Books and Monographs by Aaron Wright
In this volume, two dozen archaeologists and allied researchers explore the intersection of relig... more In this volume, two dozen archaeologists and allied researchers explore the intersection of religion and landscape in the North American Southwest from ancient to recent times. Although these topics continue to gain currency in contemporary inquiry, Sacred Southwestern Landscapes is the first to study them on equal footing. The essays explore how people enmesh ecological conditions and threads of environmental information into religion, weaving strands of belief and spirituality through a topographic fabric that gives meaning to the material world. Hailing from various academic and cultural backgrounds, contributors invoke a range of theoretical currents and methodological practices to examine how these relationships developed and evolved. Nearly all the places, people, and paradigms at play in contemporary southwestern scholarship find room among these pages, from the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts to the Colorado Plateau; from diverse cultures, including Ancestral Pueblo, Mogollon, Hohokam, Pataya, Trincheras, Navajo (Diné), and Nuevomexicano; and from theoretical frameworks drawing upon phenomenology, materiality, bundling, and semiotics. This collective engagement showcases how religious ecologies can be studied from multiple perspectives and through sundry lines of evidence, leaving readers with appreciation and reverence for the rich and robust sacredness in southwestern landscapes.
At least 13 federally recognized Native American tribes are culturally and historically associate... more At least 13 federally recognized Native American tribes are culturally and historically associated with the Great Bend of the Gila, a distinctive stretch of the lower Gila River valley and surrounding landscape in rural southwestern Arizona. The cultural landscape of the Great Bend is renowned for its impressive body of unique and nationally significant archaeological and historical sites, including an abundance of world-class rock art. The vast majority of these cultural resources are attributable to the ancestors, as well as the ancient and contemporary cultural traditions of the 13 associated tribes. To celebrate and better preserve this fragile, multi-cultural landscape—and the contemporary and future human connections to it—a Great Bend of the Gila National Monument (restricted solely to lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management) has been proposed.
As assessed through a review of prior cultural affiliation studies, ethnohistorical literature, and ethnographic projects in and around the Great Bend of the Gila, the 13 federally recognized tribes referenced above include: (1) Ak-Chin Indian Community; (2) Cocopah Indian Tribe; (3) Colorado River Indian Tribes; (4) Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation; (5) Fort Mojave Indian Tribe; (6) Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe; (7) Gila River Indian Community; (8) Hopi Tribe; (9) Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community; (10) Tohono O’odham Nation; (11) Yavapai-Apache Nation; (12) Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe; and (13) Pueblo of Zuni. This study provides ethnographic overviews of 11 of the associated tribes (Colorado River Indian Tribes and Fort Mojave Indian Tribe were unable to participate), with specific focus on their cultural, historical, and contemporary ties to the landscape and cultural resources encompassed by the proposed national monument.
This study merges background research with contemporary tribal perspectives, as shared through recent meetings with tribal representatives and culturally knowledgeable elders, to: (1) examine each participating tribe’s connection to the Great Bend landscape and its cultural and natural resources; (2) evaluate the heritage value the participating tribes attribute to them; (3) assess the participating tribes’ interests in better conserving the Great Bend landscape and better preserving the cultural resources within it; and (4) ascertain the participating tribes’ support for establishing a Great Bend of the Gila National Monument.
The ethnographic overviews demonstrate that each participating tribe maintains a unique connection to the Great Bend of the Gila that is particular to their community’s history, identity, and values. Meetings with the tribes’ cultural resource professionals and advisors, and in some instances, their governing bodies, revealed that each participating tribe is concerned about the long-term preservation of the Great Bend of the Gila’s landscape and the cultural resources within. Further, each participating tribe supports increased effort, investment, and accountability on the part of the Bureau of Land Management for protecting cultural resources on federal lands in the Great Bend area, and for engaging associated tribes more consistently, effectively, and respectfully in the area’s management and the interpretation of its cultural resources. As formal acts of support, to date eight of the 11 participating tribes have issued official Letters of Support or Tribal Resolutions backing the establishment of a Great Bend of the Gila National Monument.
The Great Bend of the Gila occupies a stretch of the lower Gila River in southwestern Arizona, wh... more The Great Bend of the Gila occupies a stretch of the lower Gila River in southwestern Arizona, where the westerly flowing river turns south and then west again as it empties into the Colorado River. Here, the river is lined by jagged peaks and ancient lava flows, which meld into an interesting and harmonious balance between water and fire, mountains and valley. Atop this unique natural landscape lies an equally intriguing ancient cultural landscape that speaks to a deep history of multiculturalism in one of the most challenging environments
on Earth.
For more than 12,000 years, the Great Bend of the Gila has been a cultural crossroads on the American frontier, where people of different backgrounds, traditions, and values came together in interesting and inspiring ways. This legacy is preserved in an amazing array of fragile cultural resources dotting the landscape. The region is best known for the countless examples of visually stunning petroglyphs carved into the cooled and hardened lava. The petroglyphs were authored by Native Americans, as well as by Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American explorers and travelers. Most of the rock art is attributable to Archaic, Patayan, and
Hohokam cultural traditions that are ancestral to many contemporary Native American communities in Arizona, New Mexico, southern California, northern Sonora, and Baja California. The rock art materializes the cultural diversity that has characterized the region for millennia.
The Great Bend of the Gila is also recognized as the eastern range of geoglyphs. Geoglyphs are symbols created on the ground surface by either removing the desert gravels to expose lighter-colored sediments, or by aligning rocks to create designs. These enigmatic features occasionally take the form of humans or animals, but most often, they consist of abstract and geometrical shapes. While rock art and geoglyphs adorn the cliffs and mesas lining the river, ancient villages cover the valley floor. Hohokam and Patayan farmers cultivated these lands for more than
1,000 years. They left their mark in a variety of architectural signatures, such as buried pithouses, adobe and stone buildings, ballcourts, and irrigation canals. This village-scape also includes several walled settlements built on promontories along the river. Early explorers believed these to be ancient forts, and archaeologists and Native American consultants agree that they likely served a defensive purpose.
As a cultural crossroads, the Great Bend of the Gila was a corridor for people and goods moving through this frontier. This is most evident in the extensive network of ancient trails that criss-cross the landscape and converge in the valleys of the Great Bend. These trails stretch in every direction, linking the Pacific Coast to the Great Plains and West Mexico with the Great Basin. The Great Bend of the Gila was central to pre-Hispanic economies that circulated goods over incredibly long distances.
The Great Bend’s frontier essence persisted into the Historic era and was instrumental in the westward expansion of the United States. The river valley served as an overland route between Spanish settlements in Sonora and their missions along the California coast. This trail was blazed by Father Eusebio Kino in 1699, and later formalized by Juan Bautista de Anza in 1775. This route was the foundation for many subsequent transcontinental trails and roads, including Kearny’s Trail for the Mormon Battalion and the Butterfield Overland Stage Line. Stage stations and pioneer communities sprang up along these trails. At one of these, Stanwix station, the California Column encountered several Confederate Rangers and a battle ensued, thus marking the site of the westernmost skirmish of the Civil War.
The area’s cultural resources are truly world class, and the region’s history is a one-of-akind chapter in our country’s saga. The Great Bend of the Gila, as a natural and cultural landscape, is nationally significant and speaks to aspects of our country’s cultural composition in a way no other place can.
It is one of the great mysteries in the archaeology of the Americas: the depopulation of the nort... more It is one of the great mysteries in the archaeology of the Americas: the depopulation of the northern Southwest in the late thirteenth-century AD. Considering the numbers of people affected, the distances moved, the permanence of the departures, the severity of the surrounding conditions, and the human suffering and culture change that accompanied them, the abrupt conclusion to the farming way of life in this region is one of the greatest disruptions in recorded history.< br>< br> Much new paleoenvironmental data, and a ...
Published Papers by Aaron Wright
The Professional Geographer, 2021
The majority of the ancient rock art sites of the U.S. Southwest are located in rural locations t... more The majority of the ancient rock art sites of the U.S. Southwest are located in rural locations that are difficult to monitor or police. These sites seem to exert a pull on humans, an attraction that not only provokes curiosity and wonder but also what can be classed as destructive responses or vandalism. Many crime control methods for reducing vandalism are based on traditional theories such as defensible space and broken window theory. In the case of rock art, however, these methods do not yield expected results and in some cases are even detrimental. Rural crime, including rural vandalism, as a whole is marginalized in criminology, which has been dominated by urban focused approaches and theories. In the case of rock art, considering how security is approached and maintained ultimately leads to questions about human–object relationships with regards to crime and about object agency. By focusing on the policing challenges of one particular type of rural vandalism, we hope to contribute to the discussion of vandalism in rural spaces.
California Archaeology, 2021
Archaeologists working in the far western Southwest distinguish the Lowland Patayan tradition by ... more Archaeologists working in the far western Southwest distinguish the Lowland Patayan tradition by virtue of a distinctive, typically undecorated, light-colored pottery found along the lower Gila and lower Colorado rivers and in surrounding deserts. Known generally as “Lower Colorado Buff Ware,” research into Lowland Patayan pottery has a convoluted history, including the formulation of multiple typologies that are incompatible and whose chronologies contradict each other. This article discusses this history and critically evaluates the prevailing typology to expose some of its shortcomings. It also presents some data amassed over the past 40 years to show that the chronology girding it is inaccurate. To overcome this problem, I suggest that researchers of Lowland Patayan pottery temporarily set aside the ceramic type concept and consider the importance of attributes in relation to well-defined research questions, with particular attention directed at chronological refinement and material sourcing.
Journal of Archaeological Research, 2021
Archaeologists have long compared the Hohokam world of the North American Southwest to contempora... more Archaeologists have long compared the Hohokam world of the North American Southwest to contemporary traditions in Mesoamerica and West Mexico. A degree of cultural connectivity between the Southwest and Mesoamerica is evident in similarities in public architecture, ceramic technology and design, ritual paraphernalia, and subsistence, among other qualities. Researchers commonly frame this connectivity in economic or cultural evolutionary terms that position Hohokam communities as somehow descendant from or dependent on more complexly and hierarchically organized societies far to the south. In this paper, I examine this connectivity through the lens of iconography to show that shared religious themes and archetypes were strands within the nexus. I focus on three iconographic subjects in Hohokam media—serpents, flowers, and “pipettes”—each of which materializes seemingly Mesoamerican religious concepts. From a careful consideration of the inception and breadth of each, I argue that Hohokam artisans began to portray these subjects in concert with a religious revitalization movement that drew a degree of inspiration from the south. However, while the iconography may have been new to Hohokam media, the religious themes were not. I show that the iconography references Archaic religious archetypes and cosmological principles that probably accompanied the spread of agriculture millennia before the formation of the Hohokam world. Rather than representing a new religion, I suggest Hohokam artisans materialized these long-established and unquestioned principles in novel iconographic ways as a means of naturalizing and ordaining the rapid social change that accompanied the religious revitalization movement.
Journal of the Southwest, 2020
Kiva: The Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History, 2020
Poor chronology has long plagued the Patayan archaeological tradition of the far-western reaches ... more Poor chronology has long plagued the Patayan archaeological tradition of the far-western reaches of the North American Southwest. Archaeologists typically rely upon ceramics to assign associated materials to the broadly defined Patayan I, II, and III periods. However, as data amass, it is becoming increasingly clear that the established date ranges for certain types of Patayan pottery tied to those periods are inaccurate, and that the overall chronology may benefit from revision. Consequently, there are renewed calls to reassess the ceramic typologies and identify attributes with utility for dating affiliated archaeological phenomena. Here I focus on one such attribute, the stucco surface treatment on Lower Colorado Buff Ware. While the prevailing typology regards stucco as diagnostic of the Patayan II and III periods (circa AD 1000– 1900), I present data that show stucco is conspicuously absent from contexts dating before AD 1400 but is rather common thereafter. I conclude Lowland Patayan potters began applying stucco to their wares between 1400 and 1600, and this attribute is therefore useful for dating associated material to a narrower AD 1400–1900 timeframe.
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2018
In light of global trends in human population growth and urbanization, burgeoning cultural herita... more In light of global trends in human population growth and urbanization, burgeoning cultural heritage tourism industries, and climate change, cultural heritage places in nearly every corner of the world are significantly threatened, and will remain so into the foreseeable future. Rock art sites are some of the most imperiled, with their exposed contexts posing unique challenges to conservation. Consequently, effective management of publically accessible rock art sites necessitates a sustainable approach that weighs visitation in regard to cultural significance and site stability. This essay integrates rock art stability and sustainability assessment methodologies at the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site in southwestern Arizona. The study specifically applies the Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) to evaluate the natural and anthropogenic weathering forces impacting the site, and the Heritage Asset Sensitivity Gauge (HASG) to assess site sustainability under existing management practices in relation to current and forecasted rates of visitation. A spatial analysis of aggregated RASI data shows that visitor foot traffic has had some of the most profound impacts to the petroglyphs. Unrestricted access to the site area is also highly correlated with the presence and location of vandalism and graffiti, and visitor-related trampling has adversely affected the site’s surface artifact assemblage. Application of the HASG projects that, while existing management practices are fairly sustainable, they become less so under forecasted increases in visitation. Further, the HASG appraises the site’s cultural significance as outweighing its market appeal, indicating management efforts should prioritize conservation over tourism-related development.
Journal of Social Archaeology, 2011
The pipette is a rare rock art motif found across the North American Southwest but seldom depicte... more The pipette is a rare rock art motif found across the North American Southwest but seldom depicted in other media. We address landscape and archaeological contexts, associated imagery, material correlates, and ethnography to provide an interpretative hypothesis that accounts for the motif’s widespread, cross-cultural use. We argue that pipettes represent a tiered cosmos and axis mundi, at times with portrayals of emergence and transcendence. The pipette’s compartmentalization signifies the conceptual metaphor ‘the cosmos is comprised of containers’, a concept embedded in Uto-Aztecan languages with Mesoamerican antecedents. The motif’s distribution across the North American Southwest demonstrates that it was a key religious symbol that accompanied the adoption of Mesoamerican-like religious beliefs and practices beginning in the eighth century or before. Prehistoric iconography – whether we understand it or not – references thought and ideas that were important enough to memorialize. Despite difficulties inherent to interpretation, archaeology would be remiss not to take advantage of the enduring iconological record. We demonstrate that careful, concentrated, and multidimensional approaches to understanding prehistoric symbolism can provide valuable and credible insight into cultures that otherwise could not speak for themselves.
Archaeologists address "styles" observable in the archaeological record through two generalized c... more Archaeologists address "styles" observable in the archaeological record through two generalized conceptual frameworks; one regards the visual attributes of artifacts whereas the other concerns the methods and techniques employed in their production. Stylistic analyses of rock art tend to focus on the images' visual qualities. It has long been suggested, however, that production techniques, or technological style, can also aid in elucidating relationships between rock art, identity, and ritual practice. This paper reviews the technological styles of Hohokam rock art in Arizona's South Mountains and hypothesizes several social implications of consistency and diversity in rock art production techniques.
Hopi emergence and migration stories list certain clans as having come from Palatkwapi, a desert ... more Hopi emergence and migration stories list certain clans as having come from Palatkwapi, a desert oasis arguably synonymous with the Hohokum core area (i.e. Phoenix Basin). In conjunction with the South Mountain Rock Art Project, we have identified a compelling number of "Hohokam" petroglyphs which are stylistically consistent with proto-Hopi clan symbols. In seeming accordance with Hopi oral traditions, the clans potentially represented are, by and large, those affiliated with Palatkwapi. Our data, therefore, may support Hopi claims of Hohokam descendancy. We view these results, however, as largely inconclusive. The symbols involved are widespread and generally less than intricate. Indigenous oral literature has potentially profound contributions to rock art studies and deserve continued involvement.
This paper describes and provides interpretative possibilities for a unique Hohokam petroglyph si... more This paper describes and provides interpretative possibilities for a unique Hohokam petroglyph site situated within a canyon in the South Mountains of Phoenix, Arizona. Natural features likely made this canyon an attractive location for ritual-related activities among the Hohokam who enhanced the landscape through the production of rock art. Surface artifacts and motif analyses indicate the site's significance likely began in the Preclassic era (ca. AD 475-1150) and continued into the Classic period (ca. AD 1150-1450). Our iconographic analysis and applications of landscape metaphor and ethnographic analogy suggest this site may have addressed fertility concerns via mimetic and/or sympathetic rites. A distinctive combination of features and iconography further suggests it may also have played a role in puberty-related rituals as well as paying homage to hunting-related deities or other supernatural forces.
The Artifact, 2008
Pipette petroglyphs have long been associated with the Hohokam cultural sphere. The spatial distr... more Pipette petroglyphs have long been associated with the Hohokam cultural sphere. The spatial distribution of this motif often is assumed synonymous with the distribution of the Hohokam regional system. Following on earlier research by Hedges (1994), our research has identified pipette-like motifs in rock art and alternate media far beyond the Hohokam culture area, expanding their range from Brazil and Chile to northern California and from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Coast. Pipettes appear to cluster along the margins of archaeological culture areas; regions where members of disparate yet contemporaneous culture groups would have interacted. We argue that instead of delineating a single region, the pipette and its meaning served to promote connectivity among distinct cultural groups.
Book Chapters by Aaron Wright
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Books and Monographs by Aaron Wright
As assessed through a review of prior cultural affiliation studies, ethnohistorical literature, and ethnographic projects in and around the Great Bend of the Gila, the 13 federally recognized tribes referenced above include: (1) Ak-Chin Indian Community; (2) Cocopah Indian Tribe; (3) Colorado River Indian Tribes; (4) Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation; (5) Fort Mojave Indian Tribe; (6) Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe; (7) Gila River Indian Community; (8) Hopi Tribe; (9) Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community; (10) Tohono O’odham Nation; (11) Yavapai-Apache Nation; (12) Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe; and (13) Pueblo of Zuni. This study provides ethnographic overviews of 11 of the associated tribes (Colorado River Indian Tribes and Fort Mojave Indian Tribe were unable to participate), with specific focus on their cultural, historical, and contemporary ties to the landscape and cultural resources encompassed by the proposed national monument.
This study merges background research with contemporary tribal perspectives, as shared through recent meetings with tribal representatives and culturally knowledgeable elders, to: (1) examine each participating tribe’s connection to the Great Bend landscape and its cultural and natural resources; (2) evaluate the heritage value the participating tribes attribute to them; (3) assess the participating tribes’ interests in better conserving the Great Bend landscape and better preserving the cultural resources within it; and (4) ascertain the participating tribes’ support for establishing a Great Bend of the Gila National Monument.
The ethnographic overviews demonstrate that each participating tribe maintains a unique connection to the Great Bend of the Gila that is particular to their community’s history, identity, and values. Meetings with the tribes’ cultural resource professionals and advisors, and in some instances, their governing bodies, revealed that each participating tribe is concerned about the long-term preservation of the Great Bend of the Gila’s landscape and the cultural resources within. Further, each participating tribe supports increased effort, investment, and accountability on the part of the Bureau of Land Management for protecting cultural resources on federal lands in the Great Bend area, and for engaging associated tribes more consistently, effectively, and respectfully in the area’s management and the interpretation of its cultural resources. As formal acts of support, to date eight of the 11 participating tribes have issued official Letters of Support or Tribal Resolutions backing the establishment of a Great Bend of the Gila National Monument.
on Earth.
For more than 12,000 years, the Great Bend of the Gila has been a cultural crossroads on the American frontier, where people of different backgrounds, traditions, and values came together in interesting and inspiring ways. This legacy is preserved in an amazing array of fragile cultural resources dotting the landscape. The region is best known for the countless examples of visually stunning petroglyphs carved into the cooled and hardened lava. The petroglyphs were authored by Native Americans, as well as by Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American explorers and travelers. Most of the rock art is attributable to Archaic, Patayan, and
Hohokam cultural traditions that are ancestral to many contemporary Native American communities in Arizona, New Mexico, southern California, northern Sonora, and Baja California. The rock art materializes the cultural diversity that has characterized the region for millennia.
The Great Bend of the Gila is also recognized as the eastern range of geoglyphs. Geoglyphs are symbols created on the ground surface by either removing the desert gravels to expose lighter-colored sediments, or by aligning rocks to create designs. These enigmatic features occasionally take the form of humans or animals, but most often, they consist of abstract and geometrical shapes. While rock art and geoglyphs adorn the cliffs and mesas lining the river, ancient villages cover the valley floor. Hohokam and Patayan farmers cultivated these lands for more than
1,000 years. They left their mark in a variety of architectural signatures, such as buried pithouses, adobe and stone buildings, ballcourts, and irrigation canals. This village-scape also includes several walled settlements built on promontories along the river. Early explorers believed these to be ancient forts, and archaeologists and Native American consultants agree that they likely served a defensive purpose.
As a cultural crossroads, the Great Bend of the Gila was a corridor for people and goods moving through this frontier. This is most evident in the extensive network of ancient trails that criss-cross the landscape and converge in the valleys of the Great Bend. These trails stretch in every direction, linking the Pacific Coast to the Great Plains and West Mexico with the Great Basin. The Great Bend of the Gila was central to pre-Hispanic economies that circulated goods over incredibly long distances.
The Great Bend’s frontier essence persisted into the Historic era and was instrumental in the westward expansion of the United States. The river valley served as an overland route between Spanish settlements in Sonora and their missions along the California coast. This trail was blazed by Father Eusebio Kino in 1699, and later formalized by Juan Bautista de Anza in 1775. This route was the foundation for many subsequent transcontinental trails and roads, including Kearny’s Trail for the Mormon Battalion and the Butterfield Overland Stage Line. Stage stations and pioneer communities sprang up along these trails. At one of these, Stanwix station, the California Column encountered several Confederate Rangers and a battle ensued, thus marking the site of the westernmost skirmish of the Civil War.
The area’s cultural resources are truly world class, and the region’s history is a one-of-akind chapter in our country’s saga. The Great Bend of the Gila, as a natural and cultural landscape, is nationally significant and speaks to aspects of our country’s cultural composition in a way no other place can.
Published Papers by Aaron Wright
Book Chapters by Aaron Wright
As assessed through a review of prior cultural affiliation studies, ethnohistorical literature, and ethnographic projects in and around the Great Bend of the Gila, the 13 federally recognized tribes referenced above include: (1) Ak-Chin Indian Community; (2) Cocopah Indian Tribe; (3) Colorado River Indian Tribes; (4) Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation; (5) Fort Mojave Indian Tribe; (6) Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe; (7) Gila River Indian Community; (8) Hopi Tribe; (9) Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community; (10) Tohono O’odham Nation; (11) Yavapai-Apache Nation; (12) Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe; and (13) Pueblo of Zuni. This study provides ethnographic overviews of 11 of the associated tribes (Colorado River Indian Tribes and Fort Mojave Indian Tribe were unable to participate), with specific focus on their cultural, historical, and contemporary ties to the landscape and cultural resources encompassed by the proposed national monument.
This study merges background research with contemporary tribal perspectives, as shared through recent meetings with tribal representatives and culturally knowledgeable elders, to: (1) examine each participating tribe’s connection to the Great Bend landscape and its cultural and natural resources; (2) evaluate the heritage value the participating tribes attribute to them; (3) assess the participating tribes’ interests in better conserving the Great Bend landscape and better preserving the cultural resources within it; and (4) ascertain the participating tribes’ support for establishing a Great Bend of the Gila National Monument.
The ethnographic overviews demonstrate that each participating tribe maintains a unique connection to the Great Bend of the Gila that is particular to their community’s history, identity, and values. Meetings with the tribes’ cultural resource professionals and advisors, and in some instances, their governing bodies, revealed that each participating tribe is concerned about the long-term preservation of the Great Bend of the Gila’s landscape and the cultural resources within. Further, each participating tribe supports increased effort, investment, and accountability on the part of the Bureau of Land Management for protecting cultural resources on federal lands in the Great Bend area, and for engaging associated tribes more consistently, effectively, and respectfully in the area’s management and the interpretation of its cultural resources. As formal acts of support, to date eight of the 11 participating tribes have issued official Letters of Support or Tribal Resolutions backing the establishment of a Great Bend of the Gila National Monument.
on Earth.
For more than 12,000 years, the Great Bend of the Gila has been a cultural crossroads on the American frontier, where people of different backgrounds, traditions, and values came together in interesting and inspiring ways. This legacy is preserved in an amazing array of fragile cultural resources dotting the landscape. The region is best known for the countless examples of visually stunning petroglyphs carved into the cooled and hardened lava. The petroglyphs were authored by Native Americans, as well as by Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American explorers and travelers. Most of the rock art is attributable to Archaic, Patayan, and
Hohokam cultural traditions that are ancestral to many contemporary Native American communities in Arizona, New Mexico, southern California, northern Sonora, and Baja California. The rock art materializes the cultural diversity that has characterized the region for millennia.
The Great Bend of the Gila is also recognized as the eastern range of geoglyphs. Geoglyphs are symbols created on the ground surface by either removing the desert gravels to expose lighter-colored sediments, or by aligning rocks to create designs. These enigmatic features occasionally take the form of humans or animals, but most often, they consist of abstract and geometrical shapes. While rock art and geoglyphs adorn the cliffs and mesas lining the river, ancient villages cover the valley floor. Hohokam and Patayan farmers cultivated these lands for more than
1,000 years. They left their mark in a variety of architectural signatures, such as buried pithouses, adobe and stone buildings, ballcourts, and irrigation canals. This village-scape also includes several walled settlements built on promontories along the river. Early explorers believed these to be ancient forts, and archaeologists and Native American consultants agree that they likely served a defensive purpose.
As a cultural crossroads, the Great Bend of the Gila was a corridor for people and goods moving through this frontier. This is most evident in the extensive network of ancient trails that criss-cross the landscape and converge in the valleys of the Great Bend. These trails stretch in every direction, linking the Pacific Coast to the Great Plains and West Mexico with the Great Basin. The Great Bend of the Gila was central to pre-Hispanic economies that circulated goods over incredibly long distances.
The Great Bend’s frontier essence persisted into the Historic era and was instrumental in the westward expansion of the United States. The river valley served as an overland route between Spanish settlements in Sonora and their missions along the California coast. This trail was blazed by Father Eusebio Kino in 1699, and later formalized by Juan Bautista de Anza in 1775. This route was the foundation for many subsequent transcontinental trails and roads, including Kearny’s Trail for the Mormon Battalion and the Butterfield Overland Stage Line. Stage stations and pioneer communities sprang up along these trails. At one of these, Stanwix station, the California Column encountered several Confederate Rangers and a battle ensued, thus marking the site of the westernmost skirmish of the Civil War.
The area’s cultural resources are truly world class, and the region’s history is a one-of-akind chapter in our country’s saga. The Great Bend of the Gila, as a natural and cultural landscape, is nationally significant and speaks to aspects of our country’s cultural composition in a way no other place can.
I rely on contextual factors throughout this thesis to investigate the nuances of petroglyph-related ritualism. Hohokam rock art was created and used on at least seven types of stage, each varying in ritual depth and entailing different performers and audiences. This shows that rock art, although uncommon, cross-cut social identities, and the religious knowledge involved was not institutionalized within a select few social positions, such as shamans or similar politico-religious offices.
Hohokam rock art is relatively visible and accessible; this “openness” paralleled the fluidity of religious knowledge within the larger Hohokam world and complements what we know from village settings. My chronological assessment nevertheless shows that this was not always the case. I use four relative-dating techniques—proximity analysis, cross-media design correlation, repatination, and artifact associations—to argue petroglyph-related ritualism in the South Mountains was performed mostly during the Preclassic era (~A.D. 500-1100). A cessation in rock art by the onset of the Classic period (~A.D. 1100-1400) resulted from an usurpation of religious knowledge by emerging leaders in the wake of a fracturing ritual system. This social transformation met little resistance, in part because the new religious order maintained qualities of the previous ritual system, yet emerging leaders reconfigured it in ways to justify and substantiate their new authority.
This study consists of an intensive analysis of 72 closely-spaced stratigraphic pollen samples from a subalpine fen in the La Plata Mountains, southwestern Colorado; 16 radiocarbon samples provide temporal control. The results offer data on the most closely sampled and radiometrically dated pollen core of lacustrine sediments from the past 2,100 years in North America. I use these data to reconstruct low-frequency changes in regional temperature, summer precipitation and winter precipitation, all of which are critical to agricultural production in Mesa Verde region. This reconstruction uses five indicator taxa whose existence around the fen is dictated largely by these climatic conditions: Engelmann spruce, ponderosa pine, pinyon pine, sedge and an inclusive category of plants belonging to the Chenopodaceae family and Amaranthus genus. I argue and demonstrate that changes in the proliferation of these taxa around the fen occurred in response to climatic fluctuations that dictate their distribution. Therefore, I interpret changes in the proliferation of these taxa as changes in associated climate variables, and I extrapolate these climate changes into a regional context that includes the
Village Project’s study area in the central Mesa Verde region.
Wright, Aaron, and Arleyn Simon
2012 Review of Introduction to Rock Art Research, second edition, by David S. Whitley. Kiva 77(4). Review published online, www.az-arch-and-hist.org.