Department of Anthropology 



Research and Expeditions 



Archaeological work near Vernon, Arizona, was resumed for a fourth 

 season by the Southwest Archaeological Expedition under the lead- 

 ership of Dr. Paul S. Martin, Chief Curator of Anthropology (see 

 page 36). He was assisted by Dr. John B. Rinaldo, Assistant 

 Curator of Archaeology, Custodian of Collections Allen S. Liss, 

 Howard Anderson, Margaret Alder, Michael Fox, Martin Hoff- 

 man, William Longacre, Mrs. Martha Perry, Mrs. Ruth Rinaldo, 

 Roland Strassburger, and Mark Winter. 



The basic objective of anthropological and, therefore, archaeo- 

 logical work is to explain the similarities and differences in culture 

 patterns and the processes by which they evolved. When an an- 

 thropologist finds similarities in patterns in widely separated cul- 

 tures, he assumes that these may be the result of parallel invention 

 or development, diffusion, or migration. On a smaller scale, the 

 same problem of similarities (and differences) is met with in tracing 

 the development of Mogollon culture and in following the move- 

 ment of the Mogollon people from west-central New Mexico to 

 east-central Arizona and perhaps into the area of the contemporary 

 Zuni Indians. 



Excavations in 1959 were undertaken at two sites: (1) the Min- 

 eral Creek site, on the ranch of Earl Thode, and (2) a large pueblo 

 site, on the east bank of the Little Colorado River near Springer- 

 ville (Arizona), on the ranch of Robert B. Hooper. 



The Mineral Creek site is a village of several surface rooms with 

 masonry walls and a large depression. Six rooms were excavated. 

 Masonry was inferior. One room included several related features: 

 three storage bins, a firepit, and a ventilator. Most of the rooms 

 had been provided with firepits and were therefore probably used 

 as dwelling units. Just under the floor of one room a burial was 

 found that yielded a duck-effigy pot and a necklace made of shell 

 beads and many thousands of stone beads. A few hundred feet 

 south of the pueblo was a large depression that, when excavated, 

 proved to be a circular great kiva 9.3 meters in diameter with walls 

 of native earth. Certain features of this structure appear to have 

 been borrowed from the Chaco Canyon region to the north, although 

 the hearth area, roof structure, and entrance may be Mogollon. 

 Three burials were found within the great kiva: an adult (buried 

 with a black-on-red pottery bowl and a plain red "seed jar"), an 



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