The result of nearly twenty years of interdisciplinary research, this volume contributes to the archaeological and paleoenvironmental knowledge of an important but lightly investigated hyperarid coastline at the heart of the Sonoran Desert.

Focused on the coast near Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico, Coastal Foragers of the Gran Desierto examines the diverse groups occupying the coast for salt, abundant food sources, and shells for ornament manufacturing. The archaeological patterns demonstrated by the data gathered lead to the conclusion that, since ancient times, this coastal landscape was not a marginal zone but rather an important source of food and trade goods, and a pilgrimage destination that influenced broad and diverse communities across the Sonoran Desert and beyond.

Contributors
Jenny L. Adams
Karen R. Adams
Thomas Bowen
Tessa L. Branyan
Bill Broyles
Richard C. Brusca
David L. Dettman
Michael S. Foster
Gary Huckleberry
Jonathan B. Mabry
Natalia Martínez-Tagüeña
Richard J. Martynec
Douglas R. Mitchell
Kirsten Rowell
Melissa R. Schwan
M. Steven Shackley
R. J. Sliva
Kayla B. Worthey

Douglas R. Mitchell, MA, is a research associate at S’edav Va’aki Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. He spent more than thirty-five years conducting archaeological investigations, and his research interests include prehistoric cultures of Arizona, chronology, settlement systems, northern Gulf of California coastal middens, and the study of prehistoric burial practices in the Southwest.

Jonathan B. Mabry, PhD, is an anthropologist and archaeologist with more than forty years of fieldwork experience in the deserts of the Middle East, North Africa, U.S. Southwest, and Northwest Mexico. His research has focused on Indigenous subsistence adaptations, social organizations, and cultural histories of prehistoric peoples of the U.S.-Mexico desert.

Gary Huckleberry, PhD, is an adjunct research associate and lecturer at the University of Arizona who specializes in geomorphology, soils, geoarchaeology, and environmental change. He was an assistant and then associate professor at Washington State University and served as co-editor of the journal Geoarchaeology.

Natalia Martínez-Tagüeña, PhD, is an environmental anthropologist and community archaeologist conducting participatory research for drylands sustainability. Her research topics include subsistence, climate change, coastal adaptations, governance, social innovation, and sustainable development. She is the co-editor of Stewardship of Future Drylands and Climate Change in the Global South.