Where are the Hearths? Explaining the Absence of Floor Features on the Shivwits Plateau, Northwestern Arizona
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
4-21-2012
Publication Title
77th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology
Volume
2012
First page number:
158
Last page number:
158
Abstract
Since 2006, the University of Nevada Las Vegas has conducted a series of archaeological field schools at ancestral puebloan sites on the Shivwits Plateau of far northwestern Arizona. Despite evidence that these settlements were occupied for most or all of the year, to date only two ephemeral hearths have been found. To investigate why these features are so rare, a replica structure containing a hearth and postholes was constructed and buried. When re-excavated the following summer, we found the floor features obliterated. We propose that their destruction is explained by the weathering properties of the smectite clays found in this region.
Disciplines
Archaeological Anthropology | Chemistry
Language
English
Repository Citation
Harry, K. G.
(2012).
Where are the Hearths? Explaining the Absence of Floor Features on the Shivwits Plateau, Northwestern Arizona.
77th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2012
158-158.
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