By Kellam J. Throgmorton B.A. Colorado College, 2005 a Thesis
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PIT HOUSE ARCHITECTURE IN THE PUERCO VALLEY AD 600-900: FORM, FUNCTION, AND CULTURAL IDENTITY By Kellam J. Throgmorton B.A. Colorado College, 2005 A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Anthropology 2012 ii This thesis is entitled: Pit House Architecture in the Puerco Valley AD 600-900: Form, Function, and Cultural Identity Written by Kellam Throgmorton Has been approved by the Department of Anthropology Dr. Catherine M. Cameron Committee Chair Dr. Gerardo Gutierrez Committee Member Dr. Richard H. Wilshusen Committee Member Date:__________________ A final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signators, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in Anthropology. iii Abstract Throgmorton, Kellam J. (M.A., Anthropology) Pit House Architecture in the Puerco Valley AD 600-900: Form, Function, and Cultural Identity Thesis Directed by Professor Catherine M. Cameron During the early Pueblo period (AD 600-900), farmers built increasingly permanent settlements in the Puerco Valley. In addition, population increased significantly after AD 750, most likely due to combined processes of in situ population growth and immigration. This thesis explores how Puerco Valley inhabitants negotiated cultural identity through pit house architecture. In some cases, groups maintained hard boundaries between their architectural traditions and the traditions of neighboring groups. In other cases, architecture does not appear to have been as important a facet of cultural identity. By the late AD 800s, the Puerco Valley appears to be a socially complex landscape of farmsteads and villages, each drawing inspiration from the architectural traditions of different surrounding regions. iv Dedication For Frank H. H. Roberts and Earl Morris, who contributed so much to early Pueblo research. v Acknowledgements A great number of people made the work in this thesis possible. I would first like to thank my committee—Drs. Cameron, Wilshusen, and Gutierrez—for all their assistance along the way. Dr. Cameron always had edits for me in a timely fashion. Dr. Wilshusen is the proverbial giant on whose shoulders all pit house research in the northern Southwest stands; he saved me a great deal of time and energy, and pushed this thesis beyond what it might have been. I benefited greatly from conversations in the office of Dr. Gutierrez, even if those conversations most commonly veered towards Central Mexico! Many people helped me zero in on a region and a topic that was important to current research, and provided me with important data. Greg Schachner pushed me towards the Puerco Valley, and allowed me to tag along on a re-survey of Twin Butte, in Petrified Forest National Park. Dennis Gilpin provided a great deal of insight on the Little Colorado region. Special thanks to Matt Peeples for introducing me to Gower’s coefficient, and for providing me with early drafts of chapters he was working on. Without input from these three archaeologists, this project could not have been possible. A number of institutions and personnel were also enormously helpful during the course of my research. Jason Theuer, at the time archaeologist at Petrified Forest National Park, gave me access to the PEFO survey database and the in-progress overview and assessment volume, a great aid in my research. The Museum of Northern Arizona and its staff (Jennifer Glennon in particular) were indispensible, allowing me to camp out near the records room while I combed the files for BMIII and PI sites. (MNA also deserves recognition for allowing me to camp out in my truck behind the maintenance building!) Scott Kuhr at the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation, in Flagstaff, gave me free reign to explore their files from a number of important projects on the Chambers-Sanders Trust Lands. Grants from the University of Colorado and the Alice Hamilton fund made it possible for me to travel to Arizona during the summer of 2010 to gather data for this thesis, and provided assistance that allowed me to present my research at various professional conferences. Final thanks are due to Harold Baillie for showing me how to use Adobe Illustrator, and all the guys at 735 Concord deserve recognition for putting up with me while I finished this project. vi Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................................................. iii Dedication .......................................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................. vi List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................................... xi List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 The Early Pueblo Period ................................................................................................................................. 5 The Puerco Valley ............................................................................................................................................. 9 What is a Pit House? ...................................................................................................................................... 14 Pit Houses as a Vernacular Architectural Tradition ......................................................................... 20 Identity and Style ........................................................................................................................................... 24 Chapters in this Thesis ................................................................................................................................. 27 Chapter 2: A History of Early Pueblo Period Research in the Northern Southwest . 31 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 31 Early Research on Basketmaker III and Pueblo I (1919‐1948) .................................................... 34 “New” Perspectives on Culture Change and the Advent of Cultural Resource Management Archaeology (1948‐1990) .......................................................................................................................... 38 Current Trends in Early Pueblo Period Research .............................................................................. 45 The Neolithic Demographic Transition.............................................................................................................. 48 The Importance of Early Villages ......................................................................................................................... 49 Cultural Identity and the Early Pueblo Period ................................................................................................ 53 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................ 59 Chapter 3: Early Pueblo Period Research in the Puerco Valley ...................................... 61 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 61 111 Years of Early Pueblo Period Research in the Puerco Valley ................................................ 64 vii Approaches to Early Pueblo Period Cultural Identity in the Puerco Valley ............................. 75 A Description of Excavated Sites Used in this Study ......................................................................... 85 NA 14674/14675 (Stebbins et al. 1986; Marek et al. 1993) ..................................................................... 8 8 NA 10088 (Rippey 1969) ......................................................................................................................................... 90 AZ‐P‐61‐193 (Dykeman 1995) .............................................................................................................................. 91 AZ‐P‐60‐31 (Latady 1991; Leach‐Palm 1994) ................................................................................................ 91 NA 8942 (Gumerman 1982) ................................................................................................................................... 93 NA 8948 (Gumerman 1982) ................................................................................................................................... 94 NA 14682 (Stebbins et al. 1986) ........................................................................................................................... 95 White Mound Village (Gladwin