In Search of Lost Landscapes: The Pre-Reservation Western Apache Archaeology of Central Arizona

Herr, Sarah

doi:10.7183/0002-7316.78.4.679

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Incorporating Apache oral tradition in reference to Apache presence in the Southwest since time immemorial not only sets a baseline for understanding Apache presence but also helps to foreground Apache interpretations of their own culture and histories that have often been constructed and interpreted by non-Apache researchers. While current interpretations based on archaeology (Herr, 2013) and ethnohistory (Forbes, 1960) document intensive Western Apache use of the Mogollon Rim region by AD 1550, here we recognize oral traditions that Apaches were in the area at the same time as Ancestral Pueblo peoples. Western Apaches used fire in many activities, including those described for Ancestral Pueblo peoples (Griffin et al, 1971; Buskirk, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Stratigraphic evidence for culturally variable Indigenous fire regimes in ponderosa pine forests of the Mogollon Rim area, east-central Arizona

et al. 2022

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The impact of Indigenous populations on historical fire regimes has been controversial and beset by mismatches in the geographic scale of paleofire reconstructions and the scale of land-use behaviors. It is often assumed that anthropogenic burning is linearly related to population density and not different cultural practices. Here we take an off-site geoarchaeology strategy to reconstruct variability in historical fire regimes (<1000 years ago) at geographic scales that match the archaeological, ethnohistorical, and oral tradition evidence for variability in the intensity of Indigenous land use by two different cultural groups (Ancestral Pueblo and Western Apache). We use multiple, independent proxies from three localities in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in east-Central Arizona to reconstruct fire regime variability during four phases of cultural use of different intensities. Elevated charcoal with domesticate pollen (Zea spp.) but otherwise unchanged forest pollen assemblages characterized intensive land use by Ancestral Pueblo people during an early phase, suggesting fire use to support agricultural activities. By contrast, a phase of intensive pre-reservation Western Apache land use corresponded to little change in charcoal, but had elevated ash-derived phosphorus and elevated grass and ruderal pollen suggestive of enhanced burning in fine fuels to promote economically important wild plants.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Stratigraphic evidence for culturally variable Indigenous fire regimes in ponderosa pine forests of the Mogollon Rim area, east-central Arizona

et al. 2022

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“…Archaeological studies of Western and Chiricahua Apache groups have addressed the identification and discussion of material culture and sites (Beidl, 1990;Ciolek-Torrello, 1981a;Donaldson and Welch, 1991;Ferg, 1977Ferg, , 1987Ferg, , 1992Ferg, , 2003Ferg, , 2004Ferg and Tessman, 1997;Gifford, 1980;Gregory, 1981;Seymour and Harlan, 1996;Welch, 1994;Welch and Bostwick, 1998;; the identification and analysis of material culture, and application of archaeological dating techniques (Baugh and Sechrist, 2001;Ferg, 1995aFerg, , 1995bHaecker, 2012;Herr, North and Wood 2009;Herr et al, 2011;Sechrist, 2008;Seymour, 2002aSeymour, , 2002bSeymour, , 2004Seymour, , 2008Seymour, , 2009aSeymour, , 2009bSeymour, , 2010Seymour, , 2013Whittlesey and Benaron, 1997); and more social, politically driven research focused on collaboration and Apache interpretations of their own history (Ferguson and Colwell-Chanthaphonh, 2006;Herr, 2011Herr, , 2013Krall and Randall, 2009;Welch, 1997Welch, , 2001Welch and Ferguson, 2007).…”

Section: Mescalero Apachementioning

confidence: 99%

The indivisibility of land and mind: Indigenous knowledge and collaborative archaeology within Apache contexts

Laluk

2017

Journal of Social Archaeology

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Contemporary understandings of Apache history and culture have largely resulted from anthropological work by non-Apache researchers. Most of this work has exhibited a limited appreciation of Apache ontologies that provide better understandings of Apache past and present. The goal of this article is to utilize the Apache concept of Ni and Apache interpretations of the Chiricahua mountainscape to demonstrate how Apache communities retain significant and powerful links to the Chiricahua Mountains. It also provides a discussion of the dilemma of utilizing Western theory in collaborative projects with Apache communities and the need to focus more on tribally derived knowledge. Such knowledge can provide unique glimpses into the Apache past and associations to their former homelands that are crucial for contemporary collaborative archaeological–anthropological research projects involving Apache cultural experts and their ancestral homelands.

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“…These materials represent campsites, food procurement and preparation localities, and spiritual sites (USDA TNF, 2015). Chí'chil Biłdagoteel is extraordinary because Apache sites elsewhere are difficult to identify and seldom occur in related clusters (Herr, 2013;Welch, 1997;Welch et al, 2017). J. Scott Wood, the TNF archaeologist for four decades, said, "there's a good strong Apache archaeological presence up there" (Heinsius, 2015).…”

Section: Oak Flatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earth, Wind, and Fire: Pinal Apaches, Miners, and Genocide in Central Arizona, 1859-1874

Welch

2017

Sage Open

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The San Carlos Apache Tribe is a leading defender of Oak Flat, a large public campground on the western flanks of the Pinal Mountains east of Phoenix. Oak Flat is sacred to many Apaches and other Native Americans and is listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Tribe is among the parties gravely concerned about the Resolution Copper Mine, a joint venture of Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd. to privatize and industrialize Oak Flat’s public lands and minerals. Archaeological sites, place names, stories, and ceremonial uses affirm the pre-1875 Apache occupation and ongoing significance of Oak Flat. Historical records reveal how mining proponents combined industrial and annihilationist propaganda to portray Apaches in the Pinal Mountains as subhuman impediments to civilization and profit. This inflammatory rhetoric ignited vigilante and military campaigns between 1859 and 1874 that killed over 380 Pinal Apaches—including many women and children—then confined survivors onto the San Carlos Reservation. Mining across Pinal Apache territory followed promptly, claiming additional Apache lands inside and outside reservation borders. The stark historical injustice of the Pinal Apache Genocide requires recognition and redress via the responsible governments and industries, including their successors today. The obvious first step is simple avoidance of further harm to Apaches and Oak Flat. Truth must be a hallmark for comprehensive cost–benefit assessments of proposed alterations of Indigenous homelands. Reconciliation must be a planning goal for any mining or other consumptive uses of Indigenous sacred sites.

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In Search of Lost Landscapes: The Pre-Reservation Western Apache Archaeology of Central Arizona

Cited by 5 publications

References 16 publications

Stratigraphic evidence for culturally variable Indigenous fire regimes in ponderosa pine forests of the Mogollon Rim area, east-central Arizona

Stratigraphic evidence for culturally variable Indigenous fire regimes in ponderosa pine forests of the Mogollon Rim area, east-central Arizona

The indivisibility of land and mind: Indigenous knowledge and collaborative archaeology within Apache contexts

Earth, Wind, and Fire: Pinal Apaches, Miners, and Genocide in Central Arizona, 1859-1874

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