Dolores Archaeological Program Technical Reports, DAP-077: Temporal Changes in the Anasazi Food Processing Toolkit

This study examines changes in the food processing tool kit among the northern Anasazi during the period A.D. 650-900. It is assumed that, during this period, the Anasazi were gradually increasing their use of corn and decreasing their use of nondomesticated or gathered plants. Corresponding changes in the Anasazi tool kit are hypothesized. First, corn grinding tools are expected to have become more efficient, indicating specialization in the corn grinding task, and second, the total food processing tool kit is expected to have become more diversified because diet variety is adaptive. In a comparison of metates and ma nos from Sagehen and McPhee Phase contexts at Dolores Archaeological Program sites, it was found that corn grinding tools did become more efficient through time. Diversity of the tool kit was examined across a broader time range --Basketmaker III through historic Pueblo-- and across a broader geographic range. A small but consistent increase in the diversity of food processing tools was found.