In the Aftermath of Migration, Renegotiating Ancient Identity in Southeastern Arizona

The Safford and Aravaipa valleys of Arizona have always lingered in the wings of Southwestern archaeology, away from the spotlight held by the more thoroughly studied Tucson and Phoenix Basins, the Mogollon Rim area, and the Colorado Plateau. Yet these two valleys hold intriguing clues to understanding the social processes, particularly migration and the interaction it engenders, that led to the coalescence of ancient populations throughout the Greater Southwest in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries A.D. Because the Safford and Aravaipa valleys show cultural influences from diverse areas of the pre-Hispanic Southwest, particularly the Phoenix Basin, the Mogollon Rim, and the Kayenta and Tusayan region, they serve as a microcosm of many of the social changes that occurred in other areas of the Southwest during this time.

This research explores the social changes that took place in the Safford and Aravaipa valleys during the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries A.D. as a result of an influx of migrants from the Kayenta and Tusayan regions of northeastern Arizona. Focusing on domestic architecture and ceramics, the author evaluates how migration affects the expression of identity of both migrant and indigenous populations in the Safford and Aravaipa valleys and provides a model for research in other areas where migration played an important role.

Archaeologists interested in the Greater Southwest will find a wealth of information on these little-known valleys that provides contextualization for this important and intriguing time period, and those interested in migration in the ancient past will find a useful case study that goes beyond identifying incidents of migration to understanding its long-lasting implications for both migrants and the local people they impacted.

Anna A. Neuzil began studies in the American Southwest as a student with the Chevelon Archaeological Research Project and University of Virginia Field School in 1998, She received her B.A. from the University of Virginia, majoring in Anthropology and Archaeology, and earned her Master's and doctoral degrees from the Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson. She participated in archaeological field work in many areas of the Southwest, including Chevelon Canyon, Silver Creek, Forestdale Valley, San Pedro Valley, and Tucson Basin, prior to conducting her dissertation research in the Safford and Aravaipa valleys of Arizona as a Preservation Fellow of the Center for Desert Archaeology, Tucson. Neuzil served as Ceramic Analyst and Project Director in the Archaeology Department of Tierra Right of Way Services in Tucson and was appointed in 2008 as Project Director and Principal Investigator with Ecoplan Associates, Inc., Tucson, Arizona.