Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T22:44:26.598Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

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

References Cited

Adler, M. 1989 Ritual Facilities and Social Integration in Non-Rank Societies: A Cross-cultural Perspective. In The Architecture of Social Integration in Prehistoric Pueblos, edited by Lipe, W. and Hegmon, M., pp. 35-52. Occasional Papers of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center No. 1. Cortez, Colorado.Google Scholar
Adler, M. 1993 Why is a Kiva? New Interpretations of Prehistoric Social Integrative Architecture in the Northern Rio Grande Region of New Mexico. Journal of Anthropological Research 49:319-346.Google Scholar
Adler, M. 1994 Population Aggregation and the Anasazi Social Landscape: A View from the Four Corners. In The Ancient Southwestern Community: Models and Methods for the Study of Prehistoric Social Organization, edited by Wills, W. H. and Leonard, R. D., pp. 85-101. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Adler, M. 1996 Land Tenure, Archaeology, and the Ancestral Pueblo Social Landscape. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 15:337-371.Google Scholar
Adler, M., and Wilshusen, R. 1990 Large-scale Integrative Facilities in Tribal Societies: Cross-cultural and Southwestern US Examples. World Archaeology 22:133-144.Google Scholar
Adams, K. 1993 A Regional Synthesis of Zea mays in the Prehistoric American Southwest. In Corn and Culture in the New World, edited by Johannesson, S. and Hastorf, C., pp. 273-302. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Anyon, R. 1980 The Late Pithouse Period. In An Archaeological Synthesis of South-Central and Southwestern New Mexico, edited by LeBlanc, S. A. and Whalen, M. E., pp. 142-204. Office of Contract Archeology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Anyon, R., and LeBlanc, S. A. 1980 Architectural Evolution of Mogollon-Mimbres Communal Structures. The Kiva 45:253-277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anyon, R., and LeBlanc, S. A. 1984 The Galaz Ruin, A Prehistoric Mimbres Village in Southwestern New Mexico. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology and the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Google Scholar
Anyon, R., Gilman, P. A., and LeBlanc, S. A. 1981 A Reevaluation of the Mogollon-Mimbres Archaeological Sequence. The Kiva 46:209-225.Google Scholar
Baldwin, G. 1934 Unpublished 1934 field notes by Gordon Baldwin on file, Arizona State Museum; Gila Pueblo, MS 15, Field Data, Series 3, Folder 9. Google Scholar
Blake, M., LeBlanc, S., and Minnis, P. 1986 Changing Settlement and Population in the Mimbres Valley, SW New Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 13:439-164.Google Scholar
Bluhm, E. 1957 The Sawmill Site: A Reserve Phase Village, Pine Lawn Valley, Western New Mexico. Fieldiana: Anthropology 47(1). Chicago Natural History Museum.Google Scholar
Bradneld, W 1931 Cameron Creek Village: A Site in the Mimbres Area in Grant County, New Mexico. Monograph 1, School of American Research, Santa Fe. Google Scholar
Brody, J. J. 1977 Mimbres Painted Pottery. School of American Research, Santa Fe, and University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Bunzel, R. 1932 Introduction to Zuni Ceremonialism. Forty-seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 467-544. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Burden, D. 2001 Reconstructing the Past: Architectural Analysis of Communal Structures at the NAN Ranch Ruin (LA 2465), Grant County, New Mexico. Unpublished masters thesis, Department of Anthropology, Texas A & M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Bussey, S. 1975 The Archaeology of Lee Village: A Preliminary Report. Monograph 2, Center of Anthropological Study, Las Cruces, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Cosgrove, C. B., and Cosgrove, H. S. 1925 Unpublished field notes. On file at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Cosgrove, C. B., and Cosgrove, H. S. 1932 The Swarts Ruin, A Typical Mimbres Site in Southwestern New Mexico. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 15(1). Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Creel, D. 1989 A Primary Cremation at the NAN Ruin, with Comparative Data on Other Cremations in the Mimbres Area, New Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 16:309-329.Google Scholar
Creel, D. 1994 Prehistoric Macaws and Parrots in the Mimbres Area, New Mexico. American Antiquity 59:510-524.Google Scholar
Creel, D. 1995 Status Report on Excavations at the Old Town Site (LA 1113), Luna County, New Mexico, Summer 1994. Report submitted to the U. S. Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico State Office by the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Creel, D. 1996 Environmental Variation and Prehistoric Culture in the Mimbres Area. Paper Presented at the 61st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans. Google Scholar
Creel, D. 1997 Status Report on Excavations at the Old Town Site (LA 1113), Luna County, New Mexico, Summer 1996. Report submitted to the U. S. Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico State Office by the Department of Anthropology and the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Creel, D. 1999 Status Report on Excavations at the Old Town Site (LA 1113), Luna County, New Mexico, Summer 1998. Report submitted to the U. S. Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico State Office by the Department of Anthropology and the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Creel, D. 2000 Large Communal Pit Structures at the Old Town site. Unpublished manuscript in Old Town Project manuscript files, Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Crown, P. 1990 The Role of Exchange and Interaction in Salt-Gila Basin Hohokam Prehistory. In Exploring the Hohokam, edited by Gumerman, G., pp. 383-115. Amerind Foundation, Dragoon, Arizona, and University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Damp, J., Hall, S., and Smith, S. 2002 Early Irrigation on the Colorado Plateau near Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. American Antiquity 67:665-676.Google Scholar
Dehl, M. 1996 The Intensity of Maize Processing and Production in Upland Mogollon Pithouse Villages, A.D. 200-1000. American Antiquity 61:102-115.Google Scholar
Dehl, M. 1997 Changes in Architecture and Land Use Strategies in the American Southwest: Upland Mogollon Pithouse Dwellers, A.C. 200-1000. Journal of Field Archaeology 24:179-194.Google Scholar
Diehl, M. A., and LeBlanc, S. A. 2001 Early Pithouse Villages of the Mimbres Valley and Beyond: The McAnally and Thompson Sites in the Cultural and Ecological Contexts. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology 83. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Google Scholar
Doyel, D. 1991 Hohokam Cultural Evolution in the Phoenix Basin. In Exploring the Hohokam, edited by Gumerman, G., pp. 231-278. Amerind Foundation, Dragoon, Arizona, and University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Eggan, F. 1950 Social Organization of the Western Pueblos. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Ellis, F. H. 1975 A Thousand Years of the Pueblo Sun-Moon-Star Calendar. In Archaeoastronomy in Precolumbian America, edited by Aveni, A., pp. 59-87. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Everett, R. 1992 The Three Circle Site: A Late Pithouse Period Settlement in the Upper Mimbres Valley of Southwestern New Mexico. Unpublished Master's thesis, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Feinman, G. M., Lightfoot, K. G., and Upham, S. 2000 Political Hierarchies and Organizational Strategies in the Puebloan Southwest. American Antiquity 65:449-470.Google Scholar
Fish, P., and Fish, S. 1991 Hohokam Political and Social Organization. In Exploring the Hohokam, edited by George, Gumerman, pp. 151-175. Amerind Foundation, Dragoon, Arizona, and University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Gilman, P. A. 1987 Architecture as Artifact: Pit Structures and Pueblos in the American Southwest. American Antiquity 52:538-564.Google Scholar
Gregory, D. A. 1991 Form and Variation in Hohokam Settlement Patterns. In Chaco and Hohokam: Prehistoric Regional Systems in the American Southwest, edited by Crown, P. L. and Judge, W. J., pp. 159-193. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Grissino-Mayer, H., Baisan, C., and Swetnam, T. 1997 A 1,373 Year Reconstruction of Annual Precipitation for the Southern Rio Grande Basin. Report submitted to the Directorate of Environment, Ft. Bliss by the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Haury, E. 1936 The Mogollon Culture of Southwestern New Mexico. Medallion Papers 20. Gila Pueblo, Globe, Arizona.Google Scholar
Herrington, S. L. C. 1979 Settlement Patterns and Water Control Systems of the Mimbres Classic Phase, Grant County, New Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Herrington, S. L. C. 1982 Water-Control Systems of the Mimbres Classic Phase. In Mogollon Archaeology: Proceedings of the 1980 Mogollon Conference, edited by Beckett, P. and Silverbird, K., pp. 75-90. Acoma Books, Ramona, California.Google Scholar
Hill, M. D. 1997 Sociocultural Implications of Large Mimbres Sites: Architectural and Mortuary Behavior at the Swarts Ruin, New Mexico. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. 1982 Organizational Structure and Scalar Stress. In Theory and Explanation in Archaeology: The Southamptom Conference, edited by Renfrew, C., Rowlands, M., and Segraves, B., pp. 389-121. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. 1989 Dynamics of Southwestern Prehistory: Far Outside-Looking In. In Dynamics of Southwestern Prehistory, edited by Cordell, L. and Gumerman, G., pp. 371-389. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Kabotie, F. 1982 Designs from the Ancient Mimbreños with a Hopi Interpretation. Northland Press, Flagstaff, Arizona. Google Scholar
Lange, C. 1959 Cochiti: A New Mexico Pueblo, Past and Present. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, Steven A. 1983 The Mimbres People: Ancient Pueblo Painters of the American Southwest. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, Steven A. 1989 Cultural Dynamics in the Southern Mogollon Area. In Dynamics of Southwest Prehistory, edited by Cordell, L. and Gumerman, G., pp. 179-207. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
LeBlanc, Steven A. 1999 Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Lekson, S. 1986 Great Pueblo Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Lekson, S. 1990 Mimbres Archaeology of the Upper Gila, New Mexico. Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona 53, Tucson.Google Scholar
Lekson, S. 1999 The Chaco Meridian: Centers of Political Power in the Ancient Southwest. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, California.Google Scholar
Lipe, W., and Hegmon, M. 1989 Historical Perspectives on Architecture and Social Integration in the Prehistoric Pueblos. In The Architecture of Social Integration in Prehistoric Pueblos, edited by Lipe, W. and Hegmon, M., pp. 15-34. Occasional Papers of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center No. 1. Cortez. Colorado.Google Scholar
Loendorf, C. 1996 Burial Practices at the Schoolhouse Point Mound, U:8:24/13a. In The Place of the Storehouses, Roosevelt Platform Mound Study, Report on the Schoolhouse Point Mound, Pinto Creek Complex, pp. 681-759. Roosevelt Monograph Series 6, Anthropological Field Studies 35, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Lucas, J. 1996 Three Circle Phase Architecture at Old Town, A Prehistoric Mimbres Site in Luna County, Southwestern New Mexico. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin. Google Scholar
Mabry, J. 1998 Architectural Variability and Site Structures. In Archaeological Investigations of Early Village Sites in the Middle Santa Cruz Valley, Analyses and Synthesis Part I, edited by Mabry, J., pp. 209-243. Anthropological Papers No. 19, Center for Desert Archaeology, Tucson.Google Scholar
Mabry, J. 1999 Changing Concepts of the First Period of Agriculture in the Southern Southwest. Archaeology Southwest 13(1):3.Google Scholar
Mabry, J., and Holmlund, J. 1998 Canals. In Archaeological Investigations of Early Village Sites in the Middle Santa Cruz Valley, Analyses and Synthesis Part I, edited by Mabry, J., pp. 283-298. Anthropological Papers No. 19, Center for Desert Archaeology, Tucson.Google Scholar
Martin, P., Rinaldo, J., and Barter, E. 1957 Late Mogollon Communities: Four Sites of the Tularosa Phase, Western New Mexico. Fieldiana: Anthropology 49(1). Chicago Natural History Museum.Google Scholar
Mathien, F. J. 2001 The Organization of Turquoise Production and Consumption by the Prehistoric Chacoans. American Antiquity 66:103-118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mindeleff, V. 1891 A Study of Pueblo Architecture, Tusayan and Cibola. Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Minnis, P. E. 1985 Social Adaptation to Food Stress: A Prehistoric Southwestern Example. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Mock, S. 1999 Prelude. In The Sowing and the Dawning: Termination, Dedication, and Transformation in the Archaeological and Ethnographic Record of Mesoamerica, edited by Mock, S., pp. 3-18. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Munford, B., Guiliana, C., Daniel, C., and Schutt, J. 1994 LA 50548: The Cuchillo Site. In On the Periphery of the Mimbres Mogollon: The Cuchillo Negro Archeological Project, edited by Schutt, J., Chapman, R., and Piper, J., pp. 57-179. Office of Contract Archeology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Munson, M. 2000 Sex, Gender, and Status: Human Images from the Classic Mimbres. American Antiquity 65:127-143.Google Scholar
Neely, J. 1974 The Prehistoric Lunt and Stove Canyon Sites, Point of Pines, Arizona. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Parsons, E. C. 1939 Pueblo Indian Religion. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Powell, V. S. 2000 Iconography and Group Formation During the Late Pithouse and Classic Periods of the Mimbres Society, AD 970-1140. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, Norman. Google Scholar
Reyman, J. 1976 Astronomy, Architecture, and Adaptation at Pueblo Bonito. Science 193:957-962.Google Scholar
Roth, B. J., and Bettison, C. 2001 Excavations at the Lake Roberst Vista Site, Gila National Forest, New Mexico. Unpublished manuscript on file, Western New Mexico University Museum, Silver City. Google Scholar
Scott, C. J. 1983 The Evolution of Mimbres Pottery. In Mimbres Pottery, Ancient Art of the American Southwest: Essays. Brody, J. J., Scott, C. J., and Le Blanc, S. A., pp. 39-67. Hudson Hills Press, New York.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J. 1995 Architecture and Symbolism in Transitional Pueblo Development in the Mimbres Valley, SW New Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 22:23-47.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J. 1999 The Classic Mimbres Phenomenon and Some New Interpretations. In Sixty Years of Mogollon Archaeology: Papers from the Ninth Mogollon Conference, Silver City, New Mexico, 1996, edited by Whittlesey, S. M., pp. 93-103. SRI Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J. 2000 Extended Families to Corporate Groups: Pithouse to Pueblo Transformation of Mimbres Society. Paper presented at the XI Mogollon Conference, Las Cruces, New Mexico, October 2000.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J. 2001 Extended Families to Corporate Groups: Pithouse to Pueblo Transformation of Mimbres Society. Unpublished paper presented at the Mimbres Lives and Landscapes conference, Ladder Ranch, Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J., and Brewington, R. L. 1995 Microstylistic Changes in Mimbres Black-on-White Pottery: Examples from the NAN Ruin, Grant County, New Mexico. The Kiva 61:5-29.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J., and Judkins, C. 1997 Archaeology at the NAN Ranch Ruin, 1996 Season. Special Report 11, Anthropology Laboratory, Texas A & M University, College Station. Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J., and Taylor, A. J. 1986 Mimbres Mogollon Pueblo Dynamics and Ceramic Style Change. Journal of Field Archaeology 13:43-68.Google Scholar
Stephen, A. M. 1936 Hopi Journal of Alexander M. Stephen. edited by Elsie Clews, Parsons. Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology 23. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Stevenson, M. C. 1904 The Zuni Indians. In Twenty- Third Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology 1901-1902, pp. 3-634. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Stokes, R. 2000 Late Mimbres Pueblos in Peripheral Areas; Final Report on Test Excavations at LA 5841 (Cooney Ranch #1), Middle Fork of the Mimbres River, Southwestern New Mexico, August 7-19, 1999. Report submitted to Museum of New Mexico Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe, and Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society, Tucson. Google Scholar
Varien, M. 1999 Sedentism and Mobility in a Social Landscape: Mesa Verde and Beyond. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Vivian, G., and Reiter, P. 1965 The Great Kivas of Chaco Canyon and Their Relationships. Monograph 22, School of American Research, Santa Fe, and University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Walker, W. 1995 Ceremonial Trash? In Expanding Archaeology, edited by Skibo, J., Walker, W., and Nielson, A., pp. 67-79. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Walker, W. 1996 Ritual Deposits: Another Perspective. In River of Change: Prehistory of the Middle Little Colorado River Valley, Arizona, edited by Adams, E. C., pp. 75-91. Arizona State Museum Archaeological Series No. 185. University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Walker, W. 2002 Stratigraphy and Practical Reason. American Anthropologist 104:159-177.Google Scholar
Wheat, J. B. 1955 Mogollon Culture Prior to A.D. 1000. American Anthropological Association, Memoir 82; Society for American Archaeology, Memoir 10.Google Scholar
White, L. 1932 The Acoma Indians. Forty-seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 17-192. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Wiginton, P. 1994 A Synthesis of the Pithouse Architectural Sequence of the NAN Ranch Ruin, Grant County, New Mexico. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Wilshusen, R. 1986 The Relationship Between Abandonment Mode and Ritual Use in Pueblo I Anasazi Protokivas. Journal of Field Archaeology 13:245-254.Google Scholar
Woosley, A., and McIntyre, A. 1996 Mimbres Mogollon Archaeology: Charles C. DiPeso's Excavations at Wind Mountain. Amerind Foundation, Inc. Archaeology Series 10. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Zeilik, M. 1984 Archaeoastronomy at Chaco Canyon. In New Light on Chaco Canyon, edited by David, Noble, pp. 65-72. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Zeilik, M. 1985 The Ethnoastronomy of the Historic Pueblos, I: Calendrical Sun Watching. Journal for the History of Astronomy, Supplement, Archaeoastronomy 8:1-24.Google Scholar