An Indigenous “Borderland?”: Reframing the Dynamic Late Prehispanic San Carlos Safford Area of Southeastern Arizona

Thatcher A. Seltzer-Rogers, MS, RPA

PhD Candidate, Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico

Research Associate, Jornada Research Institute

President, Treasurer, and Webmaster, Archaeological Society of New Mexico

The San Carlos Safford Area of southeastern Arizona has historically received limited archaeological attention with recent mention only with respect to the arrival of Ancestral Pueblo migrants into southern Arizona in the late thirteenth century. Yet, despite this and the systematic destruction of sites during the early twentieth century with the expansion of floodplain agriculture, careful examination demonstrates the area held a sizable population with a dynamic history of political hierarchy, conflict, economic development, and population mobility. In this presentation, I synthesize these patterns and contextualize them as a strong example of an Indigenous borderland in the archaeological record.