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Publications by Phil Leckman
Sacred Southwestern Landscapes: Archaeologies of Religious Ecology, 2024
The shape which all that which is settled has is that of a cross.. . .
Advances in Archaeological Practice, 2023
Despite advocacy of landscape approaches in cultural resource management (CRM) and critiques of t... more Despite advocacy of landscape approaches in cultural resource management (CRM) and critiques of the site concept, CRM data collection methods in the western United States continue to focus on individual archaeological sites as units of observation, analysis, and management. The transect-recording unit (TRU) method strikes a balance between conventional site-based recording methods and site-less survey approaches by dividing survey space into a grid of uniformly sized cells for recording all cultural manifestations observed across a survey area. TRU survey generates site boundaries required by CRM regulations while retaining a fine-grained spatial framework for landscape-level research and management. This article discusses the technical requirements of the TRU system and its potential for improving landscape-level research and management. Advances in digital recording technologies and analysis techniques render the method efficient and effective in identifying cultural resource distributions and characteristics otherwise obscured by conventional approaches. The research and management potential of the TRU system is illustrated through identification and interpretation of precontact foot trails in New Mexico's Tularosa Basin. These trails are essentially invisible during pedestrian survey but are readily identifiable as linear patterns using aggregated landscape-scale TRU survey data from multiple survey projects, providing novel insight into precontact routes of movement and exchange.
New Mexico and the Pimería Alta: The Colonial Period in the American Southwest, 2017
With the Columbian Quincentenary just a few years off, the Society of American Archaeology (SAA) ... more With the Columbian Quincentenary just a few years off, the Society of American Archaeology (SAA) puzzled its role in anticipating the inevitable events that would surround the 500th anniversary of European-Native American interactions. I was a member of the Executive Committee of the SAA at the time, and the president asked me spearhead the society's efforts for observing the Columbian Quincentenary. Thanks to the support and encouragement of key SAA officers Don Fowler, Prudence Rice, Bruce Smith, and Jerry Sabloff, we were able to develop a plan. After exploring a number of options with the board, we settled upon a series of topical seminars that we dubbed Columbian Consequences. These nine public seminars, to be held over a three-year span, were designed to generate an accurate and factual assessment of what did-and what did not-transpire as a result of the Columbian encounter. We specifically tasked ourselves to probe the social, demographic, ecological, ideological, and human repercussions of European-Native American encounters across the Spanish Borderlands, spreading the word among both the scholarly community and the greater public at large. Although sponsored by the SAA, the Columbian Consequences enterprise rapidly transcended the traditional scope of archaeological inquiry, drawing together a diverse assortment of personalities and perspectives. We invited leading scholars of the day to synthesize current thinking about specific geographical settings across the Spanish Borderlands, which extend from St. Augustine (Florida) to San Francisco (California). Each overview was designed to provide a Native American context, a history of European involvement, and a summary of scholarly research. The structure was fairly simple. Each of three consecutive SAA annual meetings (in 1988, 1989, and 1990) hosted three Columbian Consequences seminars. The resulting three volumes were published by the Smithsonian Institution Press, which remarkably published each volume less than a year after the seminar papers were presented. The initial book, entitled Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands West (Thomas 1989), tackled the European-Native American interface from the Pacific Slope across the southwestern heartland to East Texas, from Russian Fort Ross to southern Baja California. The archaeologists involved addressed material culture evidence regarding contact period sociopolitics, economics, iconography, and physical environment. Other authors attempted to provide a critical balance from the perspectives of American history, Native American studies, art history, ethnohistory, and geography. In the intermediate volume-Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands East (Thomas 1990)-nearly three dozen scholars pursued a similar agenda across La Florida, the greater Southeast, and the Caribbean.
The Spanish colonization of New Mexico brought together populations with different perspectives o... more The Spanish colonization of New Mexico brought together populations with different perspectives on space and landscape, each drawing upon extensive cultural and historical roots. While in some cases Spanish and Pueblo attitudes exhibited considerable tangency, in other areas these perspectives clashed, contributing to painful processes of culture contact and change. Drawing on recent work at Paako, a seventeenth-century Pueblo village and visita, this paper explores the articulation of Spanish and Pueblo concepts of space and place at multiple scales, successively examining these processes within the village, the broader Paako community, and the New Mexico colony as a whole.
Arizona Anthropologist, 2006
Writing is critical to two main anthropological goals: to communicate useful knowledge about huma... more Writing is critical to two main anthropological goals: to communicate useful knowledge about humanity and society; and to stimulate interest, discussion, and action on issues that are of societal import. To achieve these goals anthropologists must write in accessible styles for diverse audiences. In this paper, we review the work of five popular nonfiction writers to determine the extent to which their approachable writing styles are compatible with anthropological rigor and nuance. While none of these authors meets all of our hopes for anthropological analysis, each does manage to blend some elements of scholarship with a readable style. We therefore highlight some of their stylistic approaches in the hope that these might help anthropologists engage more effectively in public debate.
Conference Papers by Phil Leckman
In the spring of 2005, the University of Arizona's Archaeological Field School began a new pr... more In the spring of 2005, the University of Arizona's Archaeological Field School began a new project at Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Arizona. This project was designed to incorporate spatial technologies as part of the learning experience for undergraduate students with no GIS experience. In addition to basic excavation skills, they were taught to collect spatial data using a total station
Academic Theses by Phil Leckman
Evidence from archaeology, ethnohistory, and ethnography suggests that the raised architectural c... more Evidence from archaeology, ethnohistory, and ethnography suggests that the raised architectural complexes known as platform mounds played a central role in the organization of Hohokam society during the Classic Period (approximately AD 1150-1450). In particular, many studies focus attention upon platform mounds' potential as venues for community ritual. This spatial analysis of the platform mound complex at the Marana Platform Mound site builds upon the clues provided by artifacts, architecture, and ethnography to examine how these community rituals might have unfolded. Using the Marana mound's remnant architecture as its primary evidence, this study reconstructs visibility and access throughout the mound complex, suggesting which parts of moundtop ceremonies might be perceptible to all observers and which might be partially or totally hidden from view. Taken together, the findings from this analysis offer insights into how the rituals performed at the Marana mound complex might have helped bring the residents of the surrounding community together even as they emphasized the power and authority of an exclusive few.
Evidence from archaeology, ethnohistory, and ethnography suggests that the raised architectural c... more Evidence from archaeology, ethnohistory, and ethnography suggests that the raised architectural complexes known as platform mounds played a central role in the organization of Hohokam society during the Classic Period (approximately AD 1150-1450). In particular, many studies focus attention upon platform mounds' potential as venues for community ritual. This spatial analysis of the platform mound complex at the Marana Platform Mound site builds upon the clues provided by artifacts, architecture, and ethnography to examine how these community rituals might have unfolded. Using the Marana mound's remnant architecture as its primary evidence, this study reconstructs visibility and access throughout the mound complex, suggesting which parts of moundtop ceremonies might be perceptible to all observers and which might be partially or totally hidden from view. Taken together, the findings from this analysis offer insights into how the rituals performed at the Marana mound complex might have helped bring the residents of the surrounding community together even as they emphasized the power and authority of an exclusive few.
Drafts by Phil Leckman
Writing is critical to two main anthropological goals: to communicate useful knowledge about huma... more Writing is critical to two main anthropological goals: to communicate useful knowledge about humanity and society; and to stimulate interest, discussion, and action on issues that are of societal import. To achieve these goals anthropologists must write in accessible styles for ...
The Spanish colonization of New Mexico brought together populations with different perspectives o... more The Spanish colonization of New Mexico brought together populations with different perspectives on space and landscape, each drawing upon extensive cultural and historical roots. While in some cases Spanish and Pueblo attitudes exhibited considerable tangency, in other areas these perspectives clashed, contributing to painful processes of culture contact and change. Drawing on recent work at Paako, a seventeenth-century Pueblo village and visita, this paper explores the articulation of Spanish and Pueblo concepts of space and place at multiple scales, successively examining these processes within the village, the broader Paako community, and the New Mexico colony as a whole.
Sacred Southwestern Landscapes: Archaeologies of Religious Ecology, 2024
The shape which all that which is settled has is that of a cross.. . .
Advances in Archaeological Practice, 2023
Despite advocacy of landscape approaches in cultural resource management (CRM) and critiques of t... more Despite advocacy of landscape approaches in cultural resource management (CRM) and critiques of the site concept, CRM data collection methods in the western United States continue to focus on individual archaeological sites as units of observation, analysis, and management. The transect-recording unit (TRU) method strikes a balance between conventional site-based recording methods and site-less survey approaches by dividing survey space into a grid of uniformly sized cells for recording all cultural manifestations observed across a survey area. TRU survey generates site boundaries required by CRM regulations while retaining a fine-grained spatial framework for landscape-level research and management. This article discusses the technical requirements of the TRU system and its potential for improving landscape-level research and management. Advances in digital recording technologies and analysis techniques render the method efficient and effective in identifying cultural resource distributions and characteristics otherwise obscured by conventional approaches. The research and management potential of the TRU system is illustrated through identification and interpretation of precontact foot trails in New Mexico's Tularosa Basin. These trails are essentially invisible during pedestrian survey but are readily identifiable as linear patterns using aggregated landscape-scale TRU survey data from multiple survey projects, providing novel insight into precontact routes of movement and exchange.
New Mexico and the Pimería Alta: The Colonial Period in the American Southwest, 2017
With the Columbian Quincentenary just a few years off, the Society of American Archaeology (SAA) ... more With the Columbian Quincentenary just a few years off, the Society of American Archaeology (SAA) puzzled its role in anticipating the inevitable events that would surround the 500th anniversary of European-Native American interactions. I was a member of the Executive Committee of the SAA at the time, and the president asked me spearhead the society's efforts for observing the Columbian Quincentenary. Thanks to the support and encouragement of key SAA officers Don Fowler, Prudence Rice, Bruce Smith, and Jerry Sabloff, we were able to develop a plan. After exploring a number of options with the board, we settled upon a series of topical seminars that we dubbed Columbian Consequences. These nine public seminars, to be held over a three-year span, were designed to generate an accurate and factual assessment of what did-and what did not-transpire as a result of the Columbian encounter. We specifically tasked ourselves to probe the social, demographic, ecological, ideological, and human repercussions of European-Native American encounters across the Spanish Borderlands, spreading the word among both the scholarly community and the greater public at large. Although sponsored by the SAA, the Columbian Consequences enterprise rapidly transcended the traditional scope of archaeological inquiry, drawing together a diverse assortment of personalities and perspectives. We invited leading scholars of the day to synthesize current thinking about specific geographical settings across the Spanish Borderlands, which extend from St. Augustine (Florida) to San Francisco (California). Each overview was designed to provide a Native American context, a history of European involvement, and a summary of scholarly research. The structure was fairly simple. Each of three consecutive SAA annual meetings (in 1988, 1989, and 1990) hosted three Columbian Consequences seminars. The resulting three volumes were published by the Smithsonian Institution Press, which remarkably published each volume less than a year after the seminar papers were presented. The initial book, entitled Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands West (Thomas 1989), tackled the European-Native American interface from the Pacific Slope across the southwestern heartland to East Texas, from Russian Fort Ross to southern Baja California. The archaeologists involved addressed material culture evidence regarding contact period sociopolitics, economics, iconography, and physical environment. Other authors attempted to provide a critical balance from the perspectives of American history, Native American studies, art history, ethnohistory, and geography. In the intermediate volume-Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands East (Thomas 1990)-nearly three dozen scholars pursued a similar agenda across La Florida, the greater Southeast, and the Caribbean.
The Spanish colonization of New Mexico brought together populations with different perspectives o... more The Spanish colonization of New Mexico brought together populations with different perspectives on space and landscape, each drawing upon extensive cultural and historical roots. While in some cases Spanish and Pueblo attitudes exhibited considerable tangency, in other areas these perspectives clashed, contributing to painful processes of culture contact and change. Drawing on recent work at Paako, a seventeenth-century Pueblo village and visita, this paper explores the articulation of Spanish and Pueblo concepts of space and place at multiple scales, successively examining these processes within the village, the broader Paako community, and the New Mexico colony as a whole.
Arizona Anthropologist, 2006
Writing is critical to two main anthropological goals: to communicate useful knowledge about huma... more Writing is critical to two main anthropological goals: to communicate useful knowledge about humanity and society; and to stimulate interest, discussion, and action on issues that are of societal import. To achieve these goals anthropologists must write in accessible styles for diverse audiences. In this paper, we review the work of five popular nonfiction writers to determine the extent to which their approachable writing styles are compatible with anthropological rigor and nuance. While none of these authors meets all of our hopes for anthropological analysis, each does manage to blend some elements of scholarship with a readable style. We therefore highlight some of their stylistic approaches in the hope that these might help anthropologists engage more effectively in public debate.
In the spring of 2005, the University of Arizona's Archaeological Field School began a new pr... more In the spring of 2005, the University of Arizona's Archaeological Field School began a new project at Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Arizona. This project was designed to incorporate spatial technologies as part of the learning experience for undergraduate students with no GIS experience. In addition to basic excavation skills, they were taught to collect spatial data using a total station
Evidence from archaeology, ethnohistory, and ethnography suggests that the raised architectural c... more Evidence from archaeology, ethnohistory, and ethnography suggests that the raised architectural complexes known as platform mounds played a central role in the organization of Hohokam society during the Classic Period (approximately AD 1150-1450). In particular, many studies focus attention upon platform mounds' potential as venues for community ritual. This spatial analysis of the platform mound complex at the Marana Platform Mound site builds upon the clues provided by artifacts, architecture, and ethnography to examine how these community rituals might have unfolded. Using the Marana mound's remnant architecture as its primary evidence, this study reconstructs visibility and access throughout the mound complex, suggesting which parts of moundtop ceremonies might be perceptible to all observers and which might be partially or totally hidden from view. Taken together, the findings from this analysis offer insights into how the rituals performed at the Marana mound complex might have helped bring the residents of the surrounding community together even as they emphasized the power and authority of an exclusive few.
Evidence from archaeology, ethnohistory, and ethnography suggests that the raised architectural c... more Evidence from archaeology, ethnohistory, and ethnography suggests that the raised architectural complexes known as platform mounds played a central role in the organization of Hohokam society during the Classic Period (approximately AD 1150-1450). In particular, many studies focus attention upon platform mounds' potential as venues for community ritual. This spatial analysis of the platform mound complex at the Marana Platform Mound site builds upon the clues provided by artifacts, architecture, and ethnography to examine how these community rituals might have unfolded. Using the Marana mound's remnant architecture as its primary evidence, this study reconstructs visibility and access throughout the mound complex, suggesting which parts of moundtop ceremonies might be perceptible to all observers and which might be partially or totally hidden from view. Taken together, the findings from this analysis offer insights into how the rituals performed at the Marana mound complex might have helped bring the residents of the surrounding community together even as they emphasized the power and authority of an exclusive few.
Writing is critical to two main anthropological goals: to communicate useful knowledge about huma... more Writing is critical to two main anthropological goals: to communicate useful knowledge about humanity and society; and to stimulate interest, discussion, and action on issues that are of societal import. To achieve these goals anthropologists must write in accessible styles for ...
The Spanish colonization of New Mexico brought together populations with different perspectives o... more The Spanish colonization of New Mexico brought together populations with different perspectives on space and landscape, each drawing upon extensive cultural and historical roots. While in some cases Spanish and Pueblo attitudes exhibited considerable tangency, in other areas these perspectives clashed, contributing to painful processes of culture contact and change. Drawing on recent work at Paako, a seventeenth-century Pueblo village and visita, this paper explores the articulation of Spanish and Pueblo concepts of space and place at multiple scales, successively examining these processes within the village, the broader Paako community, and the New Mexico colony as a whole.