Archaeology
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The School for Advanced Research conducted archaeological investigations in the Grand Canyon, under the direction of Dr. Douglas W. Schwartz, for four seasons beginning in 1967. This research included major surveys and excavations in Havasu Canyon and on the Unkar Delta, Bright Angel Delta, and on the North Rim in the area of the Walhalla Plateau.
     Several years of preliminary survey by Dr. Schwartz had established a broad overview of Grand Canyon prehistory that provided a base for the three-phase research program of excavation. The broad objective of this program was to reconstruct the culture history of the Grand Canyon and the immediately surrounding region, and to explore the interrelated dynamics of culture, population, and resources that conditioned prehistoric life. Specifically, the research focused on five main topics: 1) the chronological and cultural sequence of prehistoric events; 2) the reasons for settlement and abandonment of the various ecological settings in the region; 3) the nature of cultural adaptation to the quite different environments of the canyon and plateau; 4) the cultural consequences of movement into new and different localities; and 5) the cultural characteristics of people living on the margins of Puebloan distribution. These topics were to be examined through a program of survey, excavation, and ecological study in several contrasting locations that had not previously been explored with intensive archaeological research.
     In addition to support from SAR, the project was funded and developed by the National Geographic Society, the University of Kentucky Faculty Research Committee, the National Science Foundation, the National Park Service, and the Grand Canyon Natural History Association. Four volumes on the project have been published by the SAR Press (see Bibliography).