The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study, Volume 3: Changing Land Use in the Tonto Basin

The Roosevelt Rural Sites Study (RRSS) was one of three data recovery mitigative studies that the Bureau of Reclamation funded to investigate the prehistory of the Tonto Basin in the vicinity of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. The series of investigations constituted Reclamation's program for complying with historic preservation legislation as it applied to the raising and modification of Theodore Roosevelt Dam. Reclamation contracted with Statistical Research, Inc., to conduct this study.

The RRSS was a two-year mitigative data designed to study small habitation, agricultural, and resource processing sites, which are located away from the main centers of prehistoric habitation in the Tonto Basin, and to contribute to an ongoing synthetic study of Tonto Basin prehistory. The specific research focus of the Roosevelt Rural Sites Study in Reclamation's overall compliance program was the evolution of prehistoric rural land-use systems in the Tonto Basin. Twenty-nine prehistoric sites grouped into six study areas located in the bajada zone surrounding the lake on lands administered by the Tonto National Forest comprise the data base for this study.

The RRSS Volume 3, the final of three volumes, presents the results of archaeobotanical, soil, and paleoclimatic analyses. These results are examined within an interpretive framework developed from an examination of records pertaining to ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and historic land-use in central Arizona. The volume concludes with several synthetic chapters. These chapters relate changing rural land-use patterns to demographic and paleoclimatic factors and the overall changes in settlement and subsistence in the Tonto Basin. Finally, the authors attempt to identify the implications of this research for important issues in Tonto Basin prehistory, such as sociopolitical complexity and cultural affiliation.

罗斯福乡村遗址研究（Roosevelt Rural Sites Study, RRSS）是美国垦务局（Bureau of Reclamation）为调查西奥多·罗斯福大坝（Theodore Roosevelt Dam）周边通托盆地（Tonto Basin）史前史而资助的三项数据抢救性研究之一。该系列考古调查构成了垦务局为遵守适用于西奥多·罗斯福大坝加高与改造工程的历史文物保护法规而制定的项目方案，垦务局与统计研究公司（Statistical Research, Inc.）签订合同，委托其开展本项研究。

本项RRSS为为期两年的抢救性研究，旨在研究通托盆地内远离主要史前聚居中心的小型聚居、农业与资源加工遗址，并为通托盆地史前史的持续性综合研究提供支撑。在垦务局的整体合规项目框架下，罗斯福乡村遗址研究的核心研究方向为通托盆地史前乡村土地利用系统的演化历程。本次研究的数据库由通托国家森林（Tonto National Forest）管理的、分布于环湖山麓冲积扇带（bajada）的6个研究区内的29处史前遗址构成。

作为整套三卷本研究成果的终卷，RRSS第三卷展示了考古植物学（archaeobotanical）、土壤学与古气候（paleoclimatic）分析的相关结果。本卷基于对亚利桑那州中部民族志（ethnographic）、民族史（ethnohistoric）与历史土地利用相关记录的梳理，构建了解释框架，并在此框架下对上述分析结果进行探讨。本卷以多篇综合章节收尾，这些章节将乡村土地利用模式的变迁与人口统计学、古气候因素，以及通托盆地聚居与生计模式的整体变革相关联。最后，研究团队尝试阐释本项研究对通托盆地史前史中若干核心议题的启示，例如社会政治复杂性（sociopolitical complexity）与文化归属（cultural affiliation）问题。