9510

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9510
• Author: Jones, A. T.
• Title: A Cross Section of Grand Canyon Archeology
• USFW Year: 1986.
• USFW - Doc Type: Excavations at Five Sites Along the Colorado River.
• Copyright Material: NO

changes was the influx of late 19th century Anglo explorers, scientists,
post-Gold Rush prospectors, and finally tour guides and their clients.
Pertinent to this study was the activity of a prospector, Ben
Beamer. ,'round 1890, at the confluence of the Little Colorado and
Co 1 Grado ri vers, hI". rebui 1 t an Anasazi rui n recorded in 1869 by Major
John I'Jesley Powell (Fowler, Euler and Fowler 1969:11-12). He occupied
this cabin atop tile prehistoric trash (AZ C:13:4[GRCA]) until 1892.
Today, the canyon is protected within the bounds of a national park
established in 1919. ~Iearly 15,000 river runners and thousands of
hiker5 hilve access to the five sites tested by the author. It is likely
that impact on the sites has been greater in the last 25 years than in
the entire 4,000 years of culture history. But for that impact, funding
wOlIl rl not have been allocated to allow us to del ve into the finer
details of the regional prehistory.

Research Design

t
~

As descri bed above, the cul ture hi story and environmental aspects
of Grand Canyon archeology are reasonably complete. However, no
sheltered sites had ever been excavated in Grand Canyon National Park
and a report on the excavated site (AZ C:13:66[GRCA]) adjacent to the
east boundary has yet to be published. The excellent preservati on and
the depth of the depos i tsat the si tes desc ri bed here made them ideal
for the study of additional research problems. The open masonry site at
Furnace Flats providpd an excellent comparison to the sheltered sites.
Our research orientation was three-pronged. The questions we
hoped to answer related to cul ture history, economic orientation and
paleoenvironment. Based on surface collections, primarily ceramics, the
cultural affiliation of each site was generally known. However, the
presence ofa few sherds of a particular ware does not necessarily
eauate \<Jith a particular people. The occurrence of Hopi, Southern
Paiute and Havasupai sherds at Beamer's Cabin might have indicated use
by all these orollps or bya different ~roup entirely. likewise, at Tuna
Creek, the relationship between the Southern Paiute and Anasaziremained
to be rleternined. ~arly research (Euler 1964) indicated that the
Southern Paiute may have arrived from the northwest around A.D. 1150,

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