James T Watson

Interests

Research

Bioarchaeology

Teaching

Archaeology, Biological Anthropology

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Books

• Hernández Espinoza, P. O., & Watson, J. T. (2025).

  La Población del Norte de México. Ante viejos paradigmas, nuevas metodologías.

  . México City: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
• Watson, J. T., & Rakita, G. F. (2020). Ancient Southwestern Mortuary Practices. Boulder: University Press of Colorado.
• Schmidt, C. W., & Watson, J. T. (2019). Dental Wear in Evolutionary and Biocultural Contexts. London: Elsevier.

Chapters

• Garcia, C. M., Watson, J. T., & Phelps, D. O. (2025).

  Selective Influence of West Mexico Cultural Traditions in the Ónavas Valley, Sonora, Mexico

  . In Reassessing the Aztatlán World: Ethnogenesis and Cultural Continuity in Northwest Mesoamerica(pp 152-163). Boulder: University of Utah Press. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.24215733.15
• Watson, J. T., Villalpando, M. E., & Cerezo-Román, J. (2025).

  Bioarchaeology in the Trincheras Heartland

  . In Bioarcheology of the Southwest, Volume 2(pp 157-177). Gainsville: University Press of Florida.
• Watson, J. T. (2021). Sonora Çölü’nün Neolitik Toplumlarında Ölü Gömme Gelenekleri Üzerinden Ölüm ve Kimlik Uzlaşması. In Memento Mori: Ölüm ve Ölüm Uygulamaları(pp 487-512). Yayinlari.
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  Early Agricultural period (circa 2100 B.C.-A.D. 50) archaeological sites embody the transition from foraging to the establishment of permanent, irrigation-based agricultural villages in the Sonoran Desert region of the southwest US/northwest Mexico. Developing concepts of corporate organization would have created a need for mediating social identities and interests between lineages and the community, and mortuary practices provide one mechanism likely employed to mitigate social tensions among households. Early Agricultural period normative mortuary practices are largely characterized by single, flexed primary inhumation with limited funerary objects and little apparent expression of social differentiation. The performance of mortuary rituals contributing to these material patterns likely functioned to incorporate a shared community identity, while placement within sites legitimized household interests through descent and inheritance. However, some variability is also observed throughout the period, including numerous body configurations, multiple burials, and cremation and could reflect the expression of personal social identities and/or different cosmological dogma.
• Crane, A., Watson, J. T., Haas, R., & Haas, R. (2020). The effects of aberrant tooth wear on occlusal relationships. In Tooth Wear in Evolutionary and Biocultural Contexts(pp 99-122). Academic Press. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-815599-8.00005-8
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  Detailed investigation of dental wear can provide information about diet, food preparation, pathology, idiosyncratic behaviors, and occupational activities. The application of standard scoring approaches, however, obfuscates the wide variety of aberrant wear observable within and across populations. Dental wear begins from multiple etiologies but cascades into complex inter-connected relationships that vary across the arch and between jaws. Wear resulting from one etiology may cause changes in occlusion that affect the manifestation of other forms, thus the analysis of aberrant wear cannot be undertaken without first parsing relationships among co-occurring etiologies. While such interactions complicate problem-oriented studies of dental wear, the complex intermingling of wear types reflects the value of teeth as a site for holistic interpretations of embodiment (e.g., of subsistence and other cultural activity). Here, we develop a model of aberrant dental wear that assesses both proximate (e.g., attrition, erosion, etc.) and ultimate etiologies (i.e., behavioral vs. occlusal) through the description of wear in terms of dentition, tooth class, tooth surface, and wear morphology. The goal of this model is to apply a systematic approach to the analysis of aberrant wear, to define the varied cultural phenomena embodied in the teeth with greater clarity. After outlining the model, we consider the implications of this approach for the interpretation of aberrant wear as an embodiment of social phenomena and explore the potential of such wear as a proxy for communities of practice.
• Watson, J. T. (2020). Mortuary Practices among Early Farming Communities in the Sonoran Desert. In Ancient Southwestern Mortuary Practices(pp 151-174). Boulder: University of Colorado Press.
• Watson, J. T. (2020). Variation across Ancient Southwestern Mortuary Practices. In Ancient Southwestern Mortuary Practices(pp 257-275). Boulder: University Press of Colorado.
• Watson, J. T., & Schmidt, C. W. (2020). An introduction to dental wear in evolutionary and biocultural contexts. In Dental Wear in Evolutionary and Biocultural Contexts(pp 1-10). Academic Press. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-815599-8.00001-0
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  This volume pulls together experts representing a range of current approaches to the study of dental wear in extant primates, hominins, and ancient humans to highlight advancements in macrowear and microwear analyses, particularly those regarding diet, extramasticatory behaviors, and tooth use via evolutionary and biocultural perspectives. As biostructures that facilitate interaction between bodily and external environments, teeth provide the first step in the digestion of food through mechanical breakdown. But by engaging in their primary function, teeth experience wear from tooth-to-tooth and tooth-food-tooth contact as well as chemical erosion. Tooth wear reflects the interaction of tooth form and use and therefore provides insight into the evolutionary history of our primate relatives and hominin ancestors; it also documents dietary nuances in modern humans as they dispersed and inhabited a great variety of geographic regions. As a complex, multifactorial process, tooth wear has garnered significant attention at both macroscopic and microscopic levels. Improvements in the understanding of chewing mechanics and dental hard tissue properties, along with recent applications of technology capable of analyzing dental microsurfaces, has led to a fluorescence in dental wear study and generated a rich and extensive literature. This volume serves to underscore the value of studying dental wear in biological anthropology and touches on some of this diversity of current research.
• Garcia M., C., & Watson, J. T. (2019). Bioarqueología de la población prehispánica del valle de Ónavas, Sonora. In Arqueología de Sonora(pp in press). Instituto Nacional de Antropóloga e Historia, Sonora.
• Watson, J. T., & Garcia M., C. (2017). Dental Modification and the Expansion and Manipulation of Mesoamerican Identity into Northwest Mexico. In A World View of Bioculturally Modified Teeth(pp 298-315). University of Florida Press.
• Watson, J. T., & Byrd, R. M. (2015). A bioarchaeological perspective on change and continuity in an Early Agricultural period community. In Implements of Change: Tools, Subsistence, and the Built Environment of Las Capas, an Early Agricultural Irrigation Community in Southern Arizona(pp 377-388). Anthropological Papers: Archaeology Southwest.
• Watson, J. T., Cerezo-Roman, J. I., Nava Maldonado, S. I., Cruz Guzman, C., & Villalpando, M. E. (2015). Death and Community Identity in the Trincheras Cremation Cemetery, Sonora, Mexico. In The Analysis of Burned Human Remains(pp 339-353). Academic Press.
• Watson, J. T., & Arriaza, B. (2014). La Salud Bucal y la Transicion Hacia la Agricultura en el Norte de Chile. In Los Tumulos Funerarios, 1000 Anos de Historia en los Valles de Arica(pp 68-80). Universidad de Tarapaca, Arica.
• Fish, P. R., Fish, S. K., Christopherson, G., Pitezel, T. A., Watson, J. T., Leckman, P. O., & Heidke, J. (2013). Emerging Settlement Differentiation in Preceramic and Early Hohokam Villages on Tumamoc Hill. In New Perspectives on the Rock Art and Prehistoric Settlement Organization of Tumamoc Hill, Tucson, Arizona(pp 1-22). University of Ariona Press.
• Elliott, A. C., Mclaurin, B. T., Watson, J. T., & Canchola, M. E. (2011). Genesis of an Artifact Layer: Natural and Cultural Processes at the La Playa Archaeological Site, Sonora, Mexico. In Reconstructing Human-Landscape Interactions(pp 21-34). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-23759-1_3
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  The La Playa archaeological site (SON F:10:3), in Sonora, Mexico, preserves 12,000 years of human utilization and occupation. Geologically, the site is characterized by a homogenous silt (Holocene?) overlain in places by a thin layer (2–6 cm) of cultural artifacts (ceramics and groundstone). This artifact layer is overlain by interbedded silts and cross-laminated and rippled, sands. The goal of the study was to map the distribution of the artifact layer and overlying sediments to determine: (1) if the layer is a lag deposit resulting from deposition and concentration of artifacts by fluvial processes; or (2) if it is a cultural layer and represents an earlier occupation that was subsequently buried. Results show that the artifact layer is confined to a 0.4 km2 area of the site and dips to the southwest at approximately 0.5°, which is consistent with the slope of the current topographic surface. The artifact layer is a cumulative palimpsest that reflects the mixing and concentration of artifacts from multiple occupations. The artifact layer was subsequently buried by sediments deposited by fluvial processes after A.D. 150 as indicated by the presence of Trincheras period ceramics.
• Mclaurin, B. T., Elliott, A. C., Watson, J. T., & Canchola, M. E. (2011). Quaternary Stratigraphy of the La Playa Archaeological Site (SON F:10:3), Northern Sonora, Mexico. In Reconstructing Human-Landscape Interactions(pp 3-20). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-23759-1_2
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  The La Playa archaeological site is located along the Rio Boquillas, north of Trincheras in northern Sonora, Mexico. The site contains an extensive record of human occupation beginning during the Paleoindian period with the most intense utilization of the site during the Early Agricultural period (3,700–1,900 cal BP). This work focused on detailed mapping and description of the stratigraphic units across the site. The oldest exposed stratigraphic unit is a reddish, sandy paleosol. The paleosol grades laterally into gravels that contain cobble-size clasts of diverse compositions. Overlying the paleosol is a tan-brown, homogenous silt (Holocene?) that lacks sedimentary structures and is consistently 98% silt and clay and 2% very fine sand. The paleosol and associated gravels were deposited during relatively wet conditions. The gravels are evidence of alluvial channels traversing the landscape and the composition of these gravels indicates significant transport distance based on the occurrence of nonlocal lithologies. The paleoenvironmental interpretation for the overlying silt has been considered a cienega deposit, but the silt has many characteristics in common with eolian deposited loess. An alluvial floodplain interpretation is feasible if the channel of the Rio Boquillas was stable and did not frequently avulse, allowing deposition of these fine-grained deposits.
• Watson, J. T. (2010). The Introduction of Agriculture and the Foundation of Biological Variation in the Southern Southwest. In Archaeological and Biological Variation in the New World(pp 135-171). Center for Archaeological Investigations: Southern Illinois University Press.

Journals/Publications

• Cajigas, R., Watson, J. T., & Pitezel, T. (2025). Characterizing the Construction of Terraced Hills (Cerros de Trincheras) in the Sonoran Desert Through Soil Characterization and Micromorphology. KIVA, 91(Issue 3). doi:10.1080/00231940.2025.2553440
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  Tumamoc Hill (AZ AA:16:6[ASM]) is the site of a prehistoric hilltop village in Tucson, Arizona. Indigenous people living in the lowland deserts of the southwest U.S. / northwest Mexico built hilltop villages, known as cerros de trincheras, more than 3,000 years ago. AMS 14C samples from terraces and a community structure in the center of the hill yielded dates consistent with the Late Cienega phase (400 B.C.-A.D. 50) and the Tortolita phase (A.D. 550-650). Soil descriptions and micromorphology analyses identified modified soils on the summit and weakly developed terrace soils that formed after terrace construction, further reinforcing that the earliest village was constructed on Tumamoc's summit during the Late Cienega phase. Given the timing, location, and nature of construction on Tumamoc Hill, we argue that it represents an early form of monumentality that reflects emergent social complexity at the terminus of the Early Agricultural period in the region.
• Watson, J. T., Young, A., Sliva, R. J., Mallard, A. M., & Byrd, R. (2025). Small-Scale Migrations among Early Farmers in the Sonoran Desert. American Antiquity, 90(Issue 2). doi:10.1017/aaq.2024.78
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  Migration played a significant role in shaping the Native populations of the southwest United States and northwest Mexico. Large-scale migrations into and across the region were underlain by small-scale (intraregional) population shifts affected by environmental fluctuations (declines and improvements) and social phenomena such as aggregation and the spread of sociopolitical spheres of influence within the region. We compare projectile point types, mortuary patterns, and biodistance information from Early Agricultural period (2100 BC-AD 50) sites to identify subtle differences in population composition associated with the arrival and spread of maize across the region. Small-scale migrations occurring around the foundation of farming communities in the Sonoran Desert may have established the basis of broad regional connectivity, shared historical ties, and subsequent migration patterns and practices. Rooted in early farming traditions and a shared language family, we argue that farmers expanded north and east from the borderlands, then eventually returned to ancestral homelands when environmental and incursive pressures pushed them back south.
• Watson, J. T., Garcia-moreno, C., & Espinoza, P. O. (2021). Childhood and Identity Acquisition in the Late Prehispanic Ónavas Valley, Sonora, Mexico. Childhood in the Past, 14(1), 38-54. doi:10.1080/17585716.2021.1901338
• Wilson, J. A., Watson, J. T., Mountain, R. V., Mcpherson, C. B., & Blew, R. M. (2021). Sex differences in age‐related bone loss and antemortem tooth loss in East‐Central Arizona (AD 1200‐1450). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 31, 712-726. doi:10.1002/oa.2984
• Buonasera, T., Chen, J. C., Eerkens, J., Haas, R., Llave, C. V., Noe, S., Parker, G., Smith, K., Southon, J., & Watson, J. (2020). Female hunters of the early Americas. Science Advances, 6(45). doi:10.1126/sciadv.abd0310
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  Sexual division of labor with females as gatherers and males as hunters is a major empirical regularity of hunter-gatherer ethnography, suggesting an ancestral behavioral pattern. We present an archeological discovery and meta-analysis that challenge the man-the-hunter hypothesis. Excavations at the Andean highland site of Wilamaya Patjxa reveal a 9000-year-old human burial (WMP6) associated with a hunting toolkit of stone projectile points and animal processing tools. Osteological, proteomic, and isotopic analyses indicate that this early hunter was a young adult female who subsisted on terrestrial plants and animals. Analysis of Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene burial practices throughout the Americas situate WMP6 as the earliest and most secure hunter burial in a sample that includes 10 other females in statistical parity with early male hunter burials. The findings are consistent with nongendered labor practices in which early hunter-gatherer females were big-game hunters.
• Cerezo-Roman, J., & Watson, J. T. (2020).

  Transformation by Fire: Changes in Funerary Customs from the Early Agricultural to Preclassic Period among Prehispanic Populations of Southern Arizona

  . American Antiquity, 85(1), 132-151. doi:10.1017/aaq.2019.71
• Watson, J. T., & Muñoz Ovalle, I. (2019). Diet as a Social Construct in the Early Andean Diaspora. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY, 60(2), 264-274. doi:10.1086/702306
• Watson, J. T., & Tuggle, A. (2019). Periodontal Health and the Lifecourse Approach in Bioarchaeology. DENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 32(2), 12-21.
• Fleming, K., & Watson, J. T. (2018). Raiding and Warfare in Early Farming Villages of the Sonoran Desert.. Kiva, 84(4), 424-439..
• Garcia, C., & Watson, J. T. (2018). El cementerio prehispánico del valle de Ónavas, Sonora. Arqueología Mexicana, 154, 63-68.
• Villalpando, M. E., & Watson, J. T. (2018). Pintados de rojo: prácticas funerarias de los primeros agricultores del Desierto de Sonora. Arqueología Mexicana, 154, 54-60.
• Watson, J. T. (2018). Book Review: What Teeth Reveal About Human Evolution. Dental Anthropology Journal, 30(1), 38. doi:10.26575/daj.v30i1.22
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• Watson, J. T., Villalpando, M. E., Maldonado, S. I., Guzman, C. C., & Cerezo-roman, J. I. (2018). Changes in remembrance of an urnfield cremation cemetery, cerro de trincheras, sonora, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity, 29(1), 185-190. doi:10.1017/laq.2017.61
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  We explore the transformation of a site into a place of remembrance by evaluating the life history of an urnfield at Cerro de Trincheras, Sonora, Mexico. Prehispanic inhabitants used this cemetery as a cremation burial ground ca. AD 1300–1450. Memory of the cemetery persisted into historical times among inhabitants of the area, but its use changed. We argue that critical and contextualized approaches to cemeteries are needed to understand the complexity of how burial spaces are used through time.
• Garcia M., C., & Watson, J. T. (2017). Bioarqueología de la población prehispánica del valle de Ónavas, Sonora. Rutas de Campo, 1(1), 59-72.
• Haas, R., Stefanescu, I. C., Garcia-Putnam, A., Aldenderfer, M. S., Clementz, M. T., Murphy, M. S., Llave, C. V., & Watson, J. T. (2017). Humans permanently occupied the Andean highlands by at least 7 ka. Royal Society open science, 4(6), 170331.
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  High-elevation environments above 2500 metres above sea level (m.a.s.l.) were among the planet's last frontiers of human colonization. Research on the speed and tempo of this colonization process is active and holds implications for understanding rates of genetic, physiological and cultural adaptation in our species. Permanent occupation of high-elevation environments in the Andes Mountains of South America tentatively began with hunter-gatherers around 9 ka according to current archaeological estimates, though the timing is currently debated. Recent observations on the archaeological site of Soro Mik'aya Patjxa (8.0-6.5 ka), located at 3800 m.a.s.l. in the Andean Altiplano, offer an opportunity to independently test hypotheses for early permanent use of the region. This study observes low oxygen (O) and high carbon (C) isotope values in human bone, long travel distances to low-elevation zones, variable age and sex structure in the human population and an absence of non-local lithic materials. These independent lines of evidence converge to support a model of permanent occupation of high elevations and refute logistical and seasonal use models. The results constitute the strongest empirical support to date for permanent human occupation of the Andean highlands by hunter-gatherers before 7 ka.
• Watson, J. T. (2017). Review: Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums by Samuel J. Redman. The Public Historian, 39(1), 119-120. doi:10.1525/tph.2017.39.1.119
• Watson, J. T., & Harry, K. G. (2017). Shaping Identity in the Prehispanic Southern Nevada. Life Beyond the Boundaries: Constructing Identity in Edge Regions of the North American Southwest, 122-156. doi:10.5876/9781607326960.C005
• Garcia, C., & Watson, J. T. (2016). The Onavas Valley. Archaeology Southwest, 30(3), 17-18.
• Watson, J. T. (2016). Death, Memorial, and Remembrance in Sonora. Archaeology Southwest, 30(3), 23.
• Watson, J. T., & Garcia Moreno, C. (2016). Postclassic Expansion of Mesoamerican (Biocultural) Characteristics into Sonora, Northwest Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology, 41(2), 222-235. doi:10.1080/00934690.2016.1159899
• Watson, J. T., & Phelps, D. O. (2016). Violence and Perimortem Signaling among Early Irrigation Communities in the Sonoran Desert. Current Anthropology, 56(5). doi:10.1086/688256
• Carpenter, J., Sanchez, G., Watson, J. T., & Villalpando, E. (2015). The La Playa Archaeological Project: Binational Multidisciplinary Research on Long-term Human Adaptation in the Sonoran Desert. Journal of the Southwest, 57(2-3), 213-264.
• Brooks Garcia, A., Beckett, R., & Watson, J. T. (2014). Internal Environmental Characteristics of a Chiribaya Style Tomb Holding Swine Remains and their Taphonomic Impact on Decomposition Delay, a Requisite for Mummification. Papers on Anthropology, 23(1), 45-62.
• Watson, J. T., & Stoll, M. (2013). Gendered Logistic Mobility among the Earliest Farmers in the Sonoran Desert. Latin American Antiquity, 24(4), 433-450.
• Watson, J. T., & Weiland, J. (2013). Documenting Archaeological Mortuary Features using High Dynamic Range (HDR) Imaging: Documenting Mortuary Features using HDR. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 25(3), 366-373. doi:10.1002/oa.2302
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  This technical note presents a refined technique for photo-documenting archaeological mortuary features using High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging. Mortuary features in archaeological context can be complex and delicate given the wide variability in grave constructions and preservation of human skeletal remains. It is therefore critical to obtain the greatest detail possible when photo-documenting these features. HDR techniques represent more contrast in photographs and provide greater detail across the DR of illumination within mortuary features-where complex arrangements of human remains can obscure or darken other elements or associated funerary objects, making them difficult to identify in traditional photographs. HDR can be employed with most standard digital single lens reflex cameras used for archaeological field projects, is easy to learn and employ (as described here), can be processed and produced with commonly used photo editing programs, and is ideal for use in unpredictable conditions that are often encountered with archaeological mortuary features and in field conditions.
• Byrd, R. M., Watson, J. T., Fish, P., & Fish, S. (2012). Architecture and the Afterlife: A Spatial Analysis of Mortuary Patterns at University Indian Ruin. Journal of Arizona Archaeology, 2(1), 101-111.
• Copeland, A., Quade, J., Watson, J. T., McLaurin, B. T., & Villalpando, E. (2012). Stratigraphy and geochronology of La Playa archaeological site, Sonora, Mexico. JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 39(9), 2934-2944.
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  La Playa archaeological site in northern Sonora, Mexico contains a long record of human activity that includes the Paleoindian period (terminal Pleistocene) and much of the Holocene. The size and complexity of La Playa has discouraged a systematic characterization of its stratigraphy and geochronology, a deficiency we redress in the study. We distinguished seven stratigraphic units ranging in age from >44,570 to 400 cal yr B.P. using C-14 dates from charcoal and terrestrial gastropods found mostly in archaeological features. All of the buried (in situ) cultural remains are contained in Units B (4690-1580 cal yr BR) and C (1010-400 cal yr BR) and represent overbank deposition from the nearby Rio Boquillas. Occupation at the site peaks in Units B-4 and B-5, corresponding to the Cienega phase (2800 1800 cal yr B.P.) of the Early Agricultural period. This period coincides with the growth of early agricultural villages in the region and is marked at La Playa by thousands of archaeological features including roasting pits, human burials, and extensive canal irrigation systems. The presence of semi-aquatic and aquatic snails demonstrates that water was present year round in the canal systems constructed during this period. Stable and radiometric isotopic evidence suggests that early agriculturalists diverted ground water over several kilometers from the nearby Rio Boquillas. The extensive Cienega phase occupation ended after about 1700 cal yr B.P. with deep erosion of the site, an event also visible in alluvial records in southern Arizona that marked the end of the Early Agricultural period and significant changes in settlement organization in the region. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
• Watson, J. T., Fields, M., & Stoll, M. (2012). Violence and Postmortem Signaling in Early Farming Communities of the Sonoran Desert: An Expanded Taphonomic Approach. Landscapes of Violence, 2(2), 11.
• Arriaza, B., Muñoz Ovalle, I., Standen, V., & Watson, J. T. (2011). Tooth Wear Related to Marine Foraging, Agro-Pastoralism and the Formative Transition on the Northern Chilean Coast: Tooth Wear in Northwest Chile. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 23(3), 287-302. doi:10.1002/oa.1247
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  Occlusal surface wear scores were examined in a sample of 200 Formative period (1500bc-ad500) skeletons from the lower Azapa Valley in northwest Chile. Wear rate and plane (angle) were additionally evaluated using a subsample of paired first and second mandibular molars. The Formative period represents the transition from marine foraging to agro-pastoral dependence in the region, and differences in oral pathology indicate that diet varied by site location (coast vs valley interior) but not by archaeological phase (early vs late). We predicted that occlusal wear would demonstrate similar patterns, resulting from differences in food consistency, and therefore hypothesised that in coastal groups consuming greater quantities of foraged foods, occlusal surfaces should wear faster and exhibit flat molar wear, whereas among valley interior groups consuming greater quantities of agro-pastoral products, these should wear slower but exhibit more angled molar wear. Heavier posterior tooth wear was identified among coastal residents, but rate and angle of molar occlusal attrition did not differ significantly by location. Heavier overall wear and a steeper molar wear plane were identified during the early phase indicating that food consistency varied somewhat over the course of the Formative period. Overall, the results indicate that, although limited differences in tooth wear exist by site location, wear varied more over time likely reflecting a gradual transition from foraging to agro-pastoral dependence in the lower Azapa Valley. Although oral health indicators point to differences in dietary investment by location, maintenance of a mixed subsistence economy likely sustained a comparative consistency of foodstuffs. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
• Fish, S. K., Fish, P. R., Christopherson, G. L., Pietzel, T. A., & Watson, J. T. (2011). Two Villages on Tumamoc Hill. Journal of Arizona Archaeology, 1(2), 185-196.
• Harry, K. G., & Watson, J. T. (2010). The Archaeology of Pueblo Grande de Nevada: Past and Current Research within Nevada’s “Lost City”. Kiva, 75(4), 403-424.
• Watson, J. T., Fields, M., & Martin, D. L. (2010). Introduction of agriculture and its effects on women's oral health. American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 22(1), 92-102.
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  This study explores the dynamic relationship between the introduction of agriculture and its effects on women's oral health by testing the hypothesis that female reproductive physiology contributes to an oral environment more susceptible to chronic oral disease and that, in a population undergoing the foraging to farming transition, females will exhibit a higher prevalence of oral pathology than males. This is tested by comparing the presence, location, and severity of caries lesions and antemortem tooth loss across groups of reproductive aged and postreproductive females (n = 71) against corresponding groups of males (n = 71) in an Early Agricultural period (1600 B.C.-A.D. 200) skeletal sample from northwest Mexico. Caries rates did not differ by sex across age groups in the sample; however, females were found to exhibit significantly more antemortem tooth loss than males (P > 0.01). Differences were initially minimal but increased by age cohort until postreproductive females experienced a considerable amount of tooth loss, during a life stage when the accumulation of bodily insults likely contributed to dental exfoliation. Higher caries rates in females are often cited as the result of gender differences and dietary disparities in agricultural communities. In an early farming community, with diets being relatively equal, women were found to experience similar caries expression but greater tooth loss. We believe this differential pattern of oral pathology provides new evidence in support of the interpretation that women's oral health is impacted by effects relating to reproductive biology.
• Watson, J. T., Munoz Ovalle, I., & Arriaza, B. (2010). Formative Adaptations, Diet, and Oral Health in the Azapa Valley of Northwest Chile. Latin American Antiquity, 21(4), 423-439.
• Fields, M., Herschaft, E. E., Martin, D. L., Martin, D. L., & Watson, J. T. (2009). Sex and the agricultural transition: Dental health of early farming females. Journal of Dentistry and Oral Hygiene, 1(4), 52-51.
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  This research considers the long-term relationship between women’s oral health and the transition to agriculture by examining dental caries and tooth loss in a prehistoric skeletal sample. Archaeological research indicates that women in many early agricultural communities experienced more severe dental pathology than male counterparts. Dentition was examined in an Early Agricultural skeletal sample from the La Playa site in Sonora, Mexico. Frequencies of caries and antemortem tooth loss (AMTL) were analyzed to test the hypothesis that in an early agricultural population undergoing major cultural changes, females experienced increased oral disease burden due to changes in the oral microenvironment resulting from greater reproductive stress. Adult females and males had similar caries rates, however, there were significant sex-differences in AMTL (p = 0.02). Comparisons across age groups indicate that La Playa women had substantial increases in AMTL, losing considerably more teeth than men. These findings, in light of dental research on oral health and pregnancy, provide an important temporal component to understanding the evolution and history of oral health and agriculture. The results suggest a dynamic process in the development of oral health trends as a function of the shift to agriculture and the burden of increased childbearing that females undertook during this transition. Key words: Oral health, tooth loss, pregnancy, agriculture.
• Watson, J. T. (2008). Animal Resource Exploitation among the Virgin River Puebloans in the American Southwest. Journal of Field Archaeology, 33(4), 1-11.
• Watson, J. T. (2008). Changes in food processing and occlusal dental wear during the early agricultural period in northwest Mexico. American journal of physical anthropology, 135(1), 92-9.
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  Crown dimensions and occlusal surface wear rate and wear plane were evaluated using paired first and second mandibular molars from a sample of 84 Early Agricultural period (1600 B.C.-A.D. 200) skeletons from northwest Mexico. Although this period represents a major shift in subsistence strategies in the Sonoran Desert, from food-foraging to agriculture, archaeological and dental pathology studies have identified this period as one of relative dietary stability. It was therefore predicted that very little variation in occlusal wear would have occurred between the early phase (San Pedro: 1600-800 B.C.) and late phase (Cienega: 800 B.C.-A.D. 200). Comparison of crown diameters identified some phenotypic differences between sexes but not between archaeological phases. Molar occlusal surfaces were then divided into four quadrants, and wear scores recorded for each quadrant. Principle axis analysis was performed between total wear scores of paired, adjacent first and second mandibular molars to assess rate and occlusal wear plane over time. The analysis demonstrated that both wear rate and wear plane increased from the early to the late phase of the Early Agricultural period. These results indicate that although diet may have indeed remained stable during this period in the Sonoran Desert increases in the rate of wear and wear plane may reflect changes in food-processing techniques. It is suggested that more intensive processing of agricultural products during the Cienega phase simultaneously softened the diet to create more tooth-contact wear and introduced more grit to cause faster and more angled wear on the molar occlusal surfaces.
• Watson, J. T. (2008). Prehistoric dental disease and the dietary shift from cactus to cultigens in northwest Mexico. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 18(2), 202--212.
• Watson, J. T. (2007). Book review: Diet, health, and status among the Pasión Maya: A reappraisal of the collapse. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 134(1), 138-139. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20627
• Benyshek, D. C., & Watson, J. T. (2006). Exploring the thrifty genotype's food-shortage assumptions: a cross-cultural comparison of ethnographic accounts of food security among foraging and agricultural societies. American journal of physical anthropology, 131(1), 120-6.
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  The "thrifty genotype hypothesis" has become firmly entrenched as one of the orienting concepts in biomedical anthropology, since first being proposed by Neel (1962 Am. J. Hum. Genet. 14:353-362) over 40 years ago. Its influence on inquiries into the evolutionary origins of diabetes, lactose tolerance, and other metabolic disorders can hardly be underestimated, as evidenced by its continued citation in many top scientific and medical journals. However, its fundamental assumption, that foragers are more likely to experience regular and severe food shortages than sedentary agriculturalists, remains largely untested. The present report tests this assumption by making a cross-cultural statistical comparison of the quantity of available food and the frequency and extent of food shortages among 94 foraging and agricultural societies as reported in the ethnographic record. Our results indicate that there is no statistical difference (P < 0.05) in the quantity of available food, or the frequency or extent of food shortages in these reports between preindustrial foragers, recent foragers, and agriculturalists. The findings presented here add to a growing literature that calls into question assumptions about forager food insecurity and nutritional status in general, and ultimately, the very foundation of the thrifty genotype hypothesis: the presumed food shortages that selected for a "thrifty" metabolism in past foraging populations.
• Watson, J. T. (2004). Cavities on the cob: Dental health and the agricultural transition in Sonora, Mexico. UMI. doi:10.25669/9mu9-7tcw

Presentations

• Haas, R., Stefenescu, I., Garcia-Putnam, A., Aldenderfer, M., Clementz, M., Murphy, M., Viviano Llave, C., & Watson, J. T. (2018, October). Testing for verticality among Archaic foragers of the Titicaca Basin. 58th Annual Meeting of the Institute for Andean Studies. Berkeley, CA: Institute for Andean Studies.
• Krummel, J., & Watson, J. T. (2018, March). Archaeothanatological analysis of mortuary practices in the Prehistoric Sonoran Desert and implications for interpreting sickness through postmortem processing. Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Washington, D.C.: Society for American Archaeology, Washington, D.C..
• Watson, J. T., McPherson, C., Garcia, C., & Villalpando, E. (2018, October). Retraso en el crecimiento de poblaciones antiguas en Sonora. Annual Meeting of the Seminario Aleš Hrdlička. Kino Bay, Sonora, Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Anthropologia e Historia.
• Baustian, K. M., & Watson, J. T. (2017, December). Research and Consultation Protocols for Working with Human Remains when Descendant Communities are Lacking or Loosely Defined. Annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association. Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological Association.
• Hass, R., Watson, J. T., Viviano Llave, C., & Aldenderfer, M. (2017, April). The Signaling and Inheritance of Cooperation: Artificial Cranial Modification among Altiplano Foragers. Annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Vancouver, B.C., Canada: Society for American Archaeology.
• Mallard, A., Watson, J. T., & Auerbach, B. M. (2017, April). Evaluating the Limitations of Biological Distance Models of Gene Flow in Ancient Human Populations. Annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. New Orleans, LA: American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
• Watson, J. T., Munoz, I., & Arriaza, B. (2017, April). Biocultural Evolution of the Oral Complex in Coastal Atacama and the Interplay of Selection, Plasticity, and Population Histories. Annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Vancouver, B.C., Canada: Society for American Archaeology.
• Haas, R., Watson, J. T., Viviano Llave, C., & Aldenderfer, M. (2016, June). A forager origin for artificial cranial modification in the Andes and its implications. Northeast Andean Meetings. Cambridge, MA: Northeast Andean Society.
• Watson, J. T. (2016, October). Taller de Antropología Dental. Seminario Aleš Hrdlička. Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Sonora.
• Watson, J. T., & Schmidt, C. (2016, April). Workshop on Dental Wear. Dental Anthropology Association annual meetings. Atlanta, GA: American Association of Physical Anthropologists.

Poster Presentations

• Watson, J. T., & Tuggle, A. (2018, April). Periodontal health and the lifecourse in bioarchaeology. Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Austin, TX: American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
• Watson, J. T., Crane, A., & Haas, R. (2018, April). The interplay of behavioral and occlusal etiologies in aberrant tooth wear. Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Austin, TX: American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
• Rachel, C., Watson, J. T., & Pitezel, T. A. (2016, January). Anthropogenic Influences on Terrace Soil Development at Tumamoc Hill. 15th Biennial Southwest Symposium. Tucson, AZ.

Reviews

• Watson, J. T. (2017. Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums, by Samuel J. Redman(pp 119-120). The Public Historian.
• Watson, J. T. (2017. What Teeth Reveal About Human Evolution, by Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg(p. 38). Dental Anthropology.

Others

• Villalpando Canchola, M. E., Carpenter, J. P., & Watson, J. T. (2017, July). Proyecto La Playa (SON:F:10:3) Informe 2016-2015. Archivo Técnico del INAH. México, D.F..
• Watson, J. T. (2017, July). Documentation of human skeletal remains from Los Pozos, AA:12:91 (ASM). In, Site Boundary Identification Testing in Northern Los Pozos, AZ AA:12:91 (ASM), for the Pima County Flood Control Drainage Channel Extension, Tucson, Pima County, Arizona. Technical Report No. 2016-08. Desert Archaeology, Inc., Tucson.
• Pitezel, T., & Watson, J. T. (2014, September). Defining the Chronology of Terrace Constructions at Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Pima County: A Research Design and Work Plan.