Ronald Krug & Peter Pilles :: Projectile Point Distributions on the Coconino National Forest

For the past 35 years, projectile points have been routinely collected as part of archaeological surveys conducted by personnel of the Coconino National Forest. From these surveys, over 2,600 projectile points have been collected. Unlike ceramics, which have well established and accepted typologies, efforts to make some sense from the distribution of these points have been frustrated by the lack of a uniform, accepted projectile point typology for the region. Recently, however, the Kaibab and Coconino National Forests have cooperated in developing a typology for projectile points that will hopefully result in a standardized nomenclature for future projects on the two Forests. This paper presents some initial impressions of the geographical distribution and patterns for the various point types on the Coconino National Forest. Points from the Forest represent a complete sequence of activity, from Paleoindian; through Early, Middle, and Late Archaic and into the Northern Sinagua, Southern Sinagua, and Cohonina although points forms usually attributed to the Hohokam, Basketmaker, and Pueblo are also present. Points from the Protohistoric period are also represented and are attributed to the Pai and Apache in both the southern and northern parts of the Forest. Protohistoric points suggest travel corridors between the Verde and Little Colorado River Valleys and indicate Pai utilization of the Anderson Mesa --Chavez Pass area that has not previously been noted.

On October 9, 2010 a symposium organized by David R. Wilcox (Museum of Northern Arizona) and Peter J. Pilles, Jr. (Coconino National Forest), was presented at the Museum of Northern Arizona on "Contributions of Avocational Archaeology to Historic Preservation in Arizona." Introduced by Wilcox, eight papers were presented on the results of archaeological surveys conducted in the Middle Verde Valley and northern Arizona, a paper on rock art in the Middle Verde Valley, and one on Paleoindian and Archaic projectile point classification on the Coconino National Forest. John and Lisa Ward of Trailhead Video filmed the proceedings and later integrated the powerpoint presentations to produce the Youtube videos of this event.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Peter Pilles
• Ronald Krug
• archaeology
• Arizona
• lecture