Archaeology at the Edge of the Blue Waters

A Holistic Approach to Cultural Resource Management
with the Havasupai of the Grand Canyon

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INTRODUCTION

Through a holistic approach to cultural resource management, including archaeology, ethnography, and environmental assessment, an investigation of the plateau uplands of the Havasupai People of the Grand Canyon was accomplished by Stantech Consulting and the People of Havasupai.

To see a map of the Project Area Location, click here:

This research contributed to our knowledge of an isolated peoples way of life. In addition, archaeological and ecological data collection will allow a living culture to reach an understanding of their current environment circumstances, and enable them to make decisions regarding their future, based upon a study of their past.

This research was a joint effort involving Tribal members and professional archaeologists. A unique viewpoint was gained by having Tribal members aid in the in-field interpretation of cultural resources, environmental settings, and resource exploitation. In addition, the historical, ritual, and spiritual significance of a living cultures view of its own ancestors offered a very valuable and illuminating perspective in the interpretation of cultural resources.

Before the initiation of fieldwork, all field and laboratory personal received consultation and religious blessing from Tribal Elders, and at all loci that were disturbed by analysis specific offerings and ceremonies were performed to preserve a harmonious interaction between our scientific efforts and Tribal sensibilities.

PHYSICAL AND ECOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

The topography of the project area varies from level areas, to gentle slopes along the sides of hills, to more severe ridge slopes ranging from 15% to 30%, to nearly vertical drops into deep canyons adjacent to the project area. The region is an eroding finger of the Coconino Plateau on the western rim of Cataract Canyon. This formation has an average elevation of 5,700 feet above sea level, with a drop of almost 2,000 feet to the bottom of the canyon immediately east of the project area. Surface sediments consist of reddish-brown to tan sandy-silt matrices with numerous compact, fractured limestone pebbles often forming pavements on the surface. Numerous erosional limestone sinks are located throughout the region and limestone bedrock is exposed throughout the project area.

To see more of the Havasupai and their community, click here for a visual tour.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF FIELDWORK

All artifacts located were considered cultural events, and given weighted consideration in the
interpretation of the cultural history of the Project Area.

Loci were classified as:

Activity Events: distributions suggesting expedient actions such as tool manufacture, retouching, or tool loss;

Resource Allocation Events: including events such as lithic raw material procurement and plant material procurement and processing;

Habitation Events: locations with evidence of some degree of habitation, including thermally altered features, habitation structures, and agricultural features.

Activity Events
The activity event assemblage was primarily flaked stone scatters composed of Kaibab chert debitage and tools, likely from a raw material source in Cataract Creek Canyon. Several event loci contained non-local obsidian and dacite materials, formed into Middle Archaic Pinto Basin Points, dating to circa 6,800-3,500 Y.B.P..
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Overall, the activity event distribution suggests a pattern of expedient tool creation and modification, likely associated with hunting and foraging. This is consistent with the known historical use of the project area by the Havasupai as a seasonal hunting and gathering resource base. The non-local obsidian suggests trade, and when sourcing is complete, more detailed information may be available about such activities.
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Habitation Events Analysis and Interpretation
AZ B:14:13 (ASM) is an artifact scatter with features, approximately 120m2 in surface area, located on an eastern ridge slope. Surficial material culture includes ceramics, lithics, and groundstone associated with a stone ringed structure, with the possible association of a water collection feature and a water control feature. The artifact assemblage includes at least eight different ceramic types; groundstone items; and multiple chipped stone fragments, tools, cores and projectile points. AZ B:14:13 (ASM) has both contextual and geomorphological indications of additional information potential. It was recommended as eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places under criterion d.
Material Culture

Primary Feature: A horseshoe shaped stone ring, possibly a wickiup-like support, with an intact hearth

A water collection feature carved into the stone substrate behind the structure, tribal members called this a whi', which functioned to catch rainwater and dew

A bermed linear feature, which appears to be a canal or irrigation ditch, approximately 150 meters downslope from the structure

Three primary ceramic series are represented: with a date range of A.D. 800-1300

.....Tusayan series (Northeastern Kayenta Anasazi)

.....Tsegi series (Little Colorado River Basin Kayenta Anasazi)

.....San Francisco Mountain series (Cohonina Plateau Cohonina)

Eight (8) distinct ceramic types were observed, including three plainware varieties

Lithic materials included reduction flakes, flake fragments and cores, and sandstone manos and metates

Tools included several Early Archaic San Dieguito Phase Obsidian projectile points (7,500-4,500 Y.B.P.)

Additional items included several small dacite disks: Tribal members suggest these were used as "coinage" in trade with the Hopi

CONCLUSIONS
A Holistic Interpretation of Cultural Resources
The various cultural event loci appear to represent sporadic resource exploitation of the project area, especially for hunting, gathering and food processing, as well as local raw material exploitation. For theoretical evaluation, if we were to consider AZ B:14:13 (ASM) as a central occupation for the immediate area, a tethered resource attainment zone would encompass an area around this point. This resource attainment area would include local resources for: the hunting of wild game such as deer, antelope and rabbits; the gathering of wild plant foods such as numerous grasses, mesquite beans, agave, and prickly pear; the collection of raw material sources such as cherts and basalts for chipped stone items, and sandstones for ground stone implements; and possibly limited cultivation activities including corn and wild grains.
Groups with a broad annual range and high residential mobility will encounter scheduling conflicts between the labor required for cultivation and wild resource procurement. This may have provided little selective advantage for agricultural adaptation. It is possible that the Havasupai Project Area 1 components represent an adaptive system, such as a foraging economy, based on residential mobility (Binford 1980; Vierra and Doleman 1994; Yellen 1976, 1977). The obsidian source evidence, indicating such diverse locations as the Coconino Plateau and western Arizona, suggests a procurement strategy commensurate with current models of hunter-gatherer range, mobility, and interaction (Huckell 1995; Mauldin 1996; Roth 1996; Shackley 1996; Wills 1988). In such systems, the same set of activities can be expected to be constantly relocated, although the archaeological assemblages left behind may vary in both size and diversity, depending on occupational intensity and preservation (Vierra and Doleman 1994). At present the data are inadequate for more than a tentative appraisal of whether this pattern is representative of the Late Archaic subsistence-settlement system in the Havasupai Project Area 1.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The People of Havasupai, Supai, Arizona:
.....Chairman Lincoln Manakaja
.....Tribal Council Member Roland Manakaja
.....Tribal Council Member Daley Manakaja

The Bureau of Indian Affairs:
.....Phoenix Area Office, Phoenix, Arizona
.....Truxton Canon Agency, Valentine, Arizona