Norton Allen: The Legacy of a Southwestern Artist and Avocational Archaeologist

December 2010

The Summer/Autumn 2010 issue of Journal of the Southwest, published by the Southwest Center at the University of Arizona, is a special all-color double issue, 300+ pages in length, devoted to avocational archaeologist and artist Norton Allen (1909–1997.) For decades, Norton was best known as the inspired, but largely anonymous, draftsman for the wonderful maps to be found in virtually every issue of Desert Magazine for nearly half a century. But to a small group of Arizona archaeologists he was known to be the expert on archaeology in the Gila Bend area.

For more than 40 winter seasons, Norton, his father Ernest and wife Ethel salvaged archaeological materials that were in danger of being destroyed by expanding agricultural projects. Norton met Emil Haury at the University of Arizona Department of Anthropology in 1939, beginning a lifelong friendship. It was Norton's work and discoveries, particularly at the Gatlin Site, that was the impetus for the excavations in the Painted Rocks Reservoir conducted by ASM archaeologists William Wasley and Alfred Johnson from 1959 to 1964.

This Journal of the Southwest issue, edited by Alan Ferg and Richard A. Schwartzlose, expands on their 2006 essay about the Allens that appeared in the book Fragile Patterns, including a full biographical sketch of Norton and his family. Featured are articles about Norton's archaeological and ethnographic collections written by a host of experts (many of whom are Arizona State Museum staff and alumni) including Jane Sliva, Mike Jacobs, David Doyel, Owen Lindauer, Devin Alan White, Patrick Lyons, Diane Dittemore, Andrew Higgins, Reuben Naranjo, Suzanne Griset, Bryn Potter, and Brenda Focht. Subjects include Hohokam projectile points, pottery and palettes, Norton’s excavations in the San Pedro Valley, Tohono O’odham and Paipai pottery, and basketry from Arizona, California and the Great Basin. Most of these articles are illustrated with immaculate new photography by ASM photographer Jannelle Weakly.

In December 1996 the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society gave Norton and Ethel the Victor R. Stoner Award. This was in well-deserved recognition of their lifelong contributions to archaeological preservation and helping bring knowledge of the Hohokam in the Gila Bend area to the public's attention.

The Allens' archaeological and ethnographic collections from southwestern Arizona, donated to the Arizona State Museum, with provisions for use by the Tohono O'odham Nation, will continue to be a rich source for research, learning, exhibits, and cultural pride on into the future. Likewise, Norton and Ethel's establishment of University of Arizona scholarship and internship funds will perennially assist Native American students interested in anthropology and museum studies.

Copies of the Norton Allen issue (vol. 52, nos. 2-3) are available for $20 each (this includes postage for domestic orders.) Checks should be payable to “Journal of the Southwest,” and mailed to Lupita Cruz, Southwest Center, 1052 North Highland Avenue, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721. Ms. Cruz can be reached by phone at 520-621-2484.

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