All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike---and yet it is the most precious thing we have.

Albert Einstein

AREAL AND TOPICAL SPECIALTIES

Hunter-gatherers, archeometry, obsidian studies, lithic technology, quantitative methods, museum research and administration; U.S. Southwest, northern Mexico, California.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Anthropology/Archaeology, Arizona State University, 1990.
Dissertation Title: Early Hunter-Gatherer Procurement Ranges in the Southwest: Evidence from Obsidian Geochemistry and Lithic Technology. Committee: Geoffrey A. Clark (chair), Charles L. Redman, Donald H. Morris, C.Vance Haynes (U of Arizona), John R. Holloway (Geology/Chemistry)

M.A. in Anthropology, San Diego State University, 1981.
Thesis title: Late Prehistoric Exchange Network Analysis in Carrizo Gorge and the Far Southwest. Committee: J.W. Ball, L.L. Leach, N.H. Greenwood

B.A. Anthropology (Geology Minor), San Diego State University (Cum Laude with Distinction in Anthropology) 1979. Phi Beta Kappa, 1980. Senior Project: Late Prehistoric Settlement Patterns and Biotic Communities in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, San Diego County California.

Dr. Shackley is currently engaged in a number of research projects at the Hearst Museum and continues field and lab research on archaeological obsidian in western North America including northern Mexico. This research continues to involve undergraduate and graduate students in the energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence laboratory in the Department of Geology and Geophysics. Further information on the laboratory and facilities can be accessed at URL:

<http://www.swxrflab.net//xrflab.htm>

Pursuing long-term research on Southwestern obsidian sources, Dr. Shackley received NSF and Stahl Endowment funding to continue the quantitative analysis of archaeological obsidian from the Southwest and northern Mexico through the Archaeological Research Facility. Field research also continues in the search for as yet unlocated sources of artifact quality obsidian, particularly in Arizona, Chihuahua, and Baja California. Analyses of archaeological obsidian from the Southwest is derived from all periods from Paleoindian to Classic period Hohokam and Late Prehistoric, and many regions, and includes some of the Hearst Museum's collections. Recently, Shackley was involved as a consultant on the Arte Rupestre de la Sierra San Francisco, Baja California Sur, a project of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) of Mexico. Graduate students Justin Hyland and Eduardo Serfín were important field and laboratory archaeologists on this project. The project led to the discovery of one of the most intensively used obsidian sources in North America, greatly facilitated by Justin Hyland's dissertation research and project direction. This new source, Valle del Azufre in central Baja California, as well as the overall project was the subject of a major exhibit in the museum during the spring and summer 1994, and was published in American Antiquity vol 61, number 4, 1996. Most of this data can be accessed at URL:

<http://www.swxrflab.net//swobsrcs.htm>

In collaboration with a number of Southwestern archaeologists at the University of Hawaii (James Bayman), Marquette University (Jane Peterson), and the private sector (Douglas Mitchell), Shackley has been pursuing intensive studies of Classic period Hohokam exchange and interaction through obsidian characterization. Preliminary results suggest that obsidian source provenance in major Hohokam centers such as Casa Grande, Pueblo Grande, and Marana mirrors multi-ethnic relationships within the greater Hohokam interaction sphere as well as elite control of resources. These relationships cannot necessarily be discerned using other data sets such as ceramics. These results have been published by the group recently in American Antiquity, Journal of Field Archaeology, Journal of Anthropological Research, and the Proceedings of the International Symposium on Archaeometry and reflect funding from NSF, the Stahl Endowment, Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, and the Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Grants. In concert with this research was the large XRF study of archaeological obsidian from classic Salado contexts in the Tonto Basin as part of the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study, the largest single CRM project in the world, directed by Arizona State University. As a result of this analysis and confirming evidence from ceramics and architecture, two definable contemporaneous and likely consanguineal groups in the basin appear to be maintaining different external or possibly kin relationships with either the Hohokam to the south or the Mogollon to the southeast, possibly signaling different geographic origins for the groups.

In collaboration with Dr. Rosemary Joyce, Director of the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology, a fairly extensive XRF study of archaeological and source obsidian from the Lower Ulua Valley in Honduras resulted in the discovery of one to three new sources. The three source groups appear to be chemically related and may be derived from the same magma source. Further work during following seasons will help define the source groups and hopefully determine the primary origin. The use of this new source locally has not been previously documented.

In California, a very extensive XRF study of archaeological obsidian for EarthWorks at the proposed Domenigoni Reservoir near Hemet in Archaic through Late Prehistoric sites is redefining obsidian exchange in southern California. Apparently, early Takic groups from the Great Basin inhabiting the area maintained extensive exchange relationships with the early Yuman groups in the Imperial Valley to the south and elsewhere, while intervening Takic groups to the south did not.

Last summer, Dr. Shackley began research with Dr. Bruce Huckell of the Maxwell Museum, University of New Mexico, at McEuen Cave (AZ W:13:6 ASM), a stratified Archaic period rockshelter in the Gila Mountains of southeastern Arizona. The rockshelter has yielded dates in the Late Archaic/Early Formative period (2000-2500 B.P.), as well as a tremendous number of organic artifacts including baskets, a complete atlatl, dart and arrow fragments, cordage, and early maize cobs. Dry rockshelters are very uncommon in the Southwest, and the project directors are hoping to address the effect of both early agriculture and the advent of bow technology on hunter-gatherer society. This summer working with graduate students from the University of New Mexico, and Eduardo Serafin from Berkeley, testing revealed a large area of undisturbed deposits with maize cob fragments in association with Cortaro, Chiricahua, and San Pedro Archaic projectile points. Obsidian hydration analyses suggests that the lower levels are not verically mixed and five maize fragments submitted to the CAMS Lab at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories for AMS ¹⁴C dating promise to yield very early dates.

In concert with research in the Southwest Archaic period, is an emerging web site focused on projectile point typology, sponsored by the Maxwell Museum and the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology [click here ]

TEACHING

Teach a variety of upper division undergraduate method courses and graduate seminars in the Department of Anthropology including:

Archaeological Science (Anth 131)

Graduate Method Seminar in Lithic Technology (Anth 228)

Graduate Seminar in Research Methods (Anth 229B)

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY (1995-1997)

1997 Published Volume: Archaeological Obsidian Studies: Method and Theory . In Advances in Archaeological and Museum Sciences Series 3, Plenum Publishing Corporation, New York. In press, out Fall 1997.

Volume Editor with Major Contributory Chapters:

1997  Review Article: Gamma Rays, X-Rays, and Stone Tools: Some Recent Advances in Archaeological               Geochemistry.   Journal of Archaeological Science 28: in press.

1997 with Jane Peterson, and Douglas R. Mitchell: The Social and Economic Contexts of Lithic Procurement: Obsidian from Classic Period Hohokam Sites. American Antiquity 62(2): 231-259.

1997 with V.K. Popov: Obsidian of Primorye: First Results of Archaeological-Geological Correlation. Bulletin of the Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences 3:77-85.

1997 Patayan Culture Area. In Archaeology of Prehistoric North America: An Encyclopedia. Garland Publishing Inc., New York (in press).

1996 with Justin R. Hyland, and María de la Luz Gutiérrez M.: Mass Production and Procurement at Valle del Azufre: a Unique Archaeological Obsidian Source in Baja California Sur. American Antiquity 61(4):718-731.

1996 Range and Mobility in the Early Hunter-Gatherer Southwest. In Early Formative Adaptations in the Southern Southwest, edited by Barbara Roth, pp. 5-16. Monographs in World Prehistory 25. Prehistory Press, Madison.

1996 Elko or San Pedro?: Inferences from a Quantitative Analysis of Late Archaic Projectile Points from White Tanks, Yuma County, Arizona. Kiva 61(4):413-432.

1996 Ishi was not Necessarily the Last Full-Blooded Yahi: Some Inferences for Hunter-Gatherer Style and Ethnicity. Berkeley Archaeology 3(2):1-3.

1996 with P.D LeTourneau, J.M. Warnica, and J. Cummings: Analysis of Obsidian Folsom Artifacts from New Mexico. Current Research in the Pleistocene 13:59-61.

1995 Sources of Archaeological Obsidian in the Greater American Southwest: An Update and Quantitative Analysis. American Antiquity 60(3):531-551.

1995 Relics, Rights, and Regulations. Scientific American March 1995:115.

1995 with Douglas Mitchell: Classic Period Hohokam Obsidian Studies in Southern Arizona: A Review and Prospectus. Journal of Field Archaeology 22(3):291-304. 

AVOCATIONS (as if I had time):

Mountain biking, camping, weight training, flintknapping, homebrewing ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Updated Friday, 20 March 2015

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