- Emil Haury
Infobox Scientist
name = Emil Walter Haury
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caption = Emil Walter Haury
birth_date =May 2 ,1904
birth_place =Newton, Kansas
death_date =December 5 ,1992
death_place =Tucson, Arizona
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ethnicity =
field =archaeology
work_institutions =University of Arizona
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known_for =Snaketown , aHohokam site inArizona
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Emil Walter "Doc" Haury (Born May 2, 1904Newton, Kansas - Died December 5, 1992Tucson, Arizona ) was an influential archaeologist who specialized in thearchaeology of the American Southwest. He is most famous for his work atSnaketown , aHohokam site inArizona .Early years
Emil was the youngest of four children born to Professor Gustav A. Haury and Clara K. Ruth Haury. Gustav was a professor at Bethel College a
Mennonite college in Newton. When they were both six, Emil Haury met his future first wife, Hulda Penner, when she and her family visited Newton from a nearby Mennonite community.College career
After graduating high school in 1923, Emil then attended the
University of Arizona where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1927 and his M.A. in 1928. It was during the 1928-29 school year that he earned his first teaching position. In 1934 Haury earned hisPhD fromHarvard University .Field work and experience
One of the first field experiences came in 1925. That year he was apprenticed to Byron Cummings,
A.E. Douglass , andHarold Gladwin where their major work occurred atCuicuilco right outside ofMexico City . It was at this time that he became one of Cummings' (who was at the time the acting university president) most important assistants. It was through connections made through Cummings that Haury was in attendance at the first Pecos Conference in 1927. Haury, Emil W. (1992)"Emil Haury's Prehistory of the American Southwest: Edited by J. Jefferson Reid and David E. Doyel", Tucson & London: The University of Arizona Press ]Gila Pueblo
In 1928 the New York stockbroker turned archaeologist Harold Gladwin along with Winifred McCurdy started the
Gila Pueblo Archaeological Foundation . In 1930 Haury became the assistant director at Gila Pueblo. During his time with Gila he was able to expand his work throughout Arizona andNew Mexico . It was through this extensive research that Haury became part of the group that was to define the Hohokam culture. Thusly, it helped Haury in eventually defining theMogollon culture.With the assistance and support from Gladwin, Haury was able to conduct large amounts of field research and publish reports. The 1930s was a time of plenty for Haury and when some of his most famous research was conducted. Some of the excavations he conducted included: Tusayan Ruin, Canyon Creek Ruin, Mogollon and Harris Village, and arguably his most famous research at Snaketown.
Between his extensive work with Gila Pueblo, Haury also managed to earn his PhD from Harvard. His dissertation dealt with the excavations by Frank Hamilton Cushing's excavations at Los Meurtos, a Hohokam site in Arizona.
Paleoindians in the Southwest
One of Haury's passions that lasted throughout his career was the presence of
Paleoindians in the Southwest. He conducted several excavations at Paleoindian sites and subsequently wrote several papers on the subject. In 1926Pleistocene megafauna hunting in the Southwest was proven by the discoveries atFolsom, New Mexico . That same year Haury alongside Cummings began excavations at Whitewater Draw in southeastern Arizona where they excavated amammoth skeleton which was above a deposit of artifacts from theCochise Culture . This was Haury's first experience with Paleoindian archaeology in the Southwest.Ventana Cave
During the late 1930s and early 1940s excavations, led by Julian Hayden and Haury, were conducted in the area of Ventana Cave in Arizona. Ventana Cave is a
rock shelter with extensive stratigraphy of which the lowest layer was attributed to the Cochise culture while upper layers were attributed to more recent inhabitants.] The impact of the work done by Haury and others at Vetnana cave helped in the understanding of Paleoindians in the Southwest.Lehner Ranch
The Lehner Ranch site is a mammoth kill site in the San Pedro Valley in Cochise County in southeast Arizona. In 1952 Haury began investigating an arroyo where a rancher, Edward F. Lehner, had observed bones sticking out from a deep layer. These bones were identified as mammoth bones. After excavating several projectile points were found "
in situ " with the mammoth bones.Haury, Emil W., E.B. Sayles and William W. Wasley (1959) "The Lehner Mammoth Site, Southeastern Arizona", "American Antiquity", Vol. 25, No. 1., pp. 2-20] Also ahearth was discovered. Lehner Ranch became another one of Haury's seminal works in Southwestern Paleoindian archaeology.Hohokam
Haury's work with the Hohokam began in 1930 when he joined Gila Pueblo. There were many questions surrounding discoveries in southern Arizona beginning with
A.V. Kidder in the early 20th century to Harold and Winifred Gladwin's work up through 1930s. One of Haury's first projects after becoming the Assistant director of Gila Pueblo was to investigate a site known as Roosevelt 9:6. The importance of understanding the Hohokam was extremely important to Haury and one of his most famous projects was at Snaketown where he conducted extensive excavations and on which he eventually wrote a book.Haury was the first to claim that the Hohokam were decedents of the Paleoindian Cochise culture. Haury was also a critical figure in the chronology of the Hohokam because of his work in establishing a timeline for the Pioneer period Hohokam. Haury was also a proponent of the idea that the Hohokam had contact withMesoamerica .Roosevelt 9:6
The Roosevelt 9:6 site was a Colonial Period Hohokam site near the Salt River north of
Globe, Arizona . The site came to the attention of archaeologists when pottery sherds and cremations were exposed by the recession of Roosevelt Lake. Working for Gila Pueblo alongside the Gladwins, Haury published an extensive and detailed report of the findings. This report along with those published by the Gladwins, were important in the establishment of ceramic typologies, burial techniques, and lifeways of the Hohokam.naketown
By the 1960s there was a lot of controversy surrounding the Hohokam and where they fit or didn't fit chronologically. Haury decided then to re-visit a site where Gladwin had first conducted research in the 1930s. Snaketown was the epitomes Hohokam site. It was strategically placed in the proximity of the
Gila River which then allowed for its famous irrigation system. Haury's re-examination of Snaketown was based around the hope that with the use of new technology, new research methods and ideas surrounding the Hohokam, that questions which had arisen since the first reports on Snaketown in the 1930s. In 1964 Haury began his reexamination which led to the publication in 1976 of one of the most influential works on the Hohokam, "The Hohokam, Desert Farmers & Craftsmen: Excavations at Snaketown, 1964-1965".Mogollon
Arguably Haury's most important contribution to the archaeology of the American Southwest was his work in establishing a timeline and refining the definition of the Mogollon Culture. Much of Haury's work was conducted in the most famous Mogollon area, the Mimbres Valley of New Mexico. Early research in the area focused on the ceramics that made the valley famous, while ignoring the underlying structures and pottery types.Haury, Emil (1992) "Emil Haury's Prehistory of the American Southwest: Edited by J. Jefferson Reid and David E. Doyel", Tucson & London: The University of Arizona Press ] It was Haury who, starting in the 1930s with Gila Pueblo, began to identify and understand the timeline and uniqueness of the Mogollon from their Anasazi and Hohokam neighbors.
Chronology
Haury's research in the area allowed him to be one of the first archaeologists to definitively give the Mogollon a chronological sequence. The sequences Haury established were: Early Pit House Period (200 C.E- 550 C.E.), Late Pit House Period (550 C.E.- 1000 C.E.), and Classic Mimbres Period (1000 C.E.- 1130 C.E.). Haury's research and findings were paramount when establishing a larger understanding the Mogollon that happened in the 1970s, as well as understanding the role of
Casas Grandes in the Mogollon sequence.Mogollon Village and Harris Village
Mogollon and Harris Villages were very much the
type site s for the Mogollon Culture and are the sites that convinced Haury of its uniqueness from other Southwestern culturesHaury, Emil W. (1936) "The Mogollon Culture of Southwestern New Mexico", "Medallion Papers" 20. Gila Pueblo] .Work began on the Mogollon Village site in 1933. It is a site on the
San Francisco River north of Glenwood, New Mexico inCatron County, New Mexico . During Haury's excavations eleven houses of several types were excavated. An abundance of artifacts were uncovered including pottery, clay objects, grinding stones, projectile points, as well as several burialsHaury, Emil W. (1936) "The Mogollon Culture of Southwestern New Mexico", "Medallion Papers" 20. Gila Pueblo] . Harris Village was another site excavated around the same time as Mogollon Village. The site is located in the town of Mimbres, New Mexico near the Mimbres River about 75 miles south of Mogollon Village. Thirty-four houses were excavated with variation in shape, and function (domestic, ceremonial, storage).
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