An analysis of culturally significant plants, springs, and archaeology at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

Sabata, David Michael (2018) An analysis of culturally significant plants, springs, and archaeology at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. Masters thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

Laws protecting cultural and natural heritage help ensure that important places are respected and protected. The Antiquities Act of 1906, in protecting places of significance, from Grand Canyon, Arizona, to Grand Staircase, Utah, reminds us of the importance of preserving the best of our natural and cultural heritage, for benefit of all. Places of significance are integral to our cultural identity, have garnered appreciation cross-culturally, and provide opportunity for learning how to live sustainably in a healthy world. The responsibility of protecting important places has been led by historians and archaeologists, creating bias toward sites identified as a result of historical or archaeological study. People who emphasize this configuration of responsibility often neglect to consider natural places of significance that lack archaeology or historical documentation. Traditional Cultural Place theory guides us back toward the intent of the Antiquities Act, that we may ensure due consideration of natural places, as informed by the communities that value them. The purpose of this thesis is to draw attention to the importance of natural places from Indigenous perspectives, with focus on plants and springs sites. Toward this end, I conducted two seasons of ethnobotanical and archaeological surveys in vicinity of springs sites on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. These data were used to explore and analyze patterns of interest to the studies of ethnobotany, ecological anthropology, archaeology, biology, hydrology, and environmental sustainability. The results of this thesis demonstrate the central importance of springs to human settlement and subsistence, for the majority of human history in the southwestern United States. The goal of this project is to help better respect and protect places of traditional and continuing importance, for generations to come.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	anthropology; archaeology; ethnobotany; hydrology; indigenous; resources; Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of Social and Behavioral Science > Anthropology
Date Deposited:	04 Jun 2021 19:29
URI:	http://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/5477

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