book chapter
The stratigraphy and archaeology of Ventana cave, Arizona
University of Arizona Press • Tucson • Published In 1950 • Pages:
By: Haury, Emil W. (Emil Walter).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This excavation report describes Haury's excavations and findings from Ventana Cave. Also included are lengthy discussions on the geology, climate, and possible dates for the various stratum and the surround area. The cave deposits date from the Pleistocene to the time of Haury's excavation in 1941. As the cave contains a spring, the earlier human occupied stratum only contained stone tools. Drier stratum existed in the upper layers of the cave with better preservation, but these stratum are outside the time period for the Early Desert Archaic. Haury excavated at Ventana Cave in the early 1940s. This was before the invention of carbon 14 dating. So he had to use many methods to try to date the deposits. More recently, some of the material from the Volcanic Depris stratum has been dated by AMS radiocarbon dating to 10,700 and 8700 BP. So the Red Sand strata dates to after 8700 BP and the Conglomerate layer has a date greater than 10,700 BP. Both the Volcanic Debris and the Red Sand layers are considered to be from the Early Desert Archaic period. It is now thought that the bones of the extinct fauna were from the Pleistocene Conglomerate strata and were not associated with any artifacts. An end date for the Red Sand strata has not been determined but Bruce Huckell (eHRAF document no.21) states the Early Archaic period ends around 5500 BP in the Southwest. Therefore, only the data that pertain to the Volcanic Debris and the Red Sand stratum were marked for Outline of Cultural Materials codes. The reader is also urged to use caution when reading this document as the tables and text do not always agree on the number or kind of tools that were found in the Volcanic Debris or the Red Sand stratum. Also, Haury analyzed the artifacts in groupings based on the kind of artifact. So all the projectile points, knives, scrapers, etc. from all the stratum were analyzed together and it is up to the readers to sort out which artifacts belong with which stratum.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Identification
- Cultural stratigraphy
- Archaeological excavation methods
- Dating methods in archaeology
- Lithic industries
- Weapons
- General tools
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Early Desert Archaic
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2010
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southwest and Basin
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- book chapter
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Sarah Berry; 2010
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 18 March-27 May 1941, 5 February-11 April 1942
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- older than 10,700-58 BP (older than 8700 BC-AD 1942)
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Ventana Cave, Arizona, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- by Emil W. Haury; collaborators: Kirk Bryan [and others]
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 565-578)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 51000802
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Indians of North America--Arizona
- Indians of North America
- Ventana Cave (Ariz.)