Description
Book SynopsisArchaeology in the Great Basin and Southwest is a compilation of papers by friends and colleagues that honour Don D. Fowler. The volume encompasses the breadth and depth of Fowler’s work in archaeology and sister disciplines with original scholarship on the human past of the arid west. Included are theoretical, methodological, and empirical papers that synthesize and present fresh perspectives on Great Basin and Southwest archaeology and cover a sweep of topics from Paleoindian research to collaboration with Native Americans. Fowler has continually reminded scholars that to understand the past we must know how the local and specific is regionally and transculturally contextualized, how what we know came to be recognised, studied, and interpreted—in short, how the past still affects the present—and how regional and topical archaeology is part of a disciplinary endeavour that is as concerned with rigorous and inclusive knowledge production as it is with site description and cultural syntheses.
Readers will learn about the nature of archaeological careers, how archaeology has been conceptualized and conducted, the strengths and limitations of past and present approaches, and the institution building and political processes in which archaeologists engage. Contributors posit new thoughts designed to stimulate new lines of research and reflect on the state of our current knowledge about a wealth of topics. Each paper asks four questions about what Great Basin and southwestern archaeologists currently know: Where have we been? Where are we now? What do we still need to learn? Where are we going? This comprehensive volume will be of interest to those practicing or teaching archaeology and to students seeking to understand the intricacies of Great Basin and Southwest archaeology.
Trade Review“A significant contribution. This is the only volume that I know of that presents up-to-date analyses, discussion, and syntheses of the archaeology of the Great Basin and the Southwest in one place.”—Barbara J. Mills, University of Arizona
“Don Fowler’s career in archaeology spans more than 50 years, but that impressive figure does not express its remarkable breadth: the archaeology of the Great Basin and Southwest, rock art, collections-based and archival research, legislation to protect archaeological resources, the creation of non-profits and endowments to promote research and stewardship, the history of archaeology, the promotion of good relations between archaeologists and Native Americans, and more. The papers in this volume testify to the breadth of Don’s career, and duly honor someone who often worked behind the scenes to help shape western archaeology into the field it is today.”—Robert L. Kelly, University of Wyoming
Table of ContentsList of Figures
List of Tables
Part 1/Introducing Don D. Fowler
1. Honoring Don D. Fowler: An Introdction
Nancy J. Parezo and Joel C. Janetski2. Don D. Fowler, Archaeologist
C. Melvin Aikens3. Don Fowler and the Glen Canyon Project: Formative Experiences
William D. LipePart 2/Case Studies and Regional Syntheses
4. West of the Plains: PaleoIndian in the Southwest
Bruce B. Huckell5. The Earliest Stemmed Points of the Intermountain West: Making a Long Story Short
Ted Goebel and Joshua L. Keene6. Moving into the Mid-Holocene: The Paleoarchaic/Archaic Transition in the Intermountain West. Appendix. Sites with Cultural Radiocarbon Dates ranging between 10,000 and 6000 rcy BP.
George T. Jones and Charlotte Beck7. Points on a Continuum: Three Sites in a Middle Archaic Settlement System in the Western Great Basin
D. Craig Young8. Foragers, Farmers, and In Between: Variability in the Late Archaic of Southern Arizona
Barbara J. Roth9. The Later Prehistory of the Great Basin and the Southwest: Thinking about Fremont
Stephen H. Lekson10. Fremont Social Organization: A Southwestern Perspective
Joel C. Janetski and Richard K. Talbot11. Alta Toquima: Why Did People Spend Summers at 11,000 Feet?
David Hurst Thomas12. Resolving the Promontory Culture Enigma
John W. Ives13. Rock Art’s Half Century and More: Research in the Great Basin and the Northern Southwest.
Polly Schaafsma14. Some Thoughts on Evolution, Ecology, and Archaeology in the Great Basin
Steven R. Simms, James F. O’Connell, and Kevin T. JonesPart 3/Specialty Studies in Social and Historical Contexts
15. Eight Decades Eating Dust: A History of Archaeological Research at Danger Cave
David B. Madsen16. Long-Term Continuity and Change in Obsidian Conveyance at Danger Cave, Utah. Appendix. Trace Element Composition, Stratigraphic Occurrence, and Obsidian Source Attributions.
Richard Hughes17. Naming the Desert Bighorn
David Rhode18. When the Elders Speak, Just Listen
Heidi Roberts19. Archaeology, Legitimacy, and the Contemporary Native Nation
MarÍa Nieves ZedeÑo20. Microcosm and Macrocosm in Southwestern Archaeology
David R. Wilcox21. The Role of Nonprofit Organizations in Southwestern Archaeology
William H. Doelle22. The Evolution of Historical Archaeology in the American West
Donald L. Hardesty and Eugene Hattori23. Origins of an Archaeological Tree-ring Data Set: Flagstaff Area, Northeastern Arizona
Richard V. N. Ahlstrom and Christopher Downum24. An Embarrassment of Riches: Tree-Ring Dating, the History of Archaeology, and the Interpretation of Pre-Columbian History at Mesa Verde National Park
Stephen E. Nash and Nina Rogers25. In Praise of Collections Research: Basketmaker Roots of Chacoan Ritual Practices
Laurie Webster, Linda Cordell, Kelley Hays-Gilpin, and Edward JolieList of Contributors
Index
