Eastern Virgin Hinterlands: Formative Period (AD 700–AD 1225) Settlement Practices in Grand Canyon National Park

Abstract

Grand Canyon National Park encompasses a large portion of the southeastern extent of the Virgin Ancestral Puebloan tradition. From AD 700 to 1225, the region also bounded the Kayenta Ancestral Puebloan and the Cohonina traditions. This paper examines variation in settlement practices between these three traditions in this ecologically diverse locale. The analyses provide new insights and settlement models for the Formative Period in Grand Canyon National Park.

El Parque Nacional del Gran Cañón abarca una gran parte de la extensión sureste de la tradición virgen ancestral puebloana. Desde el año 700 d. C. hasta 1225, la región también delimitó las tradiciones ancestrales de Kayenta Puebloan y Cohonina. Este documento examina la variación en las prácticas de asentamiento entre estas tres tradiciones en este entorno ecológicamente diverso. Los análisis proporcionan nuevos conocimientos y modelos de asentamiento para el Período Formativo en el Parque Nacional del Gran Cañón.

KEYWORDS:

• Ancestral Puebloan
• Kayenta
• Virgin
• Cohonina
• Grand Canyon
• GIS Modeling
• Socio-ecological Systems
• Settlement Practice

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Karen Harry and Sachiko Sakai for organizing this volume to honor Margret Lyneis and providing insightful comments on earlier drafts of the paper. Helen Fairley and another anonymous review provided valuable feedback that helped strength the final paper. While, Daniel Perez translated the abstract into Spanish. Finally, Alan Sullivan who introduced me to Grand Canyon Archaeology guided the initial development of these conclusions in my doctoral dissertation.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.