DOCUMENT


The Pinenut Site: Virgin Anasazi Archaeology on the Kanab Plateau of Northwestern Arizona

This report describes the results of a joint excavation project conducted by Abajo Archaeology and the BLM Arizona Strip District. The Pinenut Site is a Virgin Anasazi habitation located on Water Canyon Point, a southern extension of the Kanab Plateau in the Arizona Strip of northwestern Arizona. Excavation revealed a semi-subterranean pit structure; a room block consisting of 1 living room, 3 storage rooms, 1 activity room; and 1 storage-heating pit, and an isolated slab-lined cist complex. Cumulative evidence revealed that the site was occupied during at least three distinct episodes: the first occupation occurred in the A.D. 1050-1100 interval, and the subsequent two occupations were during the A.D. 1200-1250/1275 time span. Material culture patterns and subsistence data show that each occupation was probably restricted to the summer season and that the site inhabitants practiced a mixed horticulture-foraging subsistence strategy. Diagnostic material culture attributes show that group interaction was largely internal within the Virgin Anasazi cultural tradition and that there was little interaction with the Kayenta Anasazi in spite of the site's proximity to the northern Kayenta Anasazi frontier.

Document Type / Category
Cultural Resource Series
Document Collection
BLM Library
State/Office
National Office
Author
Westfall, Deborah A., et. al.
Publication Date
1987