The 2019 publication of The Davis Ranch Site: A Kayenta Immigrant Enclave in Southeastern Arizona, as part of the Amerind Studies in Anthropology series by the University of Arizona Press, addresses an injustice more than 60 years old. Despite the fact that the late Rex Gerald's work at Davis Ranch has had a substantial influence on the interpretation of southern Arizona prehistory, the results of his 1957 excavations at the site have not previously been published. Although the monograph describing the results of investigations was completed not long after his fieldwork, it was not released to the public, apparently because of disagreements regarding interpretations of the data. Regrettably, the questions that guided Gerald's investigations remain largely unresolved, including the issue of what caused material culture changes that occurred during the Classic period (ca. AD 1150–1450). These include the appearance of polychrome pottery (Roosevelt Red Wares), inhumation burials, and compound architecture with surface structures (i.e., the Salado phenomenon). Roosevelt Red Wares are one of the most widespread ceramic types in the Greater Southwest, and modern scholars are largely divided into two camps: those who suggest that the ceramics were associated with the spread of a religious tradition, and others who believe that they were largely made by enclaves of migrants from the Kayenta area to the north (i.e., the Salado people). The excavations were also undertaken to study the relationships between the prehistoric period and historic period residents of the region, which is also still not fully understood. Importantly, censorship is never an appropriate response to disagreements over results and interpretations, and had the excavation data been released in 1958, we could be closer to consensus on these significant issues.
The book has eight chapters, along with lengthy appendixes and an index. The manuscript is well illustrated with 43 figures, many of which are in color. The illustrations include photographs from the excavations, as well as recently drafted plan and profile drawings that are based on the field records. Five of the chapters were written by Gerald and edited by Patrick D. Lyons (Chapters 2 through 6). Two were authored by Lyons (Chapters 1 and 7), and Chapter 8 was coauthored by Jeffery J. Clark and Lyons.
Chapter 1 summarizes what is known regarding the prehistoric culture history of the San Pedro Valley in southern Arizona, where Davis Ranch is located, and it provides background information about Gerald's field research and manuscript. Chapter 2 is the introduction that Gerald wrote for his 1958 site report. Chapter 3 describes the architecture and other features, whereas Chapter 4 covers the 15 inhumations and three cremation burials identified at the site. Chapter 5 summarizes the lithic artifacts, faunal materials, shell artifacts, and other items. In contrast to the extensive reanalysis of ceramics in Chapter 7, brief reconsiderations are given to these materials. The lack of an obsidian source analysis is especially surprising given that these data have clear regional and temporal patterns, which suggest changes in socioeconomic interactions between different regions and through time.
Chapter 6 describes the pottery types present in the Davis Ranch ceramic assemblage, and this single chapter in the current volume consists of two incomplete chapters that were written by Gerald and have been extensively edited by Lyons. Students of Southwest ceramics will find this chapter especially useful because the editorial commentary provides informative background regarding current pottery classifications. Chapter 7 consists of Lyons's reanalysis of the decorated ceramics from the site. His focus is to establish the temporal sequence of decorative design varieties, and although he does an excellent job of establishing the temporal sequence of pottery types at Davis Ranch, he gives comparatively little attention to contemporaneous regional variations in design styles across the extensive region where Roosevelt Red Wares occur.
Chapter 8 considers the Davis Ranch data within the context of recent investigations by Archaeology Southwest, which is taken as the “gold standard” (p. 380) for archaeology in the Roosevelt Red Ware region. The research questions that guided Gerald's investigation are reviewed, and Clark and Lyons argue from the data generated through Gerald's work that Kayenta migrants from northern Arizona and their descendants were the primary producers of Roosevelt Red Wares in the lower San Pedro Valley. Given that archaeologists have long used the term “Salado” to refer to the Classic period residents of the Tonto Basin, where Roosevelt Red Wares were thought to have originated, the argument here by Clark and Lyons represents a substantial revision to Southwest prehistory. This chapter also focuses on the ceramic data and the identification of Kayenta material cultural traits. For example, the brief discussion of projectile points employs types from the Kayenta area to classify them, despite the fact that identical points are common in southern Arizona. The final half of the book includes 10 detailed appendixes with descriptions and discussions of dendrochronology, bioarchaeological data, shell artifacts, faunal remains, and pollen. Also included are lengthy tables with ceramic data from the 1958 analysis, as well Lyons's reanalysis, and background information about the images.
All three authors (Gerald, Lyons, and Clark) are to be commended for this important addition to our understanding of Southwest prehistory. It will be used as a reference for generations to come, and it is essential reading for all specialists in the archaeology of southern Arizona. By far the greatest shortcoming is that discussion effectively ends at AD 1400, when it is suggested that Kayenta migrants left the site. The manuscript also leaves important issues such as why the migrants came and then subsequently left largely unanswered. Indeed, more fully resolving the Salado phenomenon will require bridging prehistory and history, thereby placing the Classic period into the context of what occurred both before and afterward.
