REPORTS Simms, Steven R. 1987 Behavioral Ecology and Hunter-gatherer Foraging. BAR International Series 381. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford. Steward, Julian H. 1938 Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups. Bulletin No. 120. Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Stewart, Omer C. 1941 Culture Element Distributions: XIV Northern Paiute. Univ,ersity of California Anthropological Records 4:360-446. Wheat, Margaret M. 1967 Survival Arts of .the Primitive Paiutes. University of Nevada Press, Reno. Zeanah, David 1992 A Transport Model for Winter Base Camp Location in the Great Basin. Paper presented at the 23rd Great Basin Anthropological Conference, Boise.
37
WHY SHOULD IT MATTER IF I TAKE ANOTHER POTSHERD? THE IMPACTS OF CONTEMPORARY ARTIFACT COLLECTING AT ANASAZI VILLAGES William B. Fawcett, Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322
INTRODUCTION Studies of the vandalism of archaeological sites focus primarily on visible evidence, such as potholes, in sites on public lands. More informal, but equally illegal, surface collecting significantly alters the surface assemblages of archaeological sites. A statistical analysis of potsherds from excavated puebloan sites provides estimates for the proportions and numbers of decorated potsherds that should occur on the surface of uncollected sites. According to this formula, approximately 75 percent of the decorated potsherds have been previously, and probably illegally, collected from 20 Anasazi villages in southwestern Utah. Predictors of vandalism derived from other studies confirm the accuracy of the estimates. The utility of this approach for assessing the integrity of site surfaces prior to more costly studies of site structure and human settlement is explored. Contrary to popular perceptions, much of what we learn about the past comes from archaeological surveys of landscapes and surface remains, rather than from more expensive and labor intensive archaeological excavations. Through regional surveys and syntheses of smaller surveys, we gain insights into the organization, growth, collapse, and persistence of earlier and contemporary societies. Regional studies, such as those concerning the Chacoan roads, reveal scales of interaction and organization that is often invisible to the site-focused excavators. In both excavations and surveys, archaeologists invest considerable time and energy in recording and analyzing material remains. The bulk of their studies often focus on so-called diagnostic artifacts, perceived to be projectile points and decorated potsherds (e.g., Reid 1984; Sullivan 1984). There is a long history of using these artifact classes for