Prehistoric Population Change within the Mt. Trumbull, AZ, Area

Abstract

Recent archaeological research in the Mt. Trumbull region of northwestern Arizona has confirmed the presence of an unusually large number and variety of Virgin Branch Puebloan sites. Subsurface testing of a sample of these sites provides limited chronological controls using both radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates on the occupations. Intensive survey of a large parcel of land has quintupled the number of sites known. Field mapping of the abundant structural sites in the area, coupled with random artifact surface collections, indicates rough ages for many of these sites. The unique abiotic characteristics of the Mt. Trumbull area allowed widespread settlement of the area perhaps as early as Basketmaker III times, followed by significant aggregation into larger C- and L- shaped pueblos towards the end of the Pueblo II and the early Pueblo III periods.

Investigación arqueológica reciente en la región de Mt. Trumball en el noroeste de Arizona ha confirmado la presencia de una cantidad y una variedad extraordinaria de sitios “Virgin Branch Puebloan”. Pruebas subsuperficies de estos sitios producen controles limitados y cronológicos utilizando tanto las fechas de radiocarbono y luminiscencia estimulada ópticamente (OSL) en estas ocupaciones. La evaluación intensiva de una parcela ha quintuplicado el número de sitios conocidos. La creación de mapas de los sitios estructurales abundantes en el área, ligada con las colecciones aleatorias de artefactos superficiales, indican épocas difíciles para la mayoría de estos sitios. Las características únicas y abióticas del área de Mt Trumbull permitían asentamiento extendido del área y tal vez tan temprano como la época de Basketmaker III, seguido por un conjunto significativo de pueblos con forma de C y L hacia el final del periodo Pueblo II y al inicio del periodo, Pueblo III.

KEYWORDS:

• Virgin Anasazi
• Mt. Trumbull AZ
• Pueblo
• population change
• Uinkaret Plateau
• C-shaped pueblo
• prehistoric agriculture
• aggregation

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Karen Harry and Sachiko Sakai for organizing the SAA session and proposing the idea of a special volume devoted to Dr. Margaret Lyneis. I especially want to thank Sachiko for all her hard work, professional advice, and insight over years working at Mt. Trumbull. Thanks much to Cheryl Collins for preparing the location map for this paper, and for assisting with the field work and the lithic analyses over the years. John Herron formerly of the BLM was always helpful and instrumental in much of the permitting and with supplemental funding for the field school. A huge thank you to all the students over the years who attended the field schools, learned about the amazing prehistory and environment of Mt. Trumbull, and contributed to our understanding of this unique area. Thanks to Helen Fairley and another reviewer who took a great deal of time correcting my sloppy grammar and punctuation, and for providing helpful guidance on the organization of the paper. All errors of commission and omission are of course mine alone. Thanks to Nicholas Carroll of Nevada State College for translating the abstract into Spanish.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 By “aggregation” I mean simply the apparent increase in population clustering into the largest C-and L-shaped pueblos in the Mt Trumbull area, which at most have 30 rooms or so. It’s a much smaller scale of aggregation than found in some other areas of the American Southwest.