Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T15:18:05.931Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Inundation and Emergence at Pueblo Grande de Nevada, an Eleventh-Century Ancestral Puebloan Village

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2022

Gregory M. Haynes*
Affiliation:
Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Desert Research Institute, Las Vegas, NV, USA ([email protected])

Abstract

The development of large reservoirs in the western United States during the twentieth century inundated a diverse array of archaeological sites and other cultural resources. Land managers, cultural resource specialists, and other stakeholders have long been aware of the effects of inundation on archaeological sites, and they have sought to mitigate them by using various means at their disposal. In modern times, drought and climate change in the western United States have reduced the pool sizes of many reservoirs, including one of the largest, Lake Mead, which straddles the Arizona and Nevada border. This research presents the results of a two-year effort to study the direct and indirect effects of lacustrine-based processes at Lake Mead to a large eleventh-century prehistoric village, Pueblo Grande de Nevada. What are the processes that are most likely to damage archaeological sites and, conversely, what are those that may serve to preserve or protect them? The results of pedestrian inventory throughout the village, limited subsurface tests at certain loci, and intensive mapping at one habitation complex are used to evaluate and synthesize these effects.

El desarrollo de grandes embalses en el oeste de los Estados Unidos durante el siglo veinte inundó una amplia gama de sitios arqueológicos y otros recursos culturales. Los administradores de tierras, especialistas en recursos culturales y otros grupos interesados conocen desde hace mucho tiempo los efectos de las inundaciones en los sitios arqueológicos y han tratado de mitigarlos utilizando varios medios a su disposición. En los tiempos modernos, la sequía y el cambio climático en el oeste de los Estados Unidos han reducido el tamaño de las piscinas de muchos embalses, incluyendo uno de los más grandes, el Lago Mead, que se extiende a ambos lados de la frontera de Arizona y Nevada. Esta investigación presenta los resultados de un esfuerzo de dos años para estudiar los efectos directos e indirectos de los procesos lacustres en el Lago Mead en una gran aldea prehistórica del siglo once, Pueblo Grande de Nevada. Los resultados del inventario de peatones por todo el pueblo, las pruebas limitadas del subsuelo en ciertos lugares y el mapeo intensivo en un complejo habitacional se utilizan para evaluar y sintetizar estos efectos.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for American Archaeology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES CITED

Allaby, Michael 2013 Mass Movement. In A Dictionary of Geology and Earth Sciences, edited by Allaby, Michael, p. 362. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Faulkner, Hazel 2018 The Role of Piping in the Development of Badlands. In Badland Dynamics in the Context of Global Change, edited by Nadal-Romero, Estela, Murillo, Juan Francisco, and Kuhn, Nikolaus J., pp. 191216. Elsevier, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, Leonard R. 1968 The Quaternary Geology of the Moapa Valley, Clark County, Nevada. PhD dissertation, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.Google Scholar
Harrington, Mark R. 1927 A Primitive Pueblo City in Nevada. American Anthropologist 29:262277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harry, Karen G. 2008 Main Ridge 2006 Research Project: Condition Assessments, Test Excavations, and Data Analysis for the UNLV 2006 Field School. Report on file at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City, Nevada. Copies available from Lake Mead National Recreation Area.Google Scholar
Harry, Karen G. 2009 Seven Foot Giants & Silk-Clad Skeletons: A Voyeur's Look Back at the Discovery and Early Fieldwork of Nevada's “Lost City.” In Proceedings of the 2007 Three Corners Conference, edited by Slaughter, Mark C., Daron, Steve, Jensen, Eva, and Sprowl, Kathleen A., pp. 111137. Nevada Archaeological Association, Las Vegas, Nevada.Google Scholar
Harry, Karen G., and Osborne, Glendee Ane 2008 Mapping and Condition Assessments. In Main Ridge 2006 Research Project: Condition Assessments, Test Excavations, and Data Analysis for the UNLV 2006 Field School, prepared by Harry, Karen G., pp. 731. Report on file at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City, Nevada. Copies available from Lake Mead National Recreation Area.Google Scholar
Harry, Karen G., and Watson, James T. 2010 The Archaeology of Pueblo Grande de Nevada: Past and Current Research within Nevada's “Lost City.” Kiva 75:409424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, Gregory M. 2008 A Class III Archaeological Inventory at Pueblo Grande de Nevada, an Ancestral Puebloan Community along the Lower Muddy River in Southeastern Nevada. Report on file at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City, Nevada. Copies available from Lake Mead National Recreation Area.Google Scholar
Haynes, Gregory M. 2009 Geophysical Survey and Test Excavation Results at Three Sites at Pueblo Grande de Nevada, an Ancestral Puebloan Community along the Lower Muddy River in Southeastern Nevada. Report on file at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City, Nevada. Copies available from Lake Mead National Recreation Area.Google Scholar
Haynes, Gregory M. 2010 Cross-Cultural Implications for Ancestral Puebloan Agriculture in the Mojave Desert. Journal of Anthropological Research 66:305328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Highland, Lynn M., and Bobrowsky, Peter 2008 The Landslide Handbook – A Guide to Understanding Landslides. Circular 1325. US Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipar, Metaj, Szymczak, Piotr, White, Susan Q., and Webb, John A. 2021 Solution Pipes and Focused Water Flow: Geomorphology and Modelling. Earth-Science Reviews 218:117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longwell, Chester R. 1928 Geology of the Muddy Mountains, Nevada, with a Section through the Virgin Range to the Grand Wash Cliffs, Arizona. US Geological Survey Bulletin 798. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Lyneis, Margaret M. 1979 Report on Deterioration at Lost City (Pueblo Grande de Nevada). Manuscript on file, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City, Nevada.Google Scholar
Lyneis, Margaret M. 1980 Residual Archaeology of the Main Ridge Locality Pueblo Grande de Nevada. Report on file, US Department of the Interior, Water and Power Service, Lower Colorado Region. Boulder City, Nevada.Google Scholar
Lyneis, Margaret M. 1992 The Main Ridge Community at Lost City: Virgin Anasazi, Architecture, Ceramics, and Burials. University of Utah Anthropological Papers No. 117. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Lyneis, Margaret M. 1995 The Virgin Anasazi: Far Western Pueblos. Journal of World Prehistory 9:199241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxon, Robert C., and Kirkberg, Lysenda 1982 Pueblo Grande de Nevada (“Lost City”), National Register of Historic Places Inventory−Nomination Form, October 8, 1982. Report on file at the National Register of Historic Places, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Murdock, George P. 1949 Social Structure. MacMillan, New York.Google Scholar
Perttula, Timothy K., Hester, Thomas R., and Ireugas, Sergio A. 1997 Preservation of Spanish Colonia and Tejano Archaeological Sites. Cultural Resource Management Report 11. Division of Antiquities Protection, Texas Historical Commission, Austin.Google Scholar
Perttula, Timothy K., Ireugas, Sergio A., and Ellis, G. Lain 1996 An Assessment of the Threatened Prehistoric and Historic Archaeological Resources at Falcon Reservoir, Zapata and Starr Counties, Texas. Cultural Resource Management Report 9. Division of Antiquities Protection, Texas Historical Commission, Austin.Google Scholar
Peterson, Christian E., and Drennan, Robert D. 2005 Communities, Settlements, Sites, and Surveys: Regional-Scale Analysis of Prehistoric Human Interaction. American Antiquity 79:530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rafferty, Kevin 1990 The Virgin Anasazi and the Pan-Southwestern Trade System, A.D. 900−1150. Kiva 56:321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, Dwight L., Page, William R., and Workman, Jeremiah B. 1996 Preliminary Map of the Moapa West Quadrangle, Clark County, Nevada. Open-File Report 96-521. US Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shutler, Richard 1961 Lost City: Pueblo Grande de Nevada. Anthropological Papers No. 5. Nevada State Museum, Carson City.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E. 2010 The Archaeological Study of Neighborhoods and Districts in Ancient Cities. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29:137154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar