AbstractsAnthropology

Archaeological research on the lowland branch of the Virgin Branch Puebloan (VBP) has been conducted steadily throughout the 20th century. Much of this research occurred in the early half of the century with initial research conducted by Mark R. Harrington and later archaeology designed as salvage work due to public works projects, including the construction of Hoover Dam and the development of Lake Mead (Ahlstrom and Roberts 2012). The initial archaeology in the area was focused on classifying and characterizing the Puebloan occupation in the region, as the discovery of habitation sites in the area represented the farthest western extension of the Puebloan cultural identity (Harrington 1927; Shutler 1961; Lyneis 1995). Later researchers expanded their research interests to include the study of ceramics, trade patterns, and community organization (Lyneis 1992; Allison 2000; Harry and Watson 2010). Few intensive lithic analyses have been conducted on site assemblages of the Virgin Branch, particularly in the Moapa Valley area of southern Nevada. This thesis uses lithic assemblage data collected from the Yamashita sites, four VBP sites located in the Moapa Valley in southern Nevada dating between the early Pueblo II (PII) period (AD 1000-1020) and the early Pueblo III (PIII) period (AD 1200-1300). The goals of the project are to examine what the tools and debitage at the sites reveal about tool design and how raw material and occupation duration affected these assemblages. Advisors/Committee Members: Barbara Roth, Karen Harry, Margaret Lyneis, Stephen Rowland.