Sections:
1. History of Archaeology in the Southwest
2. Dating the Past
3. Environment of the Southwest
Readings
Chapter 1, "From Clovis to Coronado," The Archaeology of Ancient Arizona
Video
Jefferson Reid: Field Stories (Requires QuickTime Media Player)
Study Terms
| John Wesley Powell Byron Cummings Frank Hamilton Cushing Jesse Walter Fewkes A.V. Kidder Emil Haury Harold Gladwin Harold S. Colton Richard Wetherill |
Amerind Foundation Gila Pueblo Archaeological Foundation Museum of Northern Arizona Arizona State Museum Pecos Conference and Pecos Classification Exploring, Protecting, and Collecting 1879-1920 Tracing the History of Past Peoples and Cultures 1920-1960 The Transformation of American Archaeology 1960-1992 |
Discussion
Southwestern archaeology begins in 1879 with the founding of the Bureau of American Ethnology. A little more than one hundred years is divided into three periods. Wilderness exploration, artifact collection, and site protection characterized the first from 1879 to 1920. Classifying artifacts, especially pottery, and writing culture histories, marked the second period from 1920 to 1960. A third period from 1960 to 1992 marks an elaboration of historical and scientific research combined with a growing concern with the rightful place of the American Indian in the construction of their prehistory.
Exploring, Collecting, and Protecting Prehistory 1879 to 1920
1879: John Wesley Powell, the Union Major who lost his right forearm in the Civil War battle of Shiloh (1862), helped create and directed the United States Geological Survey (1881-1893) and the Bureau of American Ethnology (1879-1902). He is also renowned in Arizona for his daring explorations of the Grand Canyon and Colorado River.
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1880: Adolph Francois Bandelier, a naturalized American born in Switzerland, begins exploring ruins in the Verde, San Pedro, Salt, and Gila River Valleys, around Tucson, and on the White Mountain Apache Reservation for the Archaeological Institute of America.
1887: Frank Hamilton Cushing, studying Zuni Pueblo since 1879 for the Bureau of American Ethnology, excavates ruins near Phoenix for the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition financed by Mrs. Mary Hemenway of Boston. Cushing excavates at Los Muertos and at Pueblo Grande. Emil W. Haury would later define the Classic Period Hohokam in his doctoral dissertation based on Cushing's work at Los Muertos.
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1888: On December 18th Richard Wetherill, a Mancos cowboy, and Charlie Mason discover Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling in North America, while rounding up stray cattle in present-day Mesa Verde National Park.
1893: Jesse Walter Fewkes begins exploring pueblo ruins in northern Arizona. He excavates at Awat'ovi and Sityatki on the Hopi Reservation, at Homol'ovi outside of Winslow, and at the Chavez Pass and Chevelon ruins.
Arizona Territorial Museum (Arizona State Museum) is established in Tucson at the University of Arizona.
1906: The first "Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities" becomes law protecting antiquities on federal land.
The United States Congress establishes Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. Montezuma Castle, a Sinagua cliff dwelling, is designated a National Monument.
1909: Byron Cummings of the University of Utah, William B. Douglass of the Department of the Interior, and John Wetherill, Richard's brother, are the first white men to discover Rainbow Natural Bridge. Navajo National Monument is designated and includes Kiet Siel and Betatakin, two Anasazi cliff dwellings occupied during the last half of the A.D. 1200s.
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1912: Nels C. Nelson is credited with conducting the first stratigraphic excavations in the Southwest at Tano Ruins, New Mexico.
1915: Byron Cummings, at the age of 55, resigns from the University of Utah to become Head of the Department of Archaeology (Anthropology) and Director of the Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona.
A.V. Kidder begins excavation at Pecos Pueblo, New Mexico (1915-1929)
1916: The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society is founded in Tucson.
Harold S. Colton begins his lifelong investigation of prehistory in the Flagstaff area.
The National Park Service is established.
1918: Casa Grande Ruins, a Hohokam site of the late Classic period, is designated a National Monument.
Tracing the History of Past People and Culture 1920 to 1960
1924: Wupatki National Monument, north of Flagstaff, is designated. United States Congress grants American Indians the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote.
1925: Emil W. Haury, age 21, begins his archaeological career when he joins Byron Cummings at Cuicuilco, a Preclassic ceremonial center on the outskirts of Mexico City.
1926: Folsom, New Mexico, discovered by the Black cowboy George McJunkin, documents the association of spear points in the ribs of an extinct species of bison. Folsom is excavated by J.D. Figgins of the Denver Museum of Natural History, and acknowledged as the first conclusive evidence for people in North America at the end of the Ice Age along with elephants, camels, and saber-toothed tigers.
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Byron Cummings excavates artifacts associated with elephant bones at Double Adobe near Douglas, Arizona.
1927: A. V. Kidder organizes the first Pecos Conference at Pecos Pueblo, New Mexico. The historic achievement of this conference is to agree upon the diagnostic features for the Basketmaker-Pueblo cultural sequence still widely used by archaeologists – Basketmaker II, Basketmaker III, Pueblo I, Pueblo II, Pueblo III, and Pueblo IV.
1928: Harold S. Colton and Mary-Russell Colton establish the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.
Harold S. Gladwin and Winifred Jones MacCurdy (Gladwin) establish the Gila Pueblo Archaeological Foundation in Globe.
