Canyon Creek revisited: New investigations of a late prehispanic turquoise mine, Arizona, USA
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Canyon_Creek_Revisited_Manuscr ...
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Final Accepted Manuscript
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ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTDCitation
Hedquist, S. L., Thibodeau, A. M., Welch, J. R., & Killick, D. J. (2017). Canyon Creek revisited: New investigations of a late prehispanic turquoise mine, Arizona, USA. Journal of Archaeological Science, 87, 44-58.Rights
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
Turquoise has been used in the American Southwest since "time immemorial," and remains an important material for contemporary indigenous groups of the region. Detailed studies of ancient turquoise mines are few, however, and inferences of turquoise procurement and provenance have been limited. Our intensive investigation of one mine, the Canyon Creek locale in Arizona, integrates archaeology and geochemistry to enhance understanding of the mine and its output. A detailed description of the mine's morphology and geologic setting lays foundations for interpreting an isotopic analysis of specimens from the mine's four localities. The analysis reveals extremely radiogenic Pb isotope ratios, which distinguish Canyon Creek turquoise from that of other known sources in the American Southwest. Its distinctive isotopic signature makes Canyon Creek turquoise readily identifiable in archaeological assemblages. The presence of turquoise from Canyon Creek at late prehispanic settlements in east-central Arizona helps clarify the mine's chronology of use and regional distribution. Our observations suggest the mine was larger than previously supposed, and that it provided an important source of turquoise for inhabitants of the region during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AD. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Note
36 month embargo; published online: 29 September 2017ISSN
03054403Version
Final accepted manuscriptSponsors
National Science Foundation [BCS 0852270, BCS 1440452]; University of Arizona (School of Anthropology)Additional Links
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305440317301280ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.jas.2017.09.004