Anthropology, Department of

 

Date of this Version

2000

Citation

American Antiquity, 65(3), 2000, pp. 509-524

Comments

Copyright (c) 2000 by the Society for American Archaeology. Published by Cambridge University Press. Used by permission.

Abstract

Perishable artifacts provide an alternative to projectile pointsfor examining spatial patterns in Archaic material culture between northern and southern portions of the Colorado Plateau of the North American Southwest. This is so because they possess a potential great variety of specific construction and design attributes and can be directly dated to establish independent chronolo- gies of development. The analysis and dating of a collection of warp-faced plain weave sandals from Chevelon Canyon, Ari- zona demonstrates the potential utility of perishable artifacts to our understanding of prehistory. The collection provides an importantfirst sample of early Archaicfootwearfor the southern Colorado Plateau. AMS dating reveals that the oldest Chevelon Canyon sandal (8300 ? 60 B.P.) is 1,500 years earlier than the oldest directly dated sandal of this style on the northern Col- orado Plateau. Most of the Chevelon Canyon sandals date from 7500 to 6000 cal. B.C., contemporaneous with open-twined sandals on the northern Colorado Plateau. This study provides another contrast in forager material culture between southern and northern portions of the plateau during the early Archaic, prior to ca. 5700 cal. B. C. After this time, the plain weave san- dal style was adopted on the northern Colorado Plateau but not because of population replacement.

Los artefactos perecederos proveen una alternativa a las puntas de projectil para examinar patrones espaciales en cultura mate- rial arcaica entre las porciones norte y sur de la Meseta de Colorado en el Suroeste norteamericano. Los artefactos perecederos potencialmente poseen una gran variedad de atributos de construcci6n y diseiio y pueden serfechados directamente para estable- cer cronologias independientes. El andlisis yfechamiento de una colecci6n de sandalias tejidas encontradas en el Canin Chevelon, Arizona, demuestran la utilidad de estos artefactos para entender la prehistoria. La coleccio'n provee una muestra importante de calzado arcaico en el sur de la Meseta de Colorado. Fechados de AMS revelan que la sandalia mds antigua en esta colecci6n (8300 ? 60 a.p.) es 1500 ailos mds temprana que aquilla de estilo similar datada en el norte de la Meseta de Colorado. La mayoria de las sandalias del Cani6n Chevelon datan entre 7500 y 6000 cal. a. C. y son contempordneas con sandalias de cordado abierto nortefias. Este estudio provee otro contraste en la cultura material de recolectores arcaicos entre estas regiones, antes de 5700 cal. a. C. Despuis de esta fecha, la sandalia de tejido liso de los llanos es adoptada en el norte de la Meseta de Colorado, pero no por reemplazo de poblacion.

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