Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T22:43:12.515Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evidence for Population Aggregation and Dispersal during the Basketmaker III Period in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

W. H. Wills  and
Thomas C. Windes
W. H. Wills
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
Thomas C. Windes
Affiliation:
Branch of Cultural Research, National Park Service, Santa Fe, NM 87504
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The appearance of pithouse settlements in the American Southwest that have multihabitation structures has been considered evidence for the emergence of "village" social organization. The interpretation that village systems are reflected in pithouse architecture rests in great part on the assumption that large sites correspond to large, temporally stable social groups. In this article we examine one of the best known pithouse settlements in the Southwest—Shabik’eschee Village in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico—and argue that the site may represent episodic aggregation of local groups rather than a sedentary occupation by a single coherent social unit.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , April 1989 , pp. 347 - 369
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Reference Cited

Ahlstrom, R. V. N. 1985 The Interpretation of Archaeological Tree-Ring Dates. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Adams, E. C. 1983 The Architectural Analogue to Hopi Social Organization and Room Use, and Implications for Prehistoric Northern Southwestern Cultures. American Antiquity 48 : 44–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akins, N. J. 1985 Prehistoric Faunal Utilization in Chaco Canyon : Basketmaker III Through Pueblo III. In Environment and Subsistence of Chaco Canyon, edited by Mathien, F. J., pp. 305-436. Publications in Archeology 18E. National Park Service, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Amsden, C. A. 1949 Prehistoric Southwesterners from Basketmaker to Pueblo. Southwest Museum, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Anyon, R., and LeBlanc, S. A. 1984 The Galaz Ruin : A Prehistoric Mimbres Village in Southwestern New Mexico. The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology Publication Series. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Bateson, G. 1958 Naven. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, California.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1978 Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1980 Willow Smoke and Dogs's Tails : Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems and Archaeological Site Formation. American Antiquity 45 : 4–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birkedal, T. G. 1976 Basketmaker III Residence Units : A Study of Prehistoric Social Organization in the Mesa Verde Archaeological District. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Bullard, W. R. 1962 The Cerro Colorado Site and Pithouse Architecture in the Southwestern United States Prior to A. D. 900. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 44, No. 2. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Casselberry, S. E. 1974 Further Refinement of Formulae for Determining Population From Floor Area. World Archaeology 6 : 117–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Casteel, R. W. 1979 Relationships Between Surface Area and Population Size : A Cautionary Note. American Antiquity 44 : 803–807.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cordell, L. S. 1984 Prehistory of the Southwest. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Cordell, L. S., and Upham, S. 1984 Agriculture in the Southwest. In Stage 1 Site Locational Modeling in the Southwest Region, edited by Cordell, L. S. and Green, D. F., pp. 29-44. Cultural Resources Management Report No. 5. USDA Forest Service, Southwestern Region, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
David, N. 1971 The Fulani Compound and the Archaeologist. World Archaeology 3 : 111–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eddy, F. W. 1966 Prehistory in the Navajo Reservoir District, Northwestern New Mexico. Papers in Anthropology No. 15. Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Eder, J. F. 1984 The Impact of Subsistence Change on Mobility and Settlement Pattern in a Tropical Forest Foraging Economy : Some Implications for Archaeology. American Anthropologist 86 : 837–853.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flannery, K. V. 1972 The Origins of the Village as a Settlement Type in Mesoamencan and the Near East : A Comparative Approach. In Man, Settlement and Urbanism, edited by Ucko, P. J., Tringham, R., and Dimbleby, G. W., pp. 23-53. Gerald Duckworth, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Flannery, K. V. 1973 The Origins of Agriculture. Annual Review of Anthropology 2 : 271–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forde, C. D. 1931 Hopi Agriculture and Land Ownership. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society 61 : 357–412.Google Scholar
Gilman, P. A. 1987 Architecture as Artifact. American Antiquity 52 : 538–564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glassow, M. A. 1972 Changes in the Adaptations of Southwestern Basketmakers : A Systems Perspective. In Contemporary Archaeology : A Guide to Theory and Contributions, edited by Leone, M. P., pp. 289-302. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville.Google Scholar
Gooding, J. D. 1980 The Durango South Project : Archaeological Salvage of Two Late Basketmaker III Sites in the Duragon District. Anthropological Papers No. 34. University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Graham, M., and Roberts, A. 1986 Residentiary Constrained Mobility : A Preliminary Investigation of Variability in Settlement Organization. Haliksa'i : UNM Contributions to Anthropology 5 : 104–115.Google Scholar
Guernsey, S. J., and Kidder, A. V. 1921 Explorations in Northeastern Arizona. Papers of the Peabody Museum 12(1). Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Hayden, B., and Cannon, A. 1982 The Corporate Group as an Archaeological Unit. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 1 : 132–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, A. C. 1975 Pithouse Y at Shabik'eschee (29SJ1659). Ms. on file, National Park Service, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Hayes, A. C. 1981 A Survey of Chaco Canyon Archaeology. In Archaeological Surveys of Chaco Canyon, edited by Hayes, A. C., Brugge, D. M., and Judge, W. J., pp. 1—68. Publications in Archeology 18A. National Park Service, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Hsiao, T. C. 1970 Rapid Changes in Levels of Polyribosomes in Zea mays in Response to Water Stress. Plant Physiology 46 : 281–285.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, G. 1982 Organizational Structure and Scalar Stress. In Theory and Explanation in Archaeology : The Southampton Conference, edited by Renfrew, C., Rowlands, M., and Segraves, B. A., pp. 389-421. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. 1983 Decision-Making Organization and Pastoral Nomad Camp Size. Human Ecology 11 : 175–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Judd, N. M. 1922 Archaeological Investigations at Pueblo Bonito, New Mexico. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 72(15) : 106-117. Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Kelly, R. C. 1977 Etoro Social Structure : A Study in Structural Contradiction. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Lanner, R. M. 1981 The Pinon Pine : A Natural and Cultural History. University of Nevada Press, Reno.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, S. 1971 An Addition to Naroll's Suggested Floor Area and Settlement Population Relationship. American Antiquity 36 : 210–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, R. B. 1979 The IKung San : Men, Women, and Work in a Foraging Society. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.Google Scholar
Lekson, S. H. 1985 Regional Systematics in the Later Prehistory of Southern New Mexico. Paper presented at the Third Jornada Conference, Tularosa, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, K. G. 1984 The Duncan Project : A Study of the Occupation Duration and Settlement Pattern of an Early Mogollon Pithouse Village. Anthropological Field Studies No. 6. Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, K. G., and Feinman, G. M. 1982 Social Differentiation and Leadership in Early Pithouse Villages in the Mogollon Region of the American Southwest. American Antiquity 47 : 64–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matson, R. G., and Chisholm, B. 1986 Basketmaker II Subsistence : Carbon Isotopes and other Dietary Indicators from Cedar Mesa, Utah. Paper presented at the Third Anasazi Symposium, Monument Valley, Arizona.Google Scholar
Matson, R. G., and Lipe, W. D. 1978 Settlement Patterns on Cedar Mesa : Boom and Bust on the Northern Periphery. In Investigations of the Southwestern Anthropological Research Group, edited by Euler, R. C. and Gumerman, G. J., pp. 1-12. Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff.Google Scholar
McKenna, P. J., and Truell, M. L. 1986 Small Site Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Publications in Archeology 18D. National Park Service, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Moore, J. A. 1981 The Effects of Information Networks in Hunter-Gatherer Societies. In Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Strategies : Ethnographic and Archeological Analyses, edited by Winterhalder, B. and Smith, E. A., pp. 194-217. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Morris, E. A. 1980 Basketmaker Caves in the Prayer Rock District, Northeastern Arizona. Anthropological Papers No. 35. University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Morris, E. H., and Burgh, R. F. 1954 Basketmaker II Sites Near Durango Colorado. Publication 604. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Naroll, R. 1962 Floor Area and Settlement Population. American Antiquity 27 : 587–589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, S. C. 1962 Ecology and Cultural Continuity as Contributing Factors in the Social Organization of the Plains Indians. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 48 : 13-18, 46-49, 52-68.Google Scholar
Page, G. B. 1940 Hopi Agricultural Notes. USDA Soil Conservation Service, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Plog, F. T. 1974 The Study of Prehistoric Change. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Plog, S. 1986 Understanding Cultural Change in the Northern Southwest. In Spatial Organization and Exchange : Archaeological Survey on Northern Black Mesa, edited by Plog, S., pp. 310-338. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Powell, S. 1983 Mobility and Adaptation : The Anasazi of Black Mesa, Arizona. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Robbins, M. C. 1966 House Types and Settlement Patterns : An Application of Ethnology to Archaeological Interpretation. The Minnesota Archaeologist 38 : 3–26.Google Scholar
Roberts, F. H. H. 1927 Field notes, 1926-1927. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Roberts, F. H. H. 1929 Shabik'eschee Village : A Late Basket Maker Site in the Chaco Canyon. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 92. Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Roberts, F. H. H. 1939 Archaeological Remains in the Whitewater District, Eastern Arizona : Part I, House Types. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 126. Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Rocek, T. R. 1985 Correlates of Economic and Demographic Change : Navajo Adaptations on Northern Black Mesa, Arizona. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Michigan. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Rodman, M. C. 1985 Moving Houses : Residential Mobility and the Mobility of Residences in Longana, Vanuatu. American Anthropologist 87 : 56–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuels, M. L., and Betancourt, J. L. 1984 Modeling the Long-term Effects of Fuelwood Harvests of Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands. Environmental Management 6 : 505–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schelberg, J. D. 1982 The Development of Social Complexity in Chaco Canyon. Newsletter of the New Mexico Archeological Council 4 : 15–20.Google Scholar
Schiffer, M. B. 1972 Cultural Laws and the Reconstruction of Past Lifeways. The Kiva 37 : 148–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schiffer, M. B. 1983 Toward the Identification of Formation Processes. American Antiquity 48 : 675–706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sebastian, L., and Altschul, J. A. 1986 Settlement Pattern, Site Typology, and Demographic Analysis : The Anasazi, Archaic and Unknown Sites. Draft report submitted to the Division of Cultural Resources, National Park Service, Southwest Region, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Smiley, F. E. 1985 The Chronometrics of Early Agricultural Sites in Northeastern Arizona : Approaches to the Interpretation of Radiocarbon Dates. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Michigan. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Smiley, F. E., Parry, W. J., and Gumerman, G. J. 1986 Early Agriculture in the Black Mesa/Marsh Pass Region of Arizona : New Chronometric Data and Recent Excavations at Three Fir Shelter. Paper presented at the 51 st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Smith, B. D. 1985 The Role of Chenopodium as a Domesticate in Pre-maize Garden Systems of the Eastern United States. Southeastern Archaeology 4 : 51–72.Google Scholar
Smith, B. D. 1986 The Independent Domestication of Indigenous Seed-bearing Plants in Eastern North America. Paper presented at the Conference on Emergent Horticultural Economies of the Eastern Woodlands, Carbondale, Illinois.Google Scholar
Steward, J. H. 1937 Ecological Aspects of Southwestern Society. Anthropos 32 : 87–104.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. H. 1973 An Empirical Test for Steward's Model of Great Basin Settlement Patterns. American Antiquity 38 : 155–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, D. H. 1985 Archaeology of Hidden Cave, Nevada. Anthropological Papers No. 61. American Museum of Natural History, New York.Google Scholar
Toll, M. S. 1985 An Overview of Chaco Canyon Macrobotanical Materials and Analyses to Date. In Environment and Subsistence of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, edited by Mathien, F. J., pp. 247-278. Publications in Archeology 18E. National Park Service, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Truell, M. L. 1986 A Summary of Small Site Architecture in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. In Small Site Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, edited by McKenna, P. J. and Truell, M. L., pp. 116-339. Publications in Archeology 18D. National Park Service, Sante Fe.Google Scholar
Vivian, G., and Reiter, P. 1965 The Great Kivas of Chaco Canyon and their Relationships. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Waltz, E. C. 1982 Resource Characteristics and the Evolution of Information Centers. The American Naturalist 119 : 73–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weltfish, G. 1965 The Lost Universe : Pawnee Life and Culture. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.Google Scholar
Whalen, M. 1981 Cultural-Ecological Aspects of the Pithouse-to-Pueblo Transition in a Portion of the Southwest. American Antiquity 46 : 75–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiessner, P. 1974 A Functional Estimator of Population from Floor Area. American Antiquity 39 : 343–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiessner, P. 1979 Reply to Casteel. American Antiquity 44 : 808–809.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilmsen, E. 1973 Interaction, Spacing Behavior, and the Organization of Hunting Bands. Journal of Anthropological Research 29 : 1–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Windes, T. C. 1975 Excavation of 29SJ423, An Early Basketmaker III Site in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Ms. on file, National Park Service, Sante Fe.Google Scholar
Yellen, J. E. 1977 Archaeological Approaches to the Present. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar