Description

Papers of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, No. 3

This book presents archaeological and chronological data on thirteen Tsegi Phase sites in the area of Tsegi Canyon in northeastern Arizona, for a comprehensive characterization of the Tsegi Phase.

Analysis of 386 dated tree-ring specimens from thirteen Tsegi Phase sites has produced a considerable body of detailed chronological information relevant to each site and to the phase. Each of the sites is placed against the scale of absolute time, a procedure that permits them to be compared on the basis of absolute rather than classificatory contemporaneity. Intensive analysis of 299 dates couples with detailed architectural studies at the major sites of Betatakin and Kiet Siel yield much more than just chronological information. Precise provenience controls and the large number of dates from each site permit refined analyses of intra-site chronological relationships, which in turn provide the basis for a number of inferences about nonmaterial aspects of culture such as social units, social organization, leadership structure, village integration, and village homogeneity. Analyses of 533 undated and 299 dated specimens from Betatakin and Kiet Siel are relevant to a variety of nonchronological problems, which are divided into two types: those concerned with the prehistoric environment and those of a cultural-historical nature.