites with those recovered from sites elsewhere in the Southwest and surrounding areas are made. It is proposed that the Rosemont sites show close affinities to those elsewhere in the general Southwestern region, and that continued use of the Cochise culture as a subregional cultural-historical entity is inappropriate. Use of the phrase "Southwestern Archaic" is urged, in recognition of these close interregional relationships. Analysis of specific subsistence activities and settlement patterns represented by the Rosemont sites is undertaken. Statistical analyses of artifact assemblage composition suggest functionally differentiated site classes, correlable in certain instances to settlement location, resource distribution, and perhaps seasonality. Data from sites recorded by survey but not further investigated are added to the information from the 10 investigated sites, and a broader view of subsistence-settlement systems through time and the changing role of the Rosemont area in that framework are proposed. Finally, the value of smaller, open Archaic sites for the study of cultural-temporal and subsistence-settlement phenomena is affirmed, and suggestions for future research on the Southwestern Archaic are made.Type
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Rosemont: The History and Archaeology of Post-1880 Sites in the Rosemont Area, Santa Rita Mountains, Arizona [No. 147, Vol. 3]The Rosemont historic sites project was performed by Archaeological Research Services, Inc. for the Arizona State Museum as part of a larger archaeological mitigation program for sites to be impacted by a proposed land exchange between the u.s. Forest Service and the ANAMAX Mining Company. The project area was located on the northeast flank of the Santa Rita Mountains in Pima County. It was situated on the Wasp Canyon, McCleary Canyon and Barrel Canyon washes and their tributaries. The sites were found between 4720 feet to about 5400 feet in elevation. Two sites were located on the west side of the mountains. A total of 30 sites, covering a period of over 100 years, was investigated from early May 1982 to the end of October 1982. The results of the field study are presented in Chapters 4 to 8. Chapter 4 covers the 14 sites identified as mining related sites, including the two communities of Old and New Rosemont. From a historical and an archaeological perspective, the latter two sites were probably the most important of all the sites studied. Chapter 5 reports the results of the study of five ranches. Four of these sites were small operations where the tenants owned none of the land. The VR Ranch was the only one of the five sites that could be considered a ranch in the traditional sense. It is still occupied. Chapter 6 presents the results of the study of the u.s. Forest Service facility near Old Rosemont. The two sites were occupied from about 1904 to about 1937. Chapter 7 discusses the site of the Old Rosemont school and a site believed to have been occupied by at least one of the many school teachers. The final chapter, Chapter 8, presents information on seven sites whose exact functions or purposes are unknown. Some of these sites experienced multiple occupations. Accompanying the archaeological field project was an effort to locate historical records and photographs and to interview knowledgeable individuals, for the purpose of obtaining as much relevant historical information on the 30 sites as practicable. The data from these sources were combined with the archaeological data collected to provide as complete a view as possible of life in mining camps, small ranches, government related sites and other sites in the Rosemont area. This research has resulted in an archaeological study of 30 sites. In a larger sense, it has also contributed to a better understanding of the Mexican sub culture and its role in the development of southern Arizona, of the history of mining and ranching in the Rosemont area and of the economic interaction networks operative through time. It has also provided information on subsistence, on settlement, on the general character of the population and, to a lesser extent, on the technology of the time.
