Search

Unwrapping a bundle of Basketmaker II textiles from Old Man Cave disclosed two examples of a previously undocumented textile form: bifurcated tumplines. At more than twice the width of standard tumplines, these warp-faced plain weave bands of human hair cordage have one flat end, with the other splitting into two separate parallel bands—one longer and the other shorter. Both narrow bands terminate in tumpline suspension loops. Strains, breaks, and repairs indicate that these textiles served to carry loads. Rather than suspending the weight from the head and resting it on the back, this tumpline suspended weight in front with the textile draped over the shoulder. Knowledge of this new tumpband form allowed identification of an additional example in a museum. Radiocarbon dating confirms the Basketmaker II temporal affiliation. Final use of the Old Man Cave bifurcated tumplines was as a pair and likely related to transporting bodies for burial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arizona Strip, a sparsely populated region in the northwest corner of Arizona, is poorly known archaeologically, especially for the Pre-Puebloan periods. Recorded Archaic sites on the Strip tend to date after 4,000 years ago, although few sites of that age have been investigated and reported in the extreme western area. Modest tests at Rock Canyon Shelter on the Uinkaret Plateau yielded insights into late Archaic use of the region, whileZea maysdates document Basketmaker II at the shelter nearly 2000 years ago. Comparisons with contemporary assemblages at open sites to the east along Short Creek provide insights into regional dietary shifts from wild resources to greater reliance on domesticates and weedy plants as well as a diminishing importance of large game once domesticates are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geib has recently argued that there are major differences between the ways that Archaic and Basketmaker II (BM II) peoples made projectile points, namely that BM II peoples used indirect punches and wide compound pressure flakers to produce very thin, broad bifaces. We build on this analysis by measuring six attributes related to flake scar morphology on samples of Archaic and BM II bifaces from Cedar Mesa, Utah. The differences between the two groups for each variable are strongly statistically significant. Metric multidimensional scaling of these attributes reveals clear differences between Archaic and BM II bifaces based on flake scars and also allows us to detect previously misclassified artifacts. We suggest that the BM II tradition of making bifaces and points with indirect punches and compound flakers is an example of enculturated style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]