Early pithouse villages of the Mimbres Valley and beyond : the McAnally and Thompson sites in their cultural and ecological contexts / Michael W. Diehl and Steven A. Leblanc ; with contributions by Roger Anyon, John W. Arthur, and Paul Minnis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Diehl, Michael William.

Contributor:

LeBlanc, Steven A.

Anyon, Roger, 1952-

Arthur, John W.

Minnis, Paul E.

Series:

Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University ; v. 83.

Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University ; v. 83

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Antiquities, Prehistoric--New Mexico--Mimbres River Valley.

Antiquities, Prehistoric.

Excavations (Archaeology)--New Mexico--Mimbres River Valley.

Excavations (Archaeology).

Mimbres River Valley (N.M.)--Antiquities.

Mimbres River Valley (N.M.).

Mimbres culture.

Mogollon culture.

New Mexico--Mimbres River Valley.

Physical Description:

ix, 144 pages : illustrations, maps ; 27 cm.

Other Title:

McAnally and Thompson sites in their cultural and ecological contexts

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 2001.

Summary:

Early Pithouse period villagers played a generative role in the cultural and historical sequence of the Mogollon region, which is best known for the stunning black-on-white pottery of the Classic Mimbres culture. This volume presents a complete report on the archaeology of two important Early Pithouse settlements located along the Rio Mimbres, including detailed accounts of the excavation units, depositional contexts, architectural details, radiocarbon dates, miscellaneous artifacts, and ceramic frequency distriductures. The Thomson and McAnally sites contain architecture, artifacts, and other remains of the earliest relatively sedentary horticulturalists to occupy this part of the Southwest. The authors synthesize the data about charges over time in the villagers' lifestyle to develop a new chronology for the occupation of the region.

Contents:

Background to the Mimbres Foundation Excavations 2

Culture History Summary 3

2. The Environmental Context and Culture-Historical Framework of the Upland Mogollon Region 7

Upland Mogollon As a Prehistoric Resource Use Area 9

A Description of Biotic Provinces Within 60 Km of Upland Mogollon Sites 12

The Upland Mogollon Region As a Culture Area 17

The Upland Mogollon Chronological Sequence Used in This Volume 20

3. Competing Models of Upland Mogollon Pithouse Period Life-Styles / Michael W. Diehl 25

Models That Describe What Happened Between A.D. 200 and 1000 26

The Hilltop Locations of Early Pithouse Villages: Warfare Versus Social Interaction 31

Economic Transitions from the Archaic to the Early Pithouse Period 33

Concluding Thoughts: Mogollon Pithouse Village Archaeology and the "Big Picture" 34

4. Mogollon Pithouse Architecture and Changes in Residential Mobility / Michael W. Diehl 37

Are Su Site Pithouses Statistically Larger Than McAnally Site Pithouses? 37

The Use of Architectural Details to Assess the Intensity of Site Occupations 38

Attributes of Prehistoric Architectural Construction 41

A Comparison of the Intensity of Site Occupation from A.D. 200 to 1000 43

5. Paleobotanical Remains / Michael W. Diehl, Paul E. Minnis 47

Excavation and Processing Methods 47

Seeds and Diet 49

Intersite Distributions of Seeds At Mogollon Early Pithouse Villages 51

Diachronic Changes in the Use of Maize 51

6. Ground Stone Analyses / Michael W. Diehl 59

New Plants and Higher Populations: Catalysts for Change? 59

The Methodology of the Ground Stone Analysis 62

Mano Analyses 65

7. A Functional Analysis of Early Pithouse Period Ceramics / John W. Arthur 69

Relationships Between Attributes of Ceramic Design and Use 69

McAnally Site Ceramics 71

Thompson Site Ceramics 75

8. Osteofaunal Remains 77

9. Chipped Stone / Steven A. LeBlanc 81

Efficiency, Foraging, and Farming 81

Potential Interpretive Biases 82

The McAnally and Thompson Site Assemblages 83

10. Miscellaneous Studies on the McAnally and Thompson Sites: Excavated Units and Depositional Contexts, Ceramic Seriation, and Miscellaneous Artifacts / Roger Anyon, Steven A. LeBlanc, Michael W. Diehl 91

Excavation Methods 91

The McAnally Site (La 12110) 93

The Thompson Site (NM Z:5:35) 103

Ceramic Descriptions and Seriation 108

Miscellaneous Artifacts 112

11. Population Dynamics at McAnally and Thompson Sites and Their Valleywide Context / Steven A. LeBlanc 115

Population Dynamics at the McAnally and Thompson Sites 115

Valleywide Population Dynamics 118

Appendix Tree-Ring Dates from Upland Mogollon Pithouse Villages 121

2.1. The Upland Mogollon region of the greater American Southwest 8

2.2. Biotic provinces within 60 kilometers of the McAnally site 11

2.3. Petran Subalpine Conifer Forest 12

2.4. Petran Montane Conifer Forest 13

2.5. Great Basin Conifer Woodland 14

2.6. Plains Grassland 15

2.7. Semidesert Grassland 16

2.8. Chihuahuan Desertscrub 16

6.1. The relationship between time stress, grinding tool size, and efficiency 63

6.2. Histogram of surface areas of manos from Upland Mogollon pithouse villages 64

6.3. Surface areas of large, maize-grinding manos from Upland Mogollon pithouse villages 67

8.1. Antler tool from the McAnally site 78

9.1. Projectile points from the Thompson and McAnally sites 89

10.1. The Rio Mimbres floodplain viewed from the McAnally site 92

10.2. A typical summer flow of the Rio Mimbres near the McAnally site 92

10.3. Aerial view of the McAnally site and the Mattocks Ruin 94

10.4. Site plan for the McAnally site 94

10.5. Plan view and profile of Unit 8 at the McAnally site 96

10.6. McAnally site, Unit 8, excavated to floor 97

10.7. McAnally site, Unit 8, Loci 3, 4, and 7 97

10.8. Plan view and profile of Unit 11 at the McAnally site 100

10.9. McAnally site, Unit 11, excavated to floor 102

10.10. Site plan for the Thompson site 103

10.11. Plan view and profile of the Thompson site, Unit 1 104

10.12. Thompson site, Unit 1, excavated to floor 105

10.13. Plan view and profile of the Thompson site, Unit 2 107

10.14. Thompson site, Unit 2, excavated to floor 108

10.15. Aerial view of the Thompson site 109

10.16. Shell ornament from the Thompson site 112

2.1. Biotic provinces within 60 kilometers of Upland Mogollon branches or sites 10

2.2. Means of most recent tree-ring dates from Mogollon pithouses 19

2.3. Radiocarbon dates from Upland Mogollon pithouse villages 20

2.4. Upland Mogollon Pithouse period attributes and chronology 22

4.1. Surface areas of McAnally pithouses 38

4.2. Frequencies of different hearth types in Mogollon pithouses 43

4.3. Presence or absence of plaster in Mogollon pithouses 44

4.4. Wall construction materials in Upland Mogollon pithouses 44

4.5. Spjotvoll-Stoline analysis of variance of mean value of post density 45

4.6. Presence or absence of remodeling in Upland Mogollon pithouses 45

4.7. Changes in architectural indices of occupation duration/residential mobility 46

5.1. Latin taxonomic and common names of plants found in McAnally and Thompson site samples 48

5.2. Frequencies of charred seeds from the McAnally and Thompson sites 49

5.3. Ubiquities of plant seeds at various Upland Mogollon Early Pithouse villages 52

5.4. Ubiquities of maize from Upland Mogollon pithouse intervals 52

5.5. Frequencies of charred wood taxa from the McAnally and Thompson sites 54

5.6. Ubiquities of charred wood taxa at Upland Mogollon pithouse villages 54

5.7. Pollen counts from McAnally and Thompson site samples 56

6.1. Ground stone artifacts from the McAnally and Thompson sites 60

6.2. Manos from Mogollon Pithouse period sites used in this research 65

6.3. Mean grinding surface areas of manos from Early Pithouse period Upland Mogollon sites 67

6.4. Spjotvoll-Stoline analysis of variance of mean surface areas for Pithouse period maizegrinding manos 68

7.1. Rim diameters of McAnally site jars 72

7.2. Rim diameters of McAnally site bowls 72

7.3. Rim diameters of McAnally site tecomates 73

7.4. Use-alteration of partially reconstructed McAnally site jars 74.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [129]-144).

ISBN:

0873652118

OCLC:

47999158