The Middle Archaic Period Ahd the Transition to Agriculture in the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona

Roth, Barbara J.; Freeman, Andrea

doi:10.1179/kiv.2008.73.3.004

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Although maize was introduced to this area from the south by ∼2100 B.C. (18,21,27), birth rates as proxied by 15 (19,28,29), the low juvenility indices reported here favor suggestions that these occupations tended to be short-lived (30,31) or part of a seasonal round (27), and perhaps most important, because this also affects mobility, focused on varieties of maize that were not yet very productive (32).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Long and spatially variable Neolithic Demographic Transition in the North American Southwest

Kohler

Reese

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Significance Population size greatly affects the human condition but is difficult for archaeologists to estimate. For the Neolithic North American Southwest, we use indirect methods to estimate birth rate and life expectancy, two major factors determining population size. The population boom usually accompanying the introduction of cultivated plants and animals, the “Neolithic Demographic Transition,” was slow to emerge here and was marked by considerable subregional variability in birth rate. This variability is likely related to differing morbidities and availability of agricultural lands in various subregions. In common with many Neolithic peoples, pre-Hispanic Puebloans experienced very high birth rates, especially between A.D. 500 and 1300 when they possibly exceeded the highest in the world today, and quite low life expectancy at birth.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Long and spatially variable Neolithic Demographic Transition in the North American Southwest

Kohler

Reese

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…(2, 68, 83, 84, 86, 90, 91, 93). The subsistence and settlement strategies of the Archaic residents of the region at the time provided the cultural contexts into which maize was introduced, but the paucity of excavated premaize Archaic sites limits our ability to construct models of these strategies (4,33,79,(94)(95)(96). Floral and faunal remains recovered from a few of these sites suggest a general pattern of exploitation of a wide range of resources-agaves, cacti, wild grasses, a variety of other herbaceous plants, and diverse animal species-with an emphasis on a comparatively small subset of these (33).…”

Section: A Great Basin Homeland For the Uto-aztecansmentioning

confidence: 99%

The diffusion of maize to the southwestern United States and its impact

Merrill

Hard

Mabry

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

158

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Our understanding of the initial period of agriculture in the southwestern United States has been transformed by recent discoveries that establish the presence of maize there by 2100 cal. B.C. (calibrated calendrical years before the Christian era) and document the processes by which it was integrated into local foraging economies. Here we review archaeological, paleoecological, linguistic, and genetic data to evaluate the hypothesis that Proto-Uto-Aztecan (PUA) farmers migrating from a homeland in Mesoamerica introduced maize agriculture to the region. We conclude that this hypothesis is untenable and that the available data indicate instead a Great Basin homeland for the PUA, the breakup of this speech community into northern and southern divisions Ϸ6900 cal. B.C. and the dispersal of maize agriculture from Mesoamerica to the US Southwest via group-to-group diffusion across a Southern UtoAztecan linguistic continuum.early agriculture ͉ migration ͉ US Southwest ͉ Mesoamerica ͉ Uto-Aztecan

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“…However, our documentation of the use of the vast resources of the northern Gulf coastal area during these times adds a significant new dimension to our knowledge of Archaic period subsistence and land-use patterns in this portion of the Greater Southwest. Archaic period settlement and subsis-tence in the northern Sonoran Desert is usually discussed in terms of a desertic adaptation that emphasized seasonal, vertical movement between its diverse environments-riparian areas, stabilized dune fields, bajadas, and mountain pediment locations-within the basin-range country of the region (e.g., Bayham et al 1986;Dart 1986;Gregory 1999;Huckell 1984aHuckell , 1984bHuckell , 1995Roth and Freeman 2008;Sayles and Ante vs 1941). Because the focus of much Archaic period research has been on inland areas and river valleys of the Papagueria and southern Arizona, little consideration has been given to the role of the marine fauna and other resources of the northern Gulf littoral.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is with the introduction of maize into the region ca. 4000 cal yr B .P., during the latter part of the Middle Archaic period (Diehl 2005;Roth and Freeman 2008), that the pattern of residentially mobile small bands of foragers gradually shifted to one of logistical mobility. During the Late Archaic period/Early Agricultural period, groups in well-watered locations in adjacent areas established larger villages becoming more sedentary and reliant upon cultigens as staples to their diets (Mabry 1998;Matson 1991).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaic Period Shell Middens, Sea-Level Fluctuation, and Seasonality: Archaeology along the Northern Gulf of California Littoral, Sonora, Mexico

Foster¹,

Mitchell²,

Huckleberry³

et al. 2012

Am. antiq.

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Five recent radiocarbon assays on wood charcoal within archaeological sites from the Puerto Peñasco area, Sonora, Mexico indicate use of the marine resources of the northern Gulf of California area during the Middle Archaic through the Late Archaic periods, ca. 3800 B.C.–A.D. 100. The archaeological shell middens of the region are generally thought of as remains associated with Ceramic period Hohokam marine shell collecting forays with there being little consideration given to the likelihood of an Archaic period component being present. The importance of these age estimates is that they are derived from carbonized botanical remains rather than shell. Because of considerable variability in the carbon reservoir effect, age estimates derived from marine shell from the northern Gulf of California have limited reliability. The seasonality of collection is also considered through a preliminary study of stable oxygen isotope ratios in two shell samples. The results suggests that these shellfish were collected in the late fall, winter, and perhaps very early spring.

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The Middle Archaic Period Ahd the Transition to Agriculture in the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona

Cited by 15 publications

References 34 publications

Long and spatially variable Neolithic Demographic Transition in the North American Southwest

Long and spatially variable Neolithic Demographic Transition in the North American Southwest

The diffusion of maize to the southwestern United States and its impact

Archaic Period Shell Middens, Sea-Level Fluctuation, and Seasonality: Archaeology along the Northern Gulf of California Littoral, Sonora, Mexico

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