Time and Place of the Early Agricultural Period in the Tucson Basin of Southern Arizona Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Vint, James Michael Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 23/09/2021 12:14:33 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/626169 TIME AND PLACE OF THE EARLY AGRICULTURAL PERIOD IN THE TUCSON BASIN OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA by James M. Vint __________________________ Copyright © James M. Vint 2017 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2017 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by James M. Vint, titled Time and Place of the Early Agricultural Period in the Tucson Basin of Southern Arizona and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: (06/30/2017) Barbara J. Mills _______________________________________________________________________ Date: (06/30/2017) James T. Watson _______________________________________________________________________ Date: (06/30/2017) Vance T. Holliday _______________________________________________________________________ Date: (06/30/2017) William H. Doelle Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: (06/30/2017) Dissertation Director: Barbara J. Mills 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: James M. Vint 4 Acknowledgements There are many people to whom I extend my thanks and gratitude, each of whom played an important role one way or another in this project, and without whose help and involvement I would not have finished this endeavor. Committee members Barbara Mills, Bill Doelle, Jim Watson, and Vance Holliday provided constructive and unflagging positive support throughout the final stages of writing; they also made the comprehensive exam I had to take on readmission to the program an enjoyable experience, as they did, too, with the final dissertation defense. Barbara in particular has been a mentor since 1989, when I first subjected myself to graduate school at Northern Arizona University; her continued guidance and confidence in my work is appreciated beyond words. Bill has been a major source of inspiration and support since I began working at Desert Archaeology in 1993, and I greatly appreciate his willingness to be on this committee (I also apologize here, Bill, for those many times I’ve driven you to exasperation and beyond). Jim’s experience with the EAP in the greater Southwest helped mitigate the Tucson Basin-centric myopia I often suffer. Vance provided much-needed outside geoarcaheological perspective on the local archaeology. Illustrations in documents such as this are usually more informative than the writing itself. Catherine Gilman created the beautiful maps that are presented as Appendix A Figures 5.1, 5.2, 5.6, 5.9; Appendix B Figures 1 and 2; and Appendix C Figures 1, 5, 6 (with Fred Nials), and 7 (with Tyler Theriot). Jane Sliva created Appendix A Figures 5.3, 5.4, and 5.5. Henry Wallace took the aerial photograph that appears as Apenndix A Figure 5.7 and Appendix B figure 5. Rob Ciaccio created Appendix A Figures 5.8 and 5.10, and Appendix B Figure 3 (with Alan 5 Denoyer). Chad Yost took the photomicrographs in Appendix B Figure 4. Greg Whitney took the photographs in Appendix B Figure 6. Each is worth more than the proverbial thousand words. I have had the privilege to work for and with several people who have been formative in my archaeological career. Paul and Suzy Fish hired me to work on the Northern Tucson Basin Survey in 1985 as an undergraduate, and set my course for these past several decades. Barb Roth and Bruce Huckell introduced me to the intrigues of the Early Agricultural Period in 1986, and I had the pleasure to work for Barb on her dissertation research and with Bruce out at Milagro. Fred Nials has been a mentor, colleague, and friend over the past 10 years; I have learned much from you Fred, and with hope have not put any of your time to waste. I wish to acknowledge two people in particular who died too soon and are sorely missed by me and many others: Dave Gregory and Bob Powers. Desert Archaeology and Archaeology Southwest supported much of this work, in particular the Las Capas project which forms the basis for much of this dissertation, and it would take many pages to adequately thank these institutions. Key individuals (in the post-field phase) are Bill Doelle, Sarah Herr, Mark Elson, Mike Diehl, Jim Heidke, Jenny Waters, Jane Sliva, Stacy Ryan, Jenny Adams, Homer Thiel, Mike Brack, Tyler Theriot, Lisa Eppley, Greg Whitney, George Tinseth, Alan Denoyer, Reuven Sinensky, Ted Oliver, and I’ve probably forgotten more. I thank Mike Lindeman for being a sounding board on several ideas, and for the provocative debates and encouragement (Jonathan Mabry and Jesse Ballenger also played this role). 6 Pima County sponsored the Las Capas project, which was conducted from August 2008 to November 2014 by Desert Archaeology. The work was funded by bonds issued as part of the Tres Rios Water Reclamation Facility expansion. The late Loy Neff of the Pima County Cultural Resources and Historic Preservation Division oversaw the project; he was a consummate professional and is missed. Tineke Van Zandt has patiently endured my circuitous journey this past decade, and has had the good humor to put up with my nonsense for nearly 30 years. For that, Tineke, I am eternally grateful, and for what we move on to doing next in the great wide open. 7 Table of Contents DISSERTATION ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... 10 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 12 Composition of the Dissertation ................................................................................................... 16 Appendix A: The Southwest Archaic in the Tucson Basin .......................................................... 18 Appendix B: Niches, Networks, and the Pathways to the Forager-to-Farmer Transition in the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico ............................................................................................... 19 Appendix C: Tempo and Mode of Early Agricultural Period Settlements on the Santa Cruz River Floodplain, Southern Arizona ....................................................................................................... 20 References ..................................................................................................................................... 23 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................... 33 A VERDANT DESERT ............................................................................................................... 35 TIME AND PLACE ..................................................................................................................... 39 EARLY ARCHAIC ...................................................................................................................... 40 MIDDLE ARCHAIC .................................................................................................................... 42 THE LATE ARCHAIC/EARLY AGRICULTURAL PERIOD................................................... 47 Early Agricultural Period Maize ............................................................................................... 50 The Silverbell Interval ............................................................................................................... 52 San Pedro- and Ciénega-Phase Settlement and Agriculture ..................................................... 53 The Las Capas Canal and Field System .................................................................................... 55 Architecture and Other Infrastructure ......................................................................................