Examining Arizona Prehistoric Sites with Drone Imagery and 3-D Modeling

Join the Natural History Institute for a talk by archeologist Michael Kellett, who shares his original research on the Prescott Culture area. His research involves drone imagery and 3-D modeling from over 60 hilltop sites, spatial analysis using GIS, and a literature review to address the following research questions:
What does the literature indicate about the function of hilltop sites in west-central Arizona? Does the diversity of form in hilltop architecture indicate a diversity of site functions? Are aspects of hilltop site function discernable from architectural layout and setting (spatial context)? Would a comprehensive hilltop site typology facilitate research and dialogue on hilltop site function?
Learn about this innovative archaeological research where modern technology investigates the past.
This program was made possible by Arizona Humanities: azhumanities.org/
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Selected bibliography:
✿Bostwick, Todd W (2001) Look to the Sky: Another View of Hilltop Sites in Central Arizona. In The Archaeology of Ancient Tactical Sites, edited by John R. Welch and Todd Bostwick, pp. 37-53. Arizona Archaeological Society, Tucson, Arizona.
✿Crary, Joseph S., Stephen Germick, and Michael Golio (1992 ) Defensive Sites from the Lower Verde and Superior Areas of Central Arizona. Paper presented the 65th Anniversary of the Pecos Conference, Pecos National Monument, New Mexico.
✿Downum, Christian E., Paul R. Fish, and Suzanne K. Fish (1994) Refining the Role of Cerros De Trincheras in Southern Arizona Settlement. Kiva 59(3):271-296.
✿Fish, Suzanne K. and Paul R. Fish (2007) Regional Heartlands and Transregional Trends. In Trincheras Sites in Time, Space, and Society, edited by Suzanne K. Fish, Paul R. Fish, and M. Elisa Villalpando. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
✿Fish, Paul R., Suzanne K. Fish, and Elisa Villalpando (2007) Introduction. In Trincheras Sites in Time, Space, and Society, edited by Suzanne K. Fish, Paul R. Fish, and M. Elisa Villalpando. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
✿Fish, Suzanne K., Paul R. Fish, Gary Christopherson, Todd A. Pitezel, and James T. Watson (2011) Two villages on Tumamoc Hill. Journal of Arizona Archaeology, Volume 1, Number 2: 185-196
✿Fowles, Severin M. (2009) The Enshrined Pueblo: Villagescape and Cosmos in the Northern Rio Grande. American Antiquity 74(3):448-466.
✿Haas, Jonathan and Winifred Creamer (1996) The Role of Warfare in the Pueblo III Period. In The Prehistoric Pueblo World A.D. 1150-1350, edited by Michael A. Adler, pp. 205-213. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
✿Kwiatkowski, Scott M. (2021) Fort Mountain: A Prehistoric Astronomical Observatory and Ceremonial Site in the Hohokam Northern Periphery. Journal of Arizona Archaeology 9(1):57-78.
✿Lambert, Patricia M. (2002) The Archaeology of War: A North American Perspective. Journal of Archaeological Research 10(3):207-242.
✿LeBlanc, S. A. (1999) Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
✿Pilles, Peter J. Jr. (2015) The Tuzigoot Phase of the Southern Sinagua. Journal of Arizona Archaeology, Volume 3, Numbers 1 & 2, pp-pp 1-17.
✿Russell, Will G. (2017) Uphill All the Way: Deductive and Inductive Reasoning on a Lonely Hilltop Somewhere in Arizona. Journal of Arizona Archaeology 5(1):31-45.
✿Solometo, Julie (2006) The Dimensions of War: Conflict and Culture Change in Central Arizona. In The Archaeology of Warfare, edited by E. N. Arkush and M. W. Allen, pp. 23-65. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
✿Spoerl, Patricia M. (1979) Prehistoric Cultural Development and Conflict in Central Arizona. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
✿Swanson, Steve. (2003) Documenting prehistoric communication networks: a case study in the Paquimé polity, in American Antiquity 68(4):753-767.
✿van Gennep, A. (1960) [1908] The Rites of Passage. Translated by M. B. Vizedom and G. L. Caffee. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
✿van Waarden, Nora (1984) Hilltop Sites in Central Arizona: An Analysis of their Functional Relationships. Master’s thesis, School of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe.
✿Wilcox, David R. and Jonathan Haas (1994) The Scream of the Butterfly: Competition and Conflict in the Prehistoric Southwest. In Themes in Southwest Prehistory, edited by George J. Gumerman, pp.211-238. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.
✿Zoll, Kenneth J. (2015) Sinagua solar observation methods in the Verde Valley. Journal of Arizona Archaeology, Volume 3, Number 1 and 2:117-129

[@OffGridBackcountryAdventures]

Awesome presentation, I really love living in this area and checking out these sites. I had no idea who these people were, thank you for the context!

[@NaturalHistoryInstitute]

Thank you for watching. Please share with your networks.

[@wndykayyah]

Thank you Brian for continuing to enlighten us with the past culture in your area.

[@couespursuit7350]

In the monsoon season a lookout could serve to warn of possible flash floods. In the modern context hilltop lookouts on National Forest are for fire warning