Excavations on Black Mesa, 1981

A Descriptive Report

Edited by

Francis E. Smiley

Deborah Nichols

Peter Andrews

This volume, the eighth of the Black Mesa descriptive excavation reports, presents the results of archaeological field work performed during the 1981 field season.  The work was sponsored by Peabody Coal Company, Arizona Division, and took place in the Peabody Coal Company Black Mesa leasehold on northern Black Mesa, Arizona.  The volume is organized to provide information in four general categories: legal compliance, synthesis of research, description of field work, and presentation of data.  The compliance aspect deals with the portions of the leasehold affected by the 1981 archaeological field season providing descriptions of the areas and associated cultural resources, as well as of the excavation and survey methods employed.  The research aspect covers three general topics.  The first of these concerns the evolution of research questions, the pursuit of associated methodological concerns, and an overview of our current understanding of the prehistoric occupation of Black Mesa. The second involves ongoing ethnoarchaeological research, and the third summarizes the geomorphological and soils research associated with the archaeological investigations.  Finally, the volume provides a variety of kinds of data from the 1981 field and laboratory effort. Twenty-one excavated prehistoric sites are described and illustrated along with two rock art locations and two historic sites. Laboratory results are divided into several areas of specialty, presenting summary data on the ethnobotanical, geological, osteological and faunal analyses, and on the analysis of various categories of artifactual materials.