Late Preceramic Farmer/Foragers at the Foot of the Mogollon Rim: The Mceuen Cave Archaeological Project

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Steven Shackley and his collaborators will conduct one season of archaeological excavation at the McEuen Cave site located in the Gila Mountains of East Central Arizona. The site was originally excavated 60 years ago and was later subjected to extensive looting. Dr. Shackley recently returned to the cave and his preliminary work indicates, surprisingly, that a substantial portion of the archaeological deposits remain intact. He will conduct careful stratigraphic excavation with a emphasis on recovery of botanical and other organic material. McEuen Cave is particularly important because it spans a critical period in the Southwest, from ca. 2,000 to 2500 years ago, during a time when the hunting and gathering residents of the region began to shift their subsistence mode to focus more intensively on maize agriculture and sedentary aggregated settlement. McEuen Cave can provide unique insight into this change because of the excellent preservation of cultural material which results from the dry nature of the sediments. The remains from the early investigations include intact basketry, cordage, sandals, dart shafts and abundant floral and faunal remains as well as chipped and ground stone artifacts. Although many open air sites dating to this period have recently been investigated in the region, very few dry rock shelters of this critical age have been located. McEuen Cave contains abundant maize remains and these provide insight into the domestication process. The shift from a hunting and gathering mobile lifestyle to a more sedentary mode of existence based on the utilization of domestic plants and animals occurred independently in many parts of the world and anthropologists wish to understand this developmental process. To do this they employ a comparative approach, study individual cases in many parts of the world and then attempt to discern general trends. The Southwest US and Northern Mexico constitute one such instance and thus have been the focus of intensive study. Dr. Shackley's research will provide important data through which to examine an early stage in such change. The information he produces will be of interest to a wide group of scientists.