o

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Palyuolot,S Labol'atoY.'Y C)C'!KU'I.:.:lGnt loX Anthl.'opolo,.,(y Ar.i.%,o�l.a State Uni-'!':orsity January 1973

In October of 1972 a �er1es of 60 sediment samples were sU;;>lfli tted

to the Palynology Laborato-t·y of the DepaX'-tmellt of Anthropology at

Arizona State University for archaeological pollen analysis. The

contracting agency, the Arizona Al'chaEwlogica.l Center of the National

Park Sel'vice, .i.'cques ted the accomplishmen t of such analy sas as was

PQssible in the t,:qui valon L of one mon th t s research effort 0 No priorities

were placed. on indi vi. dual samples. Howe vex' , 1 twas reques tecttha t

ulaxlmal effort be d.ir!i-�cted toward the test of a specific hypothesis and

that a specific format of analysis be utili:z:ed insofar as this was

possible.

Wide Ueed Ruin is characterized by the Qccurrence of rooms of

distinctive architectural char<leter. l;)laza areas, Ii kiva, large rooms

and smal l rOOlllli) are among the arch! tectural patterns which have been

excavated. Small rooms, which (!onstitute the majority of the architec­

tural ullits, have various types of floor features: some have no floOl'

features a.t all, some have bins in the fl oors . others have flagstone

flooring surfaces. 'l'he hypothesis given priority fo_r testing through

pollen analysis WLts that variations in architectural patterns observed

at Wide Reed Ruin are reflectlons of functional 01: use distinctions of

the rooms, and. that these dist.inctions may be recognized and identified

by the variances they cause in pollen rain50

J�vidence that the hyp01;hesis is testable has been provided by the

work of Hill anci Hevly (1968) at Broken K Pueblo.. At that Site,

palynological research allowed recognition of a close correlation of

pollen rain patterns ant:! architectural pattel'ns. Int;erpretation of the

-2-

pollen rains appeared to support the usage interpret.&. tions and functional

interpretations of B!'oken K architectural patterns which were made on

artifactual groundso However, as has been pointed out by Schoenwetter

(1970:39), these findings were serendipitous.. No research program had

been specifically designed to establish the correlation between pollen

rain patterns of specific sorts and ar(!hltectural patterns, nor was the

palynological study designed to allow statistlca,lly acceptable tests of

the correlation once it was established.

There exist two methods of approach applicable to the problem of

establishing a correlati,on between pollen rain and architectural pattern

which may be interpreted in terms of usage and function. The direct

approach is to isolate a small series of samples representing the pollen

rain of architectural features which are so distinctive that they are

very unlikely to represent members of the same functional or usage

category. For example, small rooms with floor bins as distinct from

k1vas. Samples of floor contac t sediment from rooms of such distinctive

a,rch! tecture would be observed to isolate the pollen rain distinctions

which exist t or to demonstrate statistically 'that no correlations

between architecture and po,Hen rains occur. If the palynological

distinctions were subtle, involving significant differences of less

than 5,,0 per cent variat;l.on. (which is not unlikely), observation of a

sufficiently large nlwber of pollen grains from each sample could be

very time consuming o Since labor costs are high in pollen analYSiS, the

direct approach to resolution ot the problem could become very

expensive. In allY case, few samples would be observed.

The indirect approach is to obtain pollen spectra for a series of

-3-

specimens representative of eoten�1a!!l functionally distinct pategories

of rooms. A large number of pollen grains are not observed in each

sample, but a large number of sam.ples are processed and analyzed. If

correlations occur between pattel.'ns of pollen rains and patterns of

architecture, an assessment can be made of the pro.bability that the

correlations are representative of functional distinctions among room

types. '!'his is particularly true if the. time variable is held essentially

constant. However, if no correlations between architectural and

palynological patterns occur, the pollen analyst cannot conclude that

no correlations exist. He can only pOint out that they do not exist in

the data available to himo 'Ibs indirect approach risks inconclusive

results in order to obtain data from a greater number of samples.

It was felt Judicious to use the indirect approach in the present

instance. This was considered advisable because: (A) the amount of

research that could be accomplished was limited by budget imperatives.

If the lixed amount of funds available had been expended before the

direct approach yielded sufficient data for resolution of the problem

(that is, if a sufficiently large number of pollen grains could not be

observed in the roughly one hundred hours available for research),

nothing effective would have been accomplished at all� If the same

amount were spent on the indirect approach there was more risk that the

problem of room function would be unresolved, but a greater prospect

that the data accumulated would be pertinent to the solution of other

problems.. (8) The indirect approach happened to be the one employed by

Hill and Hevly in collecting data on Broken Ko Utilization of the same

approach would provide an essentially comparable format of pollen data.

-4-

(C) It was hoped that the availability of 1r10l'e pollen records from the

s1 te would pI'ove useful in assessing such other problems as intra-site

chronology.

After discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the two

approaches with Mr. Mount, and after discussion of alt'ernative

hypotheses that could be tested through pollen analYSiS, Mr. Mount

isolated the Wide Reed samples he had collected which he considered

pertinent to the problem.. Work was begun through the chemical processing

of 40 sediment samples to extrac t such pollen as might be con.tained.

Normal extraction procedures for archaeological and terrestrial

sediments (Schoenwetter. 1962:207-9; Mehringer, 1967:136-7) utilize

75-150 cc volume of sample. Because the samples which were submitted

were normally of less than 100 cc volume, all of the sample was used ,for

the extraction" Thus no opportunity remains for independent analysis of

the sediments by ,:Ulother inves tiga tm:'.

'rime allowed observation of �{3 of the 10 samples, of which 21

provided sufficient pollen for analysis. This (63 per cent) 1s an

unusually high :frequency of "gOOd" archaeological samples; the normal

average is closer to 50 pel' cent productivity (t::.g., Schoenwetter,

1967:93-97), and not infrequently is about 30 per cent (eog., Schoenwet ..

tel', 196'1:29-30). In 19 cases analyses proceeded until 200 pollen

grains--excluslve of tlethnobotallic" types (Bohrer, 1966:2;_ Schoenwetter.

1970:38)--were recorded. In the remaining two cases 148-, and IOO-grain

counts were accepted as adequate. This analytic format provided pollen

frequencies roughly equivalent in sta.tistical valu� to those reported

by Hill and Hevly.

� p: ::e

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4

6

7

9

20

22

27

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30

31

32

"3(A)

:':3 (B)

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53

55

56

58

59

61

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15

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32 19 18

60 19 28

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47 15

46 21 22

53 33 21

48 27 27

44 9 31

37 13 19

49 15 16

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2

4

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41 16 26 -1

6J 15 19

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36 16 15

46 20 21

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75 15 9

40 26 16

55 25 14 ..

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200

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200+-4

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0 0

ETHNO-

BOTANIC ARBOREAL POLLEN

ARCHITECTURE TYPE

r 5 M A l

lIfith l

flagstone

R flooring

0

[ 0 M S

POLLEN .::-Ct

ROOM ; � SAMPLE ., q,0 Ji 0

NO. .oJ' (J <l I

2 30 l' 2 2 54 :.3 3 , 3 53 4 3 27 i 4 4 33(A) 4 33{B) 4 55 5 II 31 Ii 56 13 58 2 -

13 59 I 2 15 61 2

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with bins- '3 4 -

L 9 6 A R

9 • R 0 with 7 2 G 0 bins 10 9 -;.. M 1:. S 18 43 2

WEST PLAZA 20 3

81n r o�erior West 'P!O!<J fiG'" 1I 32 6 8,� I"tenor !'lm.8 22 2 2 8elow Floor 29 2 4

Under pct Rm. I

40 !

(,).� .� .;\t. we �t.� :00,0 ':,,).f' Q�e t'-((\ 15% 50/. 0

I.':'l n I

- • • - • • - I -

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ue

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NON-ARBOREAL POLLEN

Gt. j) .\\Oi \ ...... �\� e� -(,�'9 �\' 0' 'Voet' C,

40 15% 0 20 0 r;-;--; I t I • - -

• -

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40 10"-0 iO% 10% j i.l l.l r.l

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-5-

'fa.ble I l'€<:ords all obsElrvll Uons ml1de, and Figure 1 pre.!ilents t.hese

in the usual "g:;:aphic form of Ii pollen diagram,> The data justify two

conclusions: (A) therE-J is �p'enter variati()l1 in the polle.n record

wi t�.:!.!E. a ell tegory of archl tectural torm than occurs between such

categories� Essentially, the productive sRmples fall into four

arch! tectuX'al ca tegoriHS! small rooms \vith flagstone floori ng , small

rooms with bins t largf3 rooms with bins, and plaza. Ou1y one sample was

analyzed fJ:'om the second and fourth categorleo, however. Thus, there

are actually only two architectural categories fl'om which replicate data

are available. statisLically significant variations were measul'ed at

the 95 per Cf .. mt confidence level by the confiden<.�e interval surrounding

the binomial dlatributiono Significant variations occur in the pollen

l'ocord, typifij�d by the .t't'lcords of � and Cheno-am pollen. Samples

from the floor of the same room (e.g .. , Room 2) may show no significant

d:i.stinction in any polhm eategory; or t.hey may (a.go, Room 4) demonstrate

significant distinctions in more than one pollen category. The general

tendency is for the fo.l."h\or situaUon to be more normal, but since the

latt(H' situation does occur, it is clear that a direct correlation

between architectural form and pollen record cannot occur.

Furt.her, where a number of samples are available for an architec­

tural category, variation among the samples IfHlves no room for doubt

r�gardillg a lacl( of correlation. Each room in the "large room with

bins" ca tegory provided a unique pollen record 0

(B) l'hE� sorts of palynological records obtained at Broken K

Pueblo which allowed discrimination of rOOlll function do not occur at

Wide Reed Ruin. At Broken K, architecturally distincti va rooms px'oduced

-6-

records of ethnobotanic pollen types which patterned as to both type and

frequency relative to architecture. At Wide Reed, the ntlmper of

different kinds of ethnobotallic pollen types is not as great as at

Broken K, nor do statistically significant variations in the frequencies

of these types occur. It is tints clear t hat the format of. analysis

used by Hill and Hevly (1968) to indicate the dif,ferential functions of

architectul.'ally distinctive rooms does not accomplish s:i.milar ends at

Wide Reed Ruin. The limited amo\mt of data provided on each sample

(i.e", the 200-gra.in count) is inadequate to the task of providing

clues to a potentially useful format of analysis for indicating the

differential functions of architecturally distinctive rooms.. In the

present casell obviously, application of the indirect in contrast to the

direct approach to analysis was a lOSing gamble.

An at t(::Hnpt was made to sal vage some of the effort invested in the

pollen work by cal culating the arborGal pollen frequency relative to

the adjusted pollen sum of S(!hoenwetteL' (1970:43) 0 '!'his pollen statistic

is designed to allow chronological placement and paleoecological

reconstruction in terms of a generalized Colorado Plateau pollen

chronology. T�ble II shows the results of this excerciseo

The d ata indicate that the floors of all of the rooms sampled aTe

reierentto paleoecological conditions of the same type, and

apparently of the same ageo 'rh� sample collected below the floor of

Room 1 is referent to paleoecological conditions of a distinctive type,

apparently of a pe.riod prior to the general construction at Wide Reed.

However, since this sample contains maize and beeweed pollen it would

apparently not p.re-date occupation of the 51 te 0 The samples collected

Room SaUlplf� Size of Adjusted Arboreal Number Numbt'.lfS Pollen Sum Pollell Frequency (')

2 30+54 399 44.9

3 27+53 396 43.9

<1 33A+:J3B+55 596 42.2

11 :n+56 401 113.8

13 58+59 399 35.3

15 61 200 36.0

9 6+7 299 33.1

10 9 199 23 .. 0

18 43 199 12.5

West Plaza 20 1<18 47.3

0 Floor I

W. Plaza Bin 32 199 51.3 1·"1001' II

Room 8 22 200 50.0

Bin

Under Rooln 1 29 200 21.5 floor

'fable II: Calcula tion of adjusted AI' �.

-7-

as bin fills from the West Pla.za (Floor II) and the conU guous Room 8

contain relatively more arboreal pollen than the room floor samples.

The average AP frequency of these samples (50.7 per cent ) is signifi ..

cantly distinct from the average f'requeuey (39 .. 2 per cent) of the floor

�Hl.mpleS6 '!'his could be a function of the distinctive bin fill

proveniences. I suggest, however. that the data are consistent with an

interpretation of a distinct temporal assignment :for the bin fill

samples. TIlis would be a period prior to the construction of the room

floors, but after th(� time represented by the sample' from the sub-floor

at Room 1.

Assignment of absolute age to these three temporal units is

complicated by a lack of surface sample control pol len records from the

geographic district in whlch Wide Reed Ruin 1s located. If we presume

that the pollen statistic accepted by Schoenwetter (1970:43) as

indicating "mOdern" conditions would characterize surface pollen records

a.t Wide Reed, dating may be attempted by reference to the Colorado

Plateau pollen chrollolqgy. '!'he most reasonable date for the sub-Room 1

samples that might be applied under this presumption is A. D. 1075-1125.

The dates of A. D. 1240-1275 are those which would be most reasonable

for the other samples, with indications that Floor II of the West Plaza

and the bin in Room. 8 date earlier. on this horizono

It .1s recognized that dendrochronological assessments of the beams

used in room construction offer dates following A. D. 1275 for Wide Reed

(Mount, pel's. comm.). '!be presumptions regarding the character of the

control, pollen records, then, may be in error. Alternatively, the dates

for the beginning of sediment accumulation on the room floor surfaces

o

o

'-8-

may indecdi:>e somewhat <:?urlim' than th� dates of beam cutting ;for rool' (

eonstruction, Or the rooms dat�ed by d,"�ndrochronology and /;.hose dated by

pollen may be different l'oom�.

REFERENCES CITED

Bohror, Vo!'sil1u I.. 1966 Pollen Analysis of the Hay f1<>:llow Site l�tlst of Snowflahe,

Arizona.. Interim llescal'ch !t0port, No. 12. Geochronology Labc)rato:dHS, Univ(l.l�sity of Ari2.Q!lU. 'l'l.Icson.

HJ.ll, Jam.t:l!:l Not und H,. H. H0vly 1.968 Pollell ilt 131.' • .)li.en .K hlel>lo� Some N(;;w Int;;;l'p):etation::>o AllIo.d.can

Antiqui".:,y, Vol. ;33, No. 2t PP. 200-210. Salt Lal�t� �ity.

Mehringer, rGtt'l' J., Jr. 1967 Poller. Analysi,,; of th", 1'uh: Sp,':i.ng'13 ::>i te. In Pl�i�tocene

..:ltUi .. ih;l� j,r; SO·,ll;hl'.t'u N(;;vada, 8(litGd by M. \'IJI'mitltJ;ton and D, J�l:U,s, "'Po 130-200. N .. ::vrJda State MuscUin Anthropological �!lp(�rs. No. l:J� (!�:'.l.'�()n City.

--

S'�hoenwette1.', Jnmcs. �.!.):; .. : Pollc:l .:�naly;:;ls of Elj,i;'JtcclI L::..:huc:)log;ical S:i.tes in Arizollu and

}ie,,) l\i,:�'tj,c(). In £!lapi.;c;rs !!! �� I'rehisto.ry of Bastcl'n Arizona. 1. by Pn'11 S. M�n·ti�l, et. al., P'). 168-209:--Ic'I;ldian:� Anthro­pology, Chi(;al:;� NHtm.U(Trj sto�'y MIlSctlln_ Ch:i.cac�o.

19,31 Pol1(�n Ht�pol't. In:� �� !!..cport: Aml;:rican Bottoms Arc:hacoJ.ogy, cdi t.eu by Melvin L. !�mvl(;):r I P.F. 2D-33.-� Illinois AJ.'c:hneolog1.cal Survey, Urbl1na.

l!:iG'i ;')011e1"l t;urvey of the Chu�jm V;111cy. Iu An Archaeological Survey (.)f the C.ilU";.�,,t Vall(lY and tho Ch::tco Platea.u, New :Jexico, Part I:' ':'\,l!�ul'al 8.:.::i.cur;o �l:udi.esJ by A .. H. Har.cis, Jo Schocnwettcr, [lnd A. H. WaJ'.'l'eni PP .. 72-10::;1.. M\iS€Ull1 2!. � Mexico H.es(:arch Records, No� ,1, S�1nta Fe 4

1970 Archa(�ological Pr.>ll€H titudies on thtj Colorado Plateau. ��� Ant.iqui.!l:. Vol 0 �15, No. 1 (in press).