Publication Date

5-13-1970

Abstract

Basic to this study is the concept that an archeological survey should be carried beyond its traditionally descriptive role to an analytic level maximizing the interpretive potential inherent in the survey data. To implement this concept an analytic survey model is introduced, based on the interpretive framework provided by modern systems theory. The model involves the consideration of environmental and cultural data as essential components of articulating subsystems, and the intensive analysis of each of these basic components. Successful application of the survey model results in the definition and explanation of problems relevant to cultural process, and ultimately the formulation of hypotheses to be tested empirically through excavation of sites in the future. In this study, the model is applied to the PaleoIndian occupation of the central Rio Grande valley. To maximize efficiency in acquisition of data, a new survey technique is introduced. Termed "site pattern recognition,” it involves the application of the environmental criteria utilized by Paleolndian groups in campsite selection to the interpretation of aerial photographs. In this manner, a total of 59 PaleoIndian occupational loci were recorded in the survey region, 30 of which yielded sufficient environmental and lithic data to permit more intensive analysis. The analytic phase of the study is oriented toward the interpretation of the subsystem of "settlement technology,” considered the primary vehicle of articulation between the cultural system and its environment. The fundamental analytic problem is to determine if variation in PaleoIndian settlement technology exists at either the subcultural or intercultural level, and to explain this variation in terms of environmental or cultural variables. The lithic and environmental components of four PaleoIndian cultures revealed by the survey data are analyzed in depth. This is followed by an intensive comparative analysis of these components at the intercultural level. Quantitative methods are employed wherever permitted by the nature of the data. The results of the analysis indicate that variation in Paleolndian settlement technology does exist, both subculturally and interculturally, and is manifest in differential constellations of attributes of the lithic and environmental subsystems components. An explanation for intercultural variation in settlement pattern is offered in terms of changing climatic conditions during the early post-glacial period. Subcultural variation is explained with reference to differences in cultural activities. Variation is also defined in the weapon and utility implement subsystem of each culture. The former is seen explicable with reference to differences in hafting techniques, and new approaches in understanding hafting technology are discussed in detail. A model of utility implement development, based on a factor analysis of transverse scrapers, is offered as a partial explanation of the intercultural variation in the latter. Finally, based on the information derived in the analytic phases, a number of hypotheses considered relevant to the orientation of future research are offered.

Project Sponsors

The National Science Foundation and the American Philosophical Society

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Anthropology

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Anthropology

First Committee Member (Chair)

Frank Cumming Hibben

Second Committee Member

Harry Wetherald Basehart

Third Committee Member

John Martin Campbell

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