Overview

The Basketmaker presence in southern Utah has traditionally been viewed as peripheral to developments originating in the Four Corners region. Far Western Basketmaker Beginnings offers an entirely new and provocative perspective—that the origins of farming on the northern Colorado Plateau are instead found far to the west along Kanab Creek. This volume, based on the results of excavations at Jackson Flat Reservoir south of Kanab, examines a litany of firsts: the earliest Archaic pithouses ever found in this region, evidence that maize farmers arrived here a thousand years earlier than previously reported, and the emergence of a complex Basketmaker farming and foraging culture. Specialists in Far Western Puebloan culture, architecture, settlement patterns, subsistence, chronometry, and prehistoric technologies make a compelling case that farming was introduced to the region by San Pedro immigrants, and that the blending of farmers with local foraging groups gave rise to a Basketmaker lifeway by 200 BC. This book marks a giant leap forward in archaeologists’ understanding of the earliest maize farmers north and west of the Colorado River.

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9781647690649

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Reviews

Adds considerably to the archaeological facts for an area that is too often neglected by southwestern prehistorians. More than that, the authors have used this new knowledge to address several research topics that are central to explanatory accounts on a local level and also at regional and panregional scales. Several thought-provoking and challenging interpretations are put forth that are sure to spur on new research. This work will doubtless serve as a standard reference for southwestern archaeologists working in the Virgin or Far Western Pueblo region. --Phil R. Geib, assistant professor of anthropology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Author Information

Heidi Roberts is founder of HRA Conservation Archaeology, and has directed large excavation and multiyear research projects throughout the Great Basin and Southwest. In addition to professional publications, she is author of the novel The Archaeological Adventures of I. V. Jones. Richard V. N. Ahlstrom is retired principal from HRA Conservation Archaeology. He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on archaeology and dendrochronology in the Southwest and Great Basin. Jerry D. Spangler is director of the Colorado Plateau Archaeological Alliance. He is author or coauthor of several books, including Nine Mile Canyon and The Crimson Cowboys.

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