Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction........................................................................................... 1
Malpai Borderlands Ecosystem Study Area................................................................... 1
Borderlands Archaeological Context.............................................................................. 2
Goals for This Overview................................................................................................. 2
Project Methodology...................................................................................................... 3
Postscript and Acknowledgments.................................................................................. 4
Chapter 2. Borderlands Environment, Past and Present.................................... 7
Post-Pleistocene Environmental Change...................................................................... 7
Precipitation and Growing Season................................................................................ 9
Borderlands Biotic Communities.................................................................................. 10
Soil Types.................................................................................................................... 16
Study Area Lithic Resources........................................................................................ 17
Settlement Potential of Borderlands Valleys................................................................ 20
Closing Observations................................................................................................... 22
Chapter 3. Malpai Borderlands Prehistory.......................................................... 23
History of Research..................................................................................................... 23
Culture History............................................................................................................. 25
A Final Comment on Regional Interaction................................................................... 41
Chapter 4. Summary of Spanish, Mexican, and Early American
Exploration in the Borderlands..................................................................... 45
Introduction.................................................................................................................. 45
Documentary Resources............................................................................................. 45
The Land...................................................................................................................... 45
History of the Borderlands........................................................................................... 46
Ecology, Landscape, and Colonial/Mexican Period Use............................................. 50
Concluding Remarks................................................................................................... 53
Chapter 5. Borderlands Fire Regimes................................................................. 55
Introduction.................................................................................................................. 55
Climate and Study Area Information............................................................................ 55
Regional Fire History Study......................................................................................... 55
Local Fire History Reconstructions.............................................................................. 57
Human Influence on Fire Histories.............................................................................. 60
Conclusions................................................................................................................. 61
Chapter 6. Modeling Human Impacts to the Borderlands Environment
From a Fire Ecology Perspective................................................................. 63
Introduction.................................................................................................................. 63
Human-Induced Fire in Historical Perspective............................................................. 63
Natural Versus Cultural Magnitudes............................................................................ 64
Fire Ecology of the Early Archaeological Sequence.................................................... 64
Fire Ecology of the Late Prehistoric Archaeological Sequence................................... 65
A Zonal Model of Fire Use........................................................................................... 66
Fire Ecology of Anthropogenic Landscapes................................................................ 68
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Chapter 7. An Archaeological Research Design for the
Malpai Borderlands........................................................................................ 71
Borderlands Archaeological Context............................................................................ 71
Phase 1: Spanish and Mexican Archival Study........................................................... 71
Phase 2: Malpai Borderlands Conference/Workshop.................................................. 71
Phase 3: Survey of Existing Artifact and Field Record Collections.............................. 72
Phase 4: Tree-Ring Studies Pertaining to Archaeology............................................... 72
Phase 5: Geoarchaeological Assessment................................................................... 72
Phase 6: Reconnaissance Survey............................................................................... 72
Phase 7: Systematic Survey........................................................................................ 73
Phase 8: Studies in Holocene Environmental Change................................................ 73
Phase 9: Problem-Oriented Excavations..................................................................... 73
References Cited................................................................................................... 75
Supplementary Malpai Borderlands References................................................ 86
Appendix A. Borderlands Site Database............................................................. 88
Appendix B. Archaeological Surveys in the Borderlands
Study Area Listed by USDA 7.5-minute Quad............................................... 101
Appendix C. Concordance of Site Names and Numbers
From Different Institutions and Surveys....................................................... 103
Appendix D. Additional Observations on the Early History
of the Borderlands........................................................................................... 109
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