Cultural Transformations in Southwestern Prehistory: R.G. Matson New Insights from Old Collections Summary Several major transformations shaped U.S. Pueblo Indian culture history between 1500 BC and AD 1300. These included 1) shift to dependence on maize; 2) emergence of the "full Formative" cultural complex; 3) collapse of the regional influence of Chaco Canyon; and 4) eventual depopulation of the northern U.S. Southwest. Collections and data gathered over 30 years ago in southeastern Utah by the Cedar Mesa Project have the potential to contribute significant new insights into each topic. This can be realized by 1) applying new methods of analysis to Cedar Mesa materials and 2) relating Cedar Mesa data to more recent evidence from across the northern Southwest. 1. Agricultural origins: The early pre-pottery agricultural populations of the northern Southwest are assigned to the Basketmaker II (BM II) culture. Are these people migrants from farther south who brought maize with them, or descendants of local Archaic period hunter-gatherers? We will investigate this question by analyzing mitochondrial DNA obtained from human coprolites which are well-dated to BM II contexts. 2. Formative stage complex: The "full Formative" complex, including pottery, substantial houses, addition of beans to the diet, and specialized corn-grinding equipment, appears in the northern Southwest at about 500 A.D. What preceding conditions gave rise to these changes? Collections from the Cedar Mesa Project provide opportunities to examine aspects of subsistence and social life in that preceding period - 100 B.C.-SOO A.D. in BM II. We propose 1) an experimental study of use of limestone in stone-boiling to evaluate its effects on lysine availability from maize and on cooking efficiency relative to the use of pottery and 2) analysis of artifacts and features from a defensively­ located site as part of an evaluation of the role of warfare in the late BM II period. 3) Chaco Canyon influence and collapse: We propose 1) to map and obtain tree-ring dates from exposed timbers at two sites that appear to have Chacoan "great house" architecture, to determine if they represent an extension of Chacoan influence to Cedar Mesa; 2) assemble recently-gathered tree-ring dates from Cedar Mesa and adjacent areas to determine if there was a significant decrease in population during the middle AD 1100s, coincident with the Chacoan "collapse" and a profound area-wide drought; and 3) analyze dates and sources of Kayenta-style pottery in Cedar Mesa collections to determine if there was movement of people from northeastern Arizona into southeastern Utah coincident with the drought and the collapse of Chacoan influence. 4) 13th century depopulation: The northern Southwest was depopulated in the late A.D. 1200s, and it has been suggested that this process started in western areas such as Cedar Mesa. Tree-ring dates from Cedar Mesa and adjacent regions will be assembled to evaluate the timing of depopulation. How did depopulation occur? Recently developed ceramic attribute analytical techniques will be applied to our existing collections to determine whether mesa-top settlements were abandoned before the canyon "cliff dwellings". 10 Program of Research R.G. Matson Objectives As outlined in the summary, we have four major objectives: 1) further understanding of the agricultural origins of the Southwest; 2) the development of the "full Formative" adaptation, including possible enhancement of protein availability from maize through stone boiling with limestone, and the role of defensive in BM II settlement locations; 3) the nature of Chaco influence on Cedar Mesa, and its relationship, if any, to the Kayenta-style pottery from the south and to a possible occupations hiatus in the mid-1IOOs; and 4) the nature of the 13th century depopulation, both within Cedar Mesa and of the Mesa Verde area in general. Context Summary of Cedar Mesa Project. Having briefly introduced the problems to be (re)investigated using mostly existing collections made during the Cedar Mesa Project, we now tum to a brief introduction to this project (Lipe and Matson 2007). Cedar Mesa is part of a "classic" research area of southeastern Utah, best known for the discovery in the l890s of Basketmaker sites stratified below later Pueblo materials (Blackburn and Williamson 1997; Kidder 1924; Matson 1991). In the early 1970s N.S.F. funding enabled us to conduct an extensive regional survey focussed on an 800 sq km area ranging between 1700m (5600 ft) and 2070 m (6800 ft) in elevation, with most of the vegetation being either pinyon and juniper or sagebrush flats. This area was divided into 20 drainages, five of which were sampled at a 7% rate by quadrats 400 m on a side, with a total of 76 quadrats being surveyed yielding 357 sites (Lipe and Matson 1971; Matson and Lipe 1975, 1978; Matson et al. 1988, 1990). These were mapped and completely collected by 2 provenience units of about 1m • In addition to this core study, three other investigations produced collections and information. All five drainage canyons were completely inventoried, with all 291 sites mapped. Then 115 of these sites were randomly selected for more extensive mapping and collection (Matson et al. 1990; Morton 2002). A total of 12 sites, almost all located within quadrats, (with a notable exception of the Turkey Pen site (Matson 1991; Powers 1984), located in Grand Gulch on the western edge of the survey area) were test excavated. Finally, the Tree-Ring Architectural Survey produced architectural maps and collections of 25 well preserved canyon sites ("Cliff Dwellings") from the Grand Gulch area or McLoyd's canyon on the east site of the mesa (Bedell 2000; Bloomer 1989). In sum the project produced about 55,000 sherds and 100,000 classified lithics from 497 sites, which were documented by abundant notes, forms, photographs, and maps. A history of the project, given in Lipe and Matson (2007) and Lipe (2007) provides a listing of the many theses, dissertations, and publications that have resulted with an emphasis on those appealing post 1988, long after the NSF fieldwork had been completed. Not a single certain Archaic site was identified, yet 130 quadrat sites were classified as Basketmaker II (BM II) sites, termed the Grand Gulch phase, which numerous tree-ring and radiocarbon assays indicate dates between AD 200 and 400 (Matson 1991; Matson et al. 1988, 1990). This time period was also investigated in a SSHRC supported investigation (Dohm 1994, Matson 1994, Matson and Brand 1994). After the BM II period the mesa was depopulated and reoccupied in late Basketmaker III times (AD 650-725), the Mossbacks phase, and 49 quadrat sites were classified as such. Again the mesa was depopulated and not a single Pueblo I site was found during any aspect of the project, although such sites are abundant on the eastern flanks of the mesa in Comb Ridge wash (Matson et al. 1988, 1990). In the AD 1000s the mesa was again occupied during the Windgate phase (AD 1060­ 1100?), a Mesa Verde ceramic tradition, which may have overlapped with the Clay Hills phase (AD 1100-1150), a Kayenta ceramic tradition. Either a decrease in population or a short hiatus occurred followed by the Woodenshoe Phase (AD 1165-1210) along with the reoccurrence of Mesa Verde 11 R.G. Matson ceramics as the dominant form. This was followed by the terminal Pueblo III Redhouse phase (AD 1210-1270) which includes the latest Cedar Mesa tree-ring date of 1268, ending the Pueblo II-III occupation represented by 132 quadrat sites. Dates provided for the phases are based on evidence available in the 1980s, but may be revised by some of the studies outlined below. Methodology 1) Agricultural Origins: The Cedar Mesa evidence, past and future. Cedar Mesa's concentrated BM II occupation has contributed significantly to the current understanding that the BM II were committed maize agriculturalists, not modified hunters and gatherers. This evidence came first from Cedar Mesa settlement patterns (Matson 1991; Matson and Chisholm 1991; Matson et al. 1988, 1990), analysis of BM II coprolites from Turkey Pen (Aasen 1984; Matson and Chisholm 1991,2007), Turkey Pen midden analyses (Matson and Chisholm 1991,2007), and Cedar Mesa carbon isotope analyses (Chisholm and Matson 1994; Matson 1991; Matson and Chisholm 1986, 1991, 2007). More recent evidence from other BM II occupations demonstrates that this is true for BM II in general (Martin 1999, Coltrain et al. 2006, 2007, Matson and Chisholm 2007). That the BM II were not modified hunters and gatherers (as conventionally thought prior to our investigations) leads to the question of how agriculture arrived in the U.S. Southwest (SW) as it does not appear to have developed gradually in situ. C. Irwin-Williams (1967) noted the similarity of the western BM II (which includes the Grand Gulch phase) with the San Pedro Cochise. Berry (1982) and Berry and Berry (1986) expanded on this similarity to argue that the San Pedro Cochise migrated on to the Colorado Plateau from the Basin and Range bringing their maize agriculture with them, even though at the time of writing it was not all that clear that the San Pedro were agricultural (although it is today). Matson (1991,2003, 2006b) demonstrated that BM II consisted of two "ethnicities" with the Western having many links to the San Pedro Cochise. Bellwood (1997, 2001, 2005) suggested that this hypothetical migration originated in central Mexico and spoke aUto-Aztecan (UA) language. This idea explains the presence Uto-Aztecan speaking Hopi and O'odam (formerly the Pima and Papago) as well as the origins of maize agriculture in the SW and the long string of UA languages from the SW into Mexico.