Notes on Colorado River Basin Archaeology

A recent article in American Antiquity entitled “Symposium on River Valley Archaeology” summarizes the present status of one of our most important and urgent problems in American archaeology today. Additional information concerning this subject, particularly with reference to the progress made in the Colorado River Valley, should be mentioned at this time. The National Park Service has been concerned with survey and salvage operations in proposed reservoir areas along the Colorado River and its tributaries for many years. Long before final construction work was completed on Hoover (formerly Boulder) Dam in 1935, several C.C.C. archaeological crews were at work under National Park Service direction in the areas to be inundated, particularly along the Virgin and Muddy rivers in southeastern Nevada.