Posts by Primitive Lifeways
Southwest Archaeology Lectures
In the early 60s, scholars like Emil Haury made tremendous progress in re-discovering and interpreting Hohokam, Mimbres, and Salado cultural traditions. Their hard work and dedicated careers opened the flood gates to well funded excavation projects that would later inspire young scholars to continue their search in cultural anthropology. As we fast forward to 2024,…
Read MoreDisease, Power, and Ceramics in Prehistory
If the Covid-19 pandemic taught us anything, it becomes apparent that different people handle the threats of infectious disease differently. When the pandemic first began, my studies in anthropology influenced the way I observed the general population around me. In the beginning of the pandemic, I noticed the population around me resisted the use of…
Read MorePrescott Pottery Designs Explained
How Experimental Archaeology Can Help to Understand the Past For years some of the most brilliant minds and leading researchers in Arizona archaeology have tried to solve one of the greatest mysteries of prehistory during agricultural settlement. Depending on the time period and cultural affiliation, Southwestern potters expressed their religion, world views, and sociocultural identity…
Read MorePrescott Culture Migration in Prehistory
Abstract Arizona is home to an elaborate and lengthy prehistory which archaeology can study and analyze. In order to achieve the collective goal of forming and testing different scientific hypothesis, the archaeologist must examine data using an objective methodology. In comparison to the early archaeological interpretations from the 1800s and early 1900s, objective practices are…
Read MoreMaking The Lakota Bow
Here is a video I am very proud of. For the past year I have been quietly working on filming the process of making a Lakota style bow. These powerful bows were used to hunt buffalo and defend against the US Calvary. In this video I show a step by step tutorial on how I…
Read MoreWhere Did the Mimbres Go?
The Mimbres culture were a prehistoric North American group and branch of the Mogollon tradition who occupied a significant territory along the Mimbres River and Gila Mountains in what is now southwestern New Mexico. Like many prehistoric southwestern cultures, archaeology does not know what the Mimbres people called themselves–it is my speculation they could have…
Read MoreA Good Day For Archaeology
It was an unusually hot day in late May of 2019 as monsoon clouds were teasing our archaeology field crew in Prescott Arizona. That week I kept thinking about a six week excavation project I was about to start the following week near St. Louis. As the crew and I were surveying large transects of…
Read MoreThe Burial of the Magician – A Hopi Relation
What you are looking at is one of the richest prehistoric burials in ancient Arizona. This individual, known as the magician, was clearly of elite status and high ranking in Sinagua society. The man was buried at Ridge Ruin in a room set apart from the rest of the pueblo with wooden wands, lots of…
Read MoreArchaeology Explained – Religion and Sacrifice
One misconception about the prehistoric American Southwest is that people were always peaceful and just wanted to live in harmony. The truth is we see a massive influence from Mesoamerica(ancient Mexico) where religion was based on bloodletting and human sacrifice. The common belief was if blood was not given, the world would come to an…
Read More