Economic and Land-Use Implications of Prehistoric Fire-Cracked-Rock Piles, Northern Arizona

Sullivan, Alan P.; Cook, Robert A.; Purtill, Matthew P.; Uphus, Patrick M.

doi:10.1179/jfa.2001.28.3-4.367

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Both TGW and SFMGW occur in abundance in the UBARP area (Uphus, 2003), in concert with mixed gray‐ware ceramic assemblages documented in other parts of the eastern Grand Canyon region (Wheat & Wheat, 1954; McGregor, 1967; Schwartz, Chapman, & Kepp, 1980). Although gray‐ware assemblages dominated by TGW are more abundant in the UBARP area than those dominated by SFMGW, numerous UBARP sites contain roughly equal amounts of TGW and SFMGW.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Although gray‐ware assemblages dominated by TGW are more abundant in the UBARP area than those dominated by SFMGW, numerous UBARP sites contain roughly equal amounts of TGW and SFMGW. UBARP excavations have provided stratigraphic evidence that these mixed gray‐ware assemblages likely reflect interaction between contemporaneous ceramic traditions rather than the convolution of multiple, non‐contemporaneous occupations (Sullivan, 1995; Sullivan et al 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strontium isotopic evidence for prehistoric transport of gray‐ware ceramic materials in the eastern Grand Canyon region, USA

et al. 2011

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Through a novel application of strontium (Sr) isotopic analysis, we evaluate geological sources for prehistoric ceramics in the eastern Grand Canyon region of northern Arizona, focusing on two gray-ware traditions in the Upper Basin of the Coconino Plateau. Building on a conceptual framework for the general potential of Sr isotopes in the analysis of geological materials, we suggest that the eastern Grand Canyon is specifically well suited archaeologically and geologically for: (1) exploring the utility of Sr isotopes for ceramic provenance research and (2) testing long-standing hypotheses that gray-ware ceramics were invariably made with local materials. Sr isotopic compositions indicate that the ceramic samples represent at least three different geological sources, and that different raw materials were used in the manufacture of the two gray-ware traditions found in the Upper Basin. One of the gray-ware traditions is not compositionally consistent with local geology, indicating that either the ceramics or the raw materials were transported at least 20 km to the Upper Basin.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strontium isotopic evidence for prehistoric transport of gray‐ware ceramic materials in the eastern Grand Canyon region, USA

et al. 2011

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“…Gillson and Marchant 2014:321). For instance, pollen assemblages recovered from tenth to twelfth century AD prehistoric fire-cracked-rock piles (Sullivan et al 2001), rock alignments (Bozarth 1992;Sullivan 2000), and buried alluvial surfaces (Sullivan and Ruter 2006) are dominated by cheno-ams and grasses whereas maize pollen accounts for less than 1% of all economic species (Jelinek 1966;Sullivan 1996). Also, macrobotanical samples recovered from ceramic vessels and hearths in one-room structures (Becher 1992;Huckell 1992) and a multi-structure site (Site 17 [Sullivan 1987]) reveal the same pattern-maize remains (cobs, kernels) are significantly less frequent and ubiquitous (when they occur) than chenopods, amaranths, pinyon nuts, and various grass seeds, which are common and omnipresent (Sullivan and Forste 2014).…”

Section: The Hidden Legacy Of Economic Firementioning

confidence: 99%

Disturbing Developments: An Archaeobotanical Perspective on Pinyon-Juniper Woodland Fire Ecology, Economic Resource Production, and Ecosystem History

Sullivan¹,

Berkebile²,

Forste

et al. 2015

Journal of Ethnobiology

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It has long been thought that the only means by which the American Southwest's extensive pinyon-juniper woodlands, with their inherently low primary productivity, could have supported indigenous populations during prehispanic times was with the transformative consequences associated with the widespread cultivation of low-moisture-intolerant domesticated plants, principally maize (Zea mays L.). In this paper we present an alternative to this orthodox view which posits that anthropogenic fire was a vegetation-community management technology that was used to create disturbance patches and to propagate abundant, edible seed-rich ruderals in them. This perspective allows us, as well, to introduce and illustrate the interpretive possibilities of a conceptual scheme that focuses on three resource production types—cultivated wild plants, gathered wild plants, and domesticated plants—with multi-contextual macrobotanical data from a partially burned and rapidly abandoned multi-room settlement (occupied between AD 1070–1080) located south of the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. By integrating these data with previous archaeobotanical, pollen, and sedimentary micro-charcoal studies, we propose that the systematic cultivation of wild plants in pyrogenic resource patches was a sustainable practice that enhanced food-supply security by insulating populations from the effects of short-term environmental variability and long-term climate change that challenge maize farmers. Importantly, these investigations indicate that low-intensity burning did not involve widespread deforestation, as some models of Holocene climate change suggest, and that prehistoric depopulation and modern fire suppression have altered fundamentally the composition and economic potential of contemporary pinyon-juniper ecosystems.

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“…TMR has received growing attention in Texas, the American Southwest, and the Great Basin, where North American archaeologists have long grappled with the interpretive significance of burned rock middens distributed across vast areas and spanning Archaic to late pre-contact site occupations. Systematic approaches to the study of TMR features in these regions have emphasized the modeling of formation processes with empirical observations of variable but patterned burned rock assemblages (Abbott and Frederick, 1990;Goode, 1991;Hester, 1991;Shiner and Shiner, 1977;Sullivan et al, 2001). Other research has been designed around questions pertaining to changes in the macro-and microscopic properties of rocks when exposed to intense heat (e.g., Backhouse and Johnson, 2007;Bates et al, 2004;Crandell, 2007;Gur-Arieh et al, 2012;Homsey, 2009;Jackson, 1998;Jensen et al, 1999;Lintz, 1989;McDowell-Loudan, 1983;McFarland, 1977;Pagoulatos, 2005;Pierce, 1989;Rapp et al, 1999;Witkind, 1977).…”

Section: Experimental Research Addressing Tmrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermally Modified Rock: The Experimental Study of “Fire-Cracked” Byproducts of Hot Rock Cooking

Graesch

DiMare

Schachner

et al. 2014

North American Archaeologist

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Despite its ubiquity in residential middens at many North American archaeological sites, thermally modified rock (TMR) is among the least studied elements of the archaeological record. TMR assemblages, however, may provide key insights into routine cooking practices, patterns of refuse disposal, and midden formation processes. This article outlines the results of experimental research aimed at understanding the conditions by which TMR assemblages were created in residential settlements in the Pacific Northwest. We present baseline data addressing the thermal properties of the hearth, the rate and circumstances of cobble fracturing, the extent to which different kinds of cobbles break when exposed to heat for varying durations, and the effectiveness of hot cobbles at achieving cooking temperatures.

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Economic and Land-Use Implications of Prehistoric Fire-Cracked-Rock Piles, Northern Arizona

Cited by 7 publications

References 21 publications

Strontium isotopic evidence for prehistoric transport of gray‐ware ceramic materials in the eastern Grand Canyon region, USA

Strontium isotopic evidence for prehistoric transport of gray‐ware ceramic materials in the eastern Grand Canyon region, USA

Disturbing Developments: An Archaeobotanical Perspective on Pinyon-Juniper Woodland Fire Ecology, Economic Resource Production, and Ecosystem History

Thermally Modified Rock: The Experimental Study of “Fire-Cracked” Byproducts of Hot Rock Cooking

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