Excavations on Black Mesa, 1982

A Descriptive Report

Edited by

Deborah L. Nichols

Francis E. Smiley

This volume, the ninth Black Mesa descriptive report, presents the results of archaeological investigations performed in 1982 on northern Black Mesa, Arizona. The sites discussed in the following pages span at least 4000, and possibly as many as 8000, years of human prehistory and history. The work was sponsored by the Peabody Coal Company, Arizona Division, and was conducted on land leased from the Navajo and Hopi tribes. The purpose of this volume is to describe and disseminate results of the 1982 fieldwork; four general categories of information are presented: legal compliance, overview of research and cultural history, descriptions of fieldwork, and presentation of data. The compliance aspect contains descriptions of the environmental setting, the specific areas affected by the work in 1982, and the associated 620 archaeological sites. The rationale used in selecting sites for additional investigation is discussed along with field techniques. The research aspect covers two broad topics. The first involves development of research questions and associated methodological issues and an overview of the prehistoric occupation of northern Black Mesa. The second concerns the ongoing program of ethnoarchaeological research. The volume presents a variety of data from the 1982 investigations. Twenty-three excavated prehistoric sites, which range in age from the early Archaic to Pueblo II-III transition, are described. Work on historic-period sites is discussed, including the description of a small trading post (ca. 1915) that was excavated and summaries of information recorded on 211 Navajo sites. Prehistoric and historic-period rock art on northern Black Mesa is described and illustrated. Results of chronometric, ethnobotanical, artifactual, and faunal analyses are summarized in appendixes along with technical reports on magnetic surveying, soils and geomorphology, and osteology.