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Although humans in the Southwest were hunter-gatherers for about 85
percent of their history, the majority of the archaeological
research in the region has focused on the Formative period. In
recent years, however, the amount of data on the Archaic period has
grown exponentially due to the magnitude of cultural resource
management projects in this region. The Archaic Southwest: Foragers
in an Arid Land is the first volume to synthesize this new data.
The book begins with a history of the Archaic in the Four Corners
region, followed by a compilation and interpretation of
paleoenvironmental data gathered in the American Southwest. The
next twelve chapters, each written by a regional expert, provide a
variety of current research perspectives. The final two chapters
present broad syntheses of the Southwest: the first addresses the
initial spread of maize cultivation and the second considers
present and future research directions. The reader will be
astounded by the amount of research that has been conducted and how
all this information can be woven together to form a long-term
picture of hunter-gatherer life.
Why and when human societies shifted from nomadic hunting and
gathering to settled agriculture engages the interest of scholars
around the world. One of the most fruitful areas in which to study
this issue is the North American Southwest, where Late Archaic
inhabitants of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts of Mexico,
Arizona, and New Mexico turned to farming while their counterparts
in Trans-Pecos and South Texas continued to forage. By
investigating the environmental, biological, and cultural factors
that led to these differing patterns of development, we can
identify some of the necessary conditions for the rise of
agriculture and the corresponding evolution of village life. The
twelve papers in this volume synthesize previous and ongoing
research and offer new theoretical models to provide the most
up-to-date picture of life during the Late Archaic (from 3,000 to
1,500 years ago) across the entire North American Borderlands. Some
of the papers focus on specific research topics such as stone tool
technology and mobility patterns. Others study the development of
agriculture across whole regions within the Borderlands. The two
concluding papers trace pan-regional patterns in the adoption of
farming and also link them to the growth of agriculture in other
parts of the world.
The American Southwest is characterized by environmentally and
culturally diverse landscapes, which include the northern Rio
Grande valley as it cuts through north-central New Mexico from Taos
to Albuquerque. The region has a long and rich history of
anthropological research primarily focused on the archaeological
remains found along this valley corridor. Only recently has
research involving large-scale surveys and excavations been
conducted on the nearby mesas and mountains that form the rugged
margins of the river valley. "From Mountain Top to Valley Bottom
"incorporates this new research into a perspective that links the
ever-changing and complementary nature of lowland and upland land
use.
The essays in this collection are unified by three specific themes:
landscape, movement, and technology. Landscape involves the
ecological backdrop of the northern Rio Grande valley, including
past and present environments. Movement refers to the positioning
of people across the landscape along with the dynamic and fluid
nature with which people--past and present--view their relationship
with the "above" and "below." Technology not only refers to the
tools and facilities that past people may have used but to the
organization of labor needed to cooperatively exploit a variety of
subsistence resources and the exchange of products across the
region. This volume provides both a cross section of current
research from expert scholars and a broad perspective that seeks to
integrate new data from lowland and upland contexts. "From Mountain
Top to Valley Bottom "will appeal to those interested in obsidian
source studies, geoarchaeology, past climatic regimes, foraging
societies, early agriculture, ceramic technology, subsistence,
early village formation, ethnogenesis, and historic multiethnic
economies.
The end of the Pleistocene era brought dramatic environmental
changes to small bands of humans living in North America: changes
that affected subsistence, mobility, demography, technology, and
social relations. The transition they made from Paleoindian
(Pleistocene) to Archaic (Early Holocene) societies represents the
first major cultural shift that took place solely in the Americas.
This event--which manifested in ways and at times much more varied
than often supposed--set the stage for the unique developments of
behavioral complexity that distinguish later Native American
prehistoric societies.
Using localized studies and broad regional syntheses, the
contributors to this volume demonstrate the diversity of
adaptations to the dynamic and changing environmental and cultural
landscapes that occurred between the Pleistocene and early portion
of the Holocene. The authors' research areas range from Northern
Mexico to Alaska and across the continent to the American
Northeast, synthesizing the copious available evidence from
well-known and recent excavations.With its methodologically and
geographically diverse approach, "From the Pleistocene to the
Holocene: Human Organization and Cultural Transformations in
Prehistoric North America" provides an overview of the present
state of knowledge regarding this crucial transformative period in
Native North America. It offers a large-scale synthesis of human
adaptation, reflects the range of ideas and concepts in current
archaeological theoretical approaches, and acts as a springboard
for future explanations and models of prehistoric change.
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