Department of Anthropology 



Research and Expeditions 



The Southwest Archaeological Expedition spent nine weeks in 

 moving camp-headquarters from Pine Lawn, New Mexico, to 

 Vernon, Arizona. Dr. Paul S. Martin, Chief Curator of Anthro- 

 pology, was in charge of the expedition staff, assisted by Dr. John 

 B. Rinaldo, Assistant Curator of Archaeology, Charles Lewis, 

 Roland Strassburger, Douglas Keney, George Dunham, and Mrs. 

 Martha Perry. Some demolition of old buildings at the new camp 

 and remodeling were accomplished in this period. 



Search for archaeological sites was carried on in a methodical 

 manner. First visited were all ranchers, collectors, and local 

 archaeologists, some of whom had definite leads to sites. Then, by 

 truck and on foot, members of the expedition reached out farther 

 and farther to determine in a broad manner the cultural sequence 

 of the region (750 square miles). Thus more than a hundred sites 

 were located. Detailed notes were compiled on each ruin, including 

 such information as location with reference to roads, land boundaries, 

 and other permanent landmarks. A collection of sherds from each 

 site was made and shipped to the Museum for analysis and study. 

 No digging was done this season because all time was devoted to 

 reconnaissance and research. 



The earliest evidences of man found this year occur on the higher 

 ancient beaches of now-extinct lakes. These sites, ancient camps 

 and flint factories, yielded stone tools and remains of old firepits 

 but no pottery. It is believed that these evidences of habitation 

 are fairly old, perhaps 2,000 to 4,000 years or even more. The 

 next-younger sites are pit-house villages, from the surfaces of which 

 pottery fragments and tools of stone were collected. These villages 

 are thought to be about 1,200 to 2,000 years old. The later sites, 

 as revealed solely by pottery fragments, were much larger and more 

 pretentious. Pottery also is more elaborate and there are many 

 more varieties. Some of the villages contain a hundred or more 

 rooms and cover acres. 



These discoveries show certainly that the Pine Lawn peoples 

 who have been studied during the past dozen years by the Museum's 

 Southwest Archaeological Expedition did move into this area, be- 

 ginning perhaps about A.D. 700-900. One of the more ornamented 

 pottery types that was picked up is related to types made by the 

 Hopi Indians in historic times (since 1540), and another is clearly 



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