Glossary

Acre-foot

The volume of water necessary to cover an acre of land to a depth of one foot. This is the conventional unit for measuring river flow, as well as urban and industrial water consumption.

Alluvial

Alluvial deposits are clay, silt, sand, gravel, or similar detrital material deposited when streams carrying a heavy load reduce their velocity as they emerge from mountainous terrain to a nearly horizontal plain. An alluvial fan is created as braided streams shift across the surface of this feature depositing sediment and adjusting their course.

Arthropod

Any of numerous invertebrates of the phylum Arthropoda including insects, crustaceans, arachnids, and myriapods. Fossil arthropods are found mainly as fragments in dry cave sediments and packrat middens. These remains can provide an additional source of independent data on changes in biotic communities through time, although their use on the Colorado Plateau has been minimal to date.

Athapaskans (also, Athabaskans)

Scattered to the south and east of the Pueblo villages at the time of Coronado were various nomadic and semi-nomadic groups which the Spanish generally grouped together under the name Apache. These Athapaskan-speaking peoples were, like the Spanish, relative newcomers to the region. They appear to have migrated south from central and western Canada between A.D. 800 and 1500 by a route over which there is still much debate. The survivors of these sixteenth-century groups are know today as the Western Apaches, the Mescalero Apaches, and the Navajos.

Basketmaker

In southwest archaeology, a period of human occupation dating to the beginning of the Christian era; people were growing crops but had not yet invented pottery. The Basketmaker period is subdivided into Basketmaker II and Basketmaker III. Early archaelogists thought that a Basketmaker I culture might yet be discovered, so they left the name for that hypothetical phase. But there is still no evidence for a distinct period between Archaic and Basketmaker II. See Pecos Classification.

Biota

The plant or animal life of a particular region.

Cenozoic

65 Million Years to the Present. The Cenozoic is the most recent of the three major subdivisions of animal history. The other two are the Paleozoic and Mesozoic. The Cenozoic spans only about 65 million years, from the end of the Cretaceous and the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs to the present. The Cenozoic is sometimes called the Age of Mammals, because the largest land animals have been mammals during that time. This is a misnomer for several reasons. First, the history of mammals began long before the Cenozoic began. Second, the diversity of life during the Cenozoic is far wider than mammals. The Cenozoic could have been called the "Age of Flowering Plants" or the "Age of Insects" or the "Age of Teleost Fish" or th "Age of Birds" just as accurately.

Clovis culture

Early North American people (c.10,000-9000 B.C.) known through artifacts first unearthed in the early 1930s near Clovis, New Mexico. Their chipped flint points (Clovis points) and other stone tools were found with remains of large mammals, e.g., extinct mammoths. Clovis groups are the earliest definitively dated human populations in the Americas. (Cf. Folsom culture).

Coprolite

Fossil dung or feces. Typically these are preserved in arid environments such as as dry caves or sand dunes.

Cryptobiotic soil

A biological crust which grows over the poor, sandy soils of many arid regions of the Colorado Plateau. Also known as biological, microbiotic, cryptogamic, microphytic, or microfloral soils, they form from cyanobacteria which exude weblike filaments that remain intact after the microbes die. Over many decades, layers of bacteria, green algae, microfungi, mosses, liverworts, and lichens form a well-developed, rigid layer which retains nutrients and water, allowing the roots of vascular plants to take hold. Crytopbiotic soil helps prevent erosion by stabilizing the soil matrix. They are extremely fragile; one footstep can destroy centuries of growth, and even light hiking can have severe impacts on these soils. As much as 75% of the surface of the Colorado Plateau may be covered with cryptobiotic soil.[photo]. For more information on the web, visit http://www.id.blm.gov/soils/crusts/index.html or http://www.soilcrust.org/.

Dendroarchaeology

The use of tree rings to date when timber has been felled, transported, processed, and used for construction.

Dendrochronology

The use of tree rings dated to their exact year of formation to analyze temporal and spatial patterns of processes in the physical and cultural sciences.

Dendroclimatology

The use of tree rings to study and reconstruct the past and present climate.

Dry farming

Agricultural method that does not involve any active channeling of water onto fields; crops are watered only by precipitation and natural runoff.

Dung

The excrement of animals. Preserved herbivore dung contains an identification of the grazer or browser, pollen, microhistology, and DNA remains. Carnivore dung contains the identification of the animal and skeletons of its prey.

Endemism

Restriction of a plant or animal species to one or a few localities in its distribution. Endemic species are usually confined to geographic islands and are vulnerable to extinction.

Folsom culture

Early North American people (c. 9000-8000 B.C.) known through artifacts first excavated (1926) near Folsom, east of Raton, New Mexico. The artifacts, including chipped flint points known as Folsom points and a variety of other stone tools, were found in association with the remains of large mammals, particularly extinct varieties of bison. (Cf. Clovis culture).

Fossil

Any remnant of past biota, including leaves, twigs, pollen, hair, hide, footprints, burrows, bones and dung.

Holocene

The name given to the last 11,000 years of the Earth's history, the time since the end of the last major glacial epoch, or "ice age." Since then, there have been small-scale climate shifts, notably the "Little Ice Age" between about 1450 and 1850 A.D. But in general, the Holocene has been a relatively warm period between ice ages. More.

Kiva

Subterranean structures built by prehistoric peoples throughout the Southwestern United States used primarily as religious and ceremonial structures. Kiva size and design varied widely, depending on the time period and the culture, from small, circular or square pits to the large, elaborate 'Great Kivas' of Anasazi cultures.

Lacustrine

Wetlands and deepwater habitats with all of the following characteristics: (1) situated in a topographic depression or a dammed river channel; (2) lacking trees, shrubs, persistent emergents, emergent mosses or lichens with greater than 30 percent area coverage; and (3) total area exceeds 8 ha (20 acres). [USFWS]

Manifest Destiny

A phrase coined in 1845 to describe the overriding philosophy held by the American people and government during the 19th century that westward expansion to the Pacific was an inevitable and necessary federal policy. Such imperialistic expansion was seen as benevolent and inescapable, for if the land was not taken and "put to use" for some profit, then it was being wasted. For the most part, Native American land and water rights, environmental conditons, and the natural limits of the land were disregarded.

Mesozoic

Divided into three time periods: the Triassic (245-208 Million Years Ago), the Jurassic (208-146 Million Years Ago), and the Cretaceous (146-65 Million Years Ago). Mesozoic means "middle animals", and is the time during which the world fauna changed drastically from that which had been seen in the Paleozoic. Dinosaurs, which are perhaps the most popular organisms of the Mesozoic, evolved in the Triassic, but were not very diverse until the Jurassic. Except for birds, dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous.

Paleozoic

A major interval of geologic time that began about 540 million years ago with an extraordinary diversification of marine animals and ended about 245 million years ago with the greatest extinction event in Earth history.

Palynology

The study of fossil pollen and spores and various other microfossils. (See Fossil Pollen)

Pecos Classification

Since 1927 the most widely accepted nomenclature to describe the settlement and artifact styles of the Anasazi Southwest. Originally intended to represent a series of developmental stages, rather than periods, the Pecos Classification has come to be used as a period sequence:
Paleo-Indian (? BC - 6500 BC)
Basketmaker I (6500 BC - AD 1, an obsolete synonym for Archaic)
Basketmaker II (AD 1 - 500)
Basketmaker III (500-700)
Pueblo I (700-900)
Pueblo II (900-1100)
Pueblo III (1100-1300)
Pueblo IV (1300-1600)
Pueblo V (1600-2000)

Pentamerous

Botany, having its parts in fives.

Petroglyph

Style of rock art in which the design is applied by pecking, chiseling or otherwise scraping the surface.

Pictograph

Style of rock art in which the design is applied with pigments obtained from mineral or plant sources.

Pithouse

The dominant type of dwelling built by prehistoric native peoples during the time period 200 B.C. to 700 A.D., the epoch during which agriculture and seasonal or even sedentary village habitation developed.  Pithouse construction began with the excavation of a subterranean floor area up to six feet below the surface, and was completed with walls and a roof made of wooden beams, brush and finally, soil.  The construction of these primitive dwellings required considerable effort, but allowed fragmented groups to reunite and remain in one location throughout the harsh, winter months

Pleistocene

1.8 million to 11,000 years ago. The Pleistocene was characterized by the presence of distinctive large land
mammals and birds. More.

Pluvial Lake

A lake formed during a pluvial period.

Pluvial Period

A time when a dryland area had greater effective moisture than at present.

Projectile Points

Sharp, pointed heads of stone or other material, attached to a shaft to make a projectile that is thrown or shot as a weapon. These include spearheads, arrowheads, and darts (see Clovis culture and Folsom culture).

Pueblo Peoples

Traditionally, the Pueblo people were labeled by the Spanish as pueblo (stone masonry town dwellers) in contrast to rancheria (brush/mud camp dwellers). As a cultural group they have survived with clearly unbroken continuity into the present from at least as long ago as two millenia. The Pueblo People are culturally diverse, but they all farm corn, beans, and squash. The modern Western Pueblos -- Hopi, Zuni, Acoma and Laguna -- live on high mesa tops in Arizona and New Mexico and practice dry farming (dependent on rain). The Pecos Classification divides all Pueblo peoples into five periods.

Quaternary

the most recent geological period, spanning the last 1.8 million years of earth history up to and including today. It is characterized by major climatic fluctuations that resulted in a series of global ice ages. It is divided into two epochs: the Pleistocene and the Holocene, with the division between these two falling at about 10,000 years before the present. Late Quaternary refers to the time between 700,000 years ago and the present day. It does not necessarily exclude the Holocene epoch.

Remote sensing

Remote sensing is defined as the technique of obtaining information about objects through the analysis of data collected by special instruments that are not in physical contact with the objects of investigation.

Southern Oscillation (SO)

The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), defined as the normalized difference in surface pressure between Tahiti, French Polynesia and Darwin, Australia is a measure of the strength of the trade winds, which have a component of flow from regions of high to low pressure. High SOI (large pressure difference) is associated with stronger than normal trade winds and La Niña conditions, and low SOI (smaller pressure difference) is associated with weaker than normal trade winds and El Niño conditions. The terms ENSO and ENSO cycle are used to describe the full range of variability observed in the Southern Oscillation Index, including both El Niño and La Niña events. 

Taphonomy

The study of dead organisms and how they get incorporated into the fossil record.