The US Southwest is a rich tapestry of cultures ranging from pueblo farmers to nomadic foragers. However, the archaeological literature is dominated by Puebloan research and an emphasis on large, iconic sites such as Ancestral Pueblo sites in Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde, as well as large Hohokam sites such as Casa Grande and Snaketown. In this edited book, Deni J. Seymour and a diverse set of contributors paint a broader, more detailed picture of the Indigenous Southwest.
My one critique of the book is its organization, but the disparate chapter arrangement mirrors the incongruent definitions of the protohistoric peoples and their archaeological signatures. The book can be parsed into three broad themes: defining the protohistoric period in temporal and spatial terms (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 12–21), identifying the archaeological signatures of these ephemeral sites (Chapters 4 and 8–11), and considering the influence of archaeological research on present-day Indigenous land rights in the Southwest (Chapter 6).
Contextualizing the protohistoric period temporally has typically entailed separating the sedentary groups of the 1400s and early 1500s from the more mobile groups who arrived later. Seymour argues in Chapter 1 that we should eliminate the notion of any hiatus between these periods and remove the oft-presumed beginning of the protohistoric period at AD 1450. Several contributors argue that the protohistoric period is not easily demarcated with a definitive timeline. In Chapter 21, which concludes the volume, David H. Thomas affirms the importance of eschewing the date of AD 1450 for the beginning of the protohistoric period, and he provides an expert summary of radiocarbon dating that should be required reading for archaeology graduate students.
Once the hiatus hypothesis is abandoned, the protohistoric period can be viewed as a time of complex social reorganization that challenges researchers to tease out the interplay between the foraging and the farming communities across the Southwest, a major theme of this book. These interactions were sometimes fueled by conflict over resources like bison (John D. Speth, Chapter 3), but they also derived from cooperation and trade in pottery (James A. Truesdale and coauthors, Chapter 16).
Interactions between settled farmers and mobile foragers can also be difficult to ascertain because of the long-term usage of persistent places. Meade F. Kemrer (Chapter 2) and Patrick H. Beckett (Chapter 5) explore connections between the Mogollon and the later nomadic groups. Douglas B. Craig (Chapter 12) and Mark Harlan and Seymour (Chapter 13) argue that the abandonment of large Hohokam centers may represent a shift to a more flexible land use strategy resulting in sites networked along waterways.
Studying the dynamics between protohistoric groups and modern tribes requires investigating either individual artifact classes like Diné animal traps (James M. Copeland, Chapter 14), Ute wickiups (Curtis Martin, Chapter 15) Yavapai rockshelters (Robert J. Stokes and Joanne C. Tactikos, Chapter 18) and structures (Peter J. Pilles Jr., Chapter 19) or more complex assemblages such as thermal features and lithic assemblages (Alexander Kurota, Chapter 7), complete artifact assemblages as Seymour managed on an ancestral Chokonen Apache encampment (Chapter 17), or regional site patterns like Heidi Roberts (Chapter 20) does to understand the post-Puebloan Numic and Patayan archaeological record in southern Nevada.
The study of mobile peoples can also be challenging because the archaeological signatures of these ephemeral sites are often diffuse. Chapters 4 and 8–11 focus on this theme. Seymour (Chapter 4) presents the best methods for distinguishing between Puebloan and mobile group structures. David V. Hill (Chapter 11) presents an overview on the methods used to study protohistoric ceramics from thermoluminescence dating for temporal control to compositional studies such as petrography and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). James L. Moore (Chapter 8), Mark Harlan (Chapter 9), and Chris Loendorf (Chapter 10) discuss lithic technology in the Southwest from unique perspectives: Harlan presents an overview of arrowhead variability during the protohistoric period, Loendorf examines projectile point design continuity between the protohistoric and Akimel O'odham and Apache, and Moore focuses on Spanish chipped stone technology, including both projectile points and gunflints.
The final theme addressed in the book is Indigenous land rights. Oscar Rodriguez and Seymour (Chapter 6) present the case of the Lipan Apache and their difficulty obtaining federal recognition given their mobile lifeways. The Lipan Apache were historically a mobile group comprising several bands that would periodically unite. Their mobile and disparate lifeways are in direct conflict with the criteria for federal recognition, which privilege long-standing amalgamation in a distinct locale. The continued study of protohistoric mobile groups in the US Southwest demonstrates the flawed premise of the criteria for formal tribal recognition by the US federal government.
Overall, this book provides an excellent summary of research done on the often-ignored protohistoric period in the US Southwest. In reporting their research, these authors provide a complex picture of continuity and change in a region where the boundaries across space and time between foragers and farmers are far more permeable than archaeologists have thought.
