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New Interpretations of Mimbres Public Architecture and Space: Implications for Cultural Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Darrell Creel  and
Roger Anyon
Darrell Creel
Affiliation:
Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, JJ Pickle Research Campus, R7500, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712-1100
Roger Anyon
Affiliation:
Pima County Cultural Resources Office, 201 N. Stone Avenue, 7th floor, Tucson, AZ 85701
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Abstract

Recent excavations and reanalysis of existing data on communal pit structures provide intriguing insights into ritual and cultural developments over a period of about 350 years, from A.D. 800 to 1140, in the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico. In the middle of this period, people shifted dwellings from pithouses to pueblos, a shift previously viewed as the pivotal transformation of Mimbres society. In this paper we show that significant changes in Mimbres society began in the A.D. 800s. Trends in the construction methods of communal pit structures, the placement of dedicatory items within them, their ritual retirements, and their long-lived significance within Mimbres villages, reflect other changes that occurred in Mimbres society. We contend that in the A.D. 800s, rapid change based on strong connections with the Hohokam of southern Arizona and agricultural intensification began a trajectory that culminated in the Classic Mimbres pueblos of the A.D. 1000s and early 1100s.

Résumé

Résumé

Excavaciones recientes y re-análisis de datos existentes de edificios comunales provocan perspicacias sobre ritual y desarrollo cultural durante un período de acerca de 350 años, desde A.D. 800 hasta 1140, en el Valle de Mimbres de sudoeste de Nuevo México. Es en la parte media de este período cuando la gente cambia de viviendas de estructuras semisubterráneas a pueblos, un cambio considerado la transformación central de la sociedad Mimbres. En este ensayo explicamos que los cambios en la sociedad Mimbres comenzaron seriamente en los A.D. 800s. Tendencias en métodos de construction de estructuras semisubterrá neas, la colocación de objetos dedicatorios entre ellas, sus retiros rituales, y su significatión longeva en poblaciones Mimbres, reflejan otros cambios que ocurren en la sociedad Mimbres. Asentimos que en los A.D. 800s, un cambio rápido basado en conexiones con los Hohokam de Arizona sureña y la dependencia en agricultura de irrigación inició una trayectoria que culminó en los pueblos Mimbres Clásicos de los A.D. 1000s y los 1100s tempranos.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 68 , Issue 1 , January 2003 , pp. 67 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2003

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