ANALYSIS OF SURFACE POLLEN SAMPLES AND FEATURE PHYTOLITH SAMPLES AT THE SANCHEZ COPPER DATA RECOVERY PROJECT, GRAHAM COUNTY, ARIZONA

Previous pollen and macrofloral examination of samples from the Sanchez
Copper Data Recovery Project yielded evidence of Gossypium and Zea mays pollen
in several of the archaeological features. Because modern cotton is cultivated
in this area, it was deemed important to understand the distribution of cotton
pollen in this area more fully. Therefore, a series of modern surface samples
were examined for pollen to establish the distance that Gossypium pollen are
expected to be transported in this area, and thus establish a level of confidence
for interpreting the prehistoric pollen record. In addition, features examined
during the first analysis did not yield any evidence of Agave. Since
understanding Agave distribution at these sites, if it was present, is important,
a subset of samples from a selected group of features was examined for phytoliths
in an effort to recover evidence of the presence of Agave.