Identifying distinct social groups of the past has always challenged archaeologists because understanding how people perceived their identity is critical to the reconstruction of social organization. Material culture has been the standard measure of distinction between groups, and the distribution of ceramics and other artifacts has ...

Salado is an enigma of the past. One of the most spectacular cultures of the ancient Southwest, its brilliant polychrome pottery has been subjected to varied interpretations, from religious cult to artistic horizon. Stephen Lekson now uses data from two Salado sites—a large pueblo and a small farmstead—to clarify long-...

The southern California coast has been a favored place to live for nearly 12,000 years. Dotted with marshes, estuaries, cliffs, and open beaches, with islands and mountains lying nearby, the area is rich in resources. How humans have fit into this ecological diverse and ever-changing landscape is a constant theme in the prehistory of the ...

High above the noise and traffic of metropolitan Phoenix, Native American rock art offers mute testimony that another civilization once thrived in the Arizona desert. In the city's South Mountains, prehispanic peoples pecked thousands of images into the mountains' boulders and outcroppings—images that today's hikers can ...

High above the noise and traffic of metropolitan Phoenix, Native American rock art offers mute testimony that another civilization once thrived in the Arizona desert. In the city's South Mountains, prehispanic peoples pecked thousands of images into the mountains' boulders and outcroppings—images that today's hikers can ...

This second installment of a multivolume work on the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition of 1886-1889 focuses on a report written by Cushing on the origins and early months of the expedition. Hidden in several archives for a century, the Itinerary is assembled and presented here for the first time to offer not only a vivid ...