Date Collections in New World Archaeology

Abstract

This paper has two goals. One is to examine how archaeologists have used large collections of archaeologically derived "dates" to illustrate general principles about how these collections should be interpreted. The other is to review the collection of archaeomagnetic dates now on record from Hohokam archaeological sites in southern Arizona, in light of the conclusions provided by the first part of the paper. It seems that there is a significant pattern in the series of Hohokam hearth dates from Classic Period sites. This pattern may be the result of systematic changes in the prehistoric behavior underlying these dates, or it may be the result of systematic laboratory problems. In either case, attention is drawn to the uneven distribution of Hohokam hearth dates in order to pose research questions. The bar graph treatment of dates used here has precedent in similar treatment by archaeologists of other date collections, Some examples are reviewed below to provide background to this series analysis of an archaeoniagnetic date collection.