Ryan Washam
Hi! I'm Ryan. I earned a bachelor's degree in Anthropology in 2011 from the University of Louisville, and a master's degree in Anthropology from the University of Cincinnati in 2014. Most of my experience in archaeology comes from working with large land management agencies and CRM companies in the Southwest and the Great Basin. I'm passionate about preservation. I also love learning more about fire both prehistoric use and modern interactions.
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Papers by Ryan Washam
woodlands, with their inherently low primary productivity, could have supported indigenous populations
during prehispanic times was with the transformative consequences associated with the widespread cultivation
of low-moisture-intolerant domesticated plants, principally maize (Zea mays L.). In this paper we present an
alternative to this orthodox view which posits that anthropogenic fire was a vegetation-community management
technology that was used to create disturbance patches and to propagate abundant, edible seed-rich ruderals in
them. This perspective allows us, as well, to introduce and illustrate the interpretive possibilities of a conceptual
scheme that focuses on three resource production types—cultivated wild plants, gathered wild plants, and
domesticated plants—with multi-contextual macrobotanical data from a partially burned and rapidly abandoned
multi-room settlement (occupied between AD 1070–1080) located south of the Grand Canyon in northern
Arizona. By integrating these data with previous archaeobotanical, pollen, and sedimentary micro-charcoal
studies, we propose that the systematic cultivation of wild plants in pyrogenic resource patches was a sustainable
practice that enhanced food-supply security by insulating populations from the effects of short-term
environmental variability and long-term climate change that challenge maize farmers. Importantly, these
investigations indicate that low-intensity burning did not involve widespread deforestation, as some models of
Holocene climate change suggest, and that prehistoric depopulation and modern fire suppression have altered
fundamentally the composition and economic potential of contemporary pinyon-juniper ecosystems.
Thesis by Ryan Washam
In order to inform the discussion of disturbances across the Upper Basin, this thesis presents a vulnerability study that identifies areas of disruption in the archaeological record and the stressors that ultimately caused this damage. The study uses vulnerability theory, satellite remote sensing data, and GPS data, to analyze trends in ground disturbance and forest use that directly influence cases of inadvertent vandalism to archaeological sites. As a result of this analysis, a disturbance framework for the Upper Basin is presented that draws heavily from current ideas in vulnerability theory. Using this framework, conclusions can be drawn about the influence of federal land managers on archaeological disturbance. The results of this study not only provide evidence for differential preservation in the Upper Basin, but also highlight the use of GIS as a low-cost tool for federal employees to solve complex management issues. In addition, they show the utility of borrowing from human ecology and other fields to structure approaches to archaeological issues.
woodlands, with their inherently low primary productivity, could have supported indigenous populations
during prehispanic times was with the transformative consequences associated with the widespread cultivation
of low-moisture-intolerant domesticated plants, principally maize (Zea mays L.). In this paper we present an
alternative to this orthodox view which posits that anthropogenic fire was a vegetation-community management
technology that was used to create disturbance patches and to propagate abundant, edible seed-rich ruderals in
them. This perspective allows us, as well, to introduce and illustrate the interpretive possibilities of a conceptual
scheme that focuses on three resource production types—cultivated wild plants, gathered wild plants, and
domesticated plants—with multi-contextual macrobotanical data from a partially burned and rapidly abandoned
multi-room settlement (occupied between AD 1070–1080) located south of the Grand Canyon in northern
Arizona. By integrating these data with previous archaeobotanical, pollen, and sedimentary micro-charcoal
studies, we propose that the systematic cultivation of wild plants in pyrogenic resource patches was a sustainable
practice that enhanced food-supply security by insulating populations from the effects of short-term
environmental variability and long-term climate change that challenge maize farmers. Importantly, these
investigations indicate that low-intensity burning did not involve widespread deforestation, as some models of
Holocene climate change suggest, and that prehistoric depopulation and modern fire suppression have altered
fundamentally the composition and economic potential of contemporary pinyon-juniper ecosystems.
In order to inform the discussion of disturbances across the Upper Basin, this thesis presents a vulnerability study that identifies areas of disruption in the archaeological record and the stressors that ultimately caused this damage. The study uses vulnerability theory, satellite remote sensing data, and GPS data, to analyze trends in ground disturbance and forest use that directly influence cases of inadvertent vandalism to archaeological sites. As a result of this analysis, a disturbance framework for the Upper Basin is presented that draws heavily from current ideas in vulnerability theory. Using this framework, conclusions can be drawn about the influence of federal land managers on archaeological disturbance. The results of this study not only provide evidence for differential preservation in the Upper Basin, but also highlight the use of GIS as a low-cost tool for federal employees to solve complex management issues. In addition, they show the utility of borrowing from human ecology and other fields to structure approaches to archaeological issues.