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ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON WCIR 4EJ. ENGLAND 792J230 DOOLITTLE, WILLIAM EMERY, III / PRE-HX8PANIC OCCUPANCE IN THE MIDDLE RIO SONORA VALLEY: FROM AN ECOLOGICAL TO A SOCIOECONOMIC FOCUS, THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA, PH.D., 1979 COPR, 1979 DOOLITTLE, WILLIAM EMERY, III Universiç/ Microrilms International s o o n , z e e b r o a d , a n n a r b o r , m i 4 s i o 6 © 1979 WILLIAM EMERY DOOLITTLE I I I ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PLEASE NOTE: In all cases this material has been filmed in the best possible way from the available copy. Problems encountered with this document have been identified here with a check mark . 1. Glossy photographs 2. Colored illustrations 3. Photographs with dark background ^ 4. Illustrations are poor copy ______ 5. Print shows through as there is text on both sides of page 6, Indistinct, broken or small print on several pages *— throughout 7. Tightly bound copy with print lost in spine ______ 8. Computer printout pages with indistinct print 9. 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MI 48106 ‘313) 761-4700 THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE PRE-HISPANIC OCCUPANCE IN THE MIDDLE RIO SONORA VALLEY; FROM AN ECOLOGICAL TO A SOCIOECONOMIC FOCUS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY WILLIAM EMERY DOOLITTLE III Norman, Oklahoma 1979 PRE-HISPANIC OCCUPANCE IN THE MIDDLE RIO SONORA VALLEY: FROM AN ECOLOGICAL TO A SOCIOECONOMIC FOCUS APPROVED BY DISSERTATION COMMITTEE PRE-HISPANIC OCCUPANCE IN THE MIDDLE RIO SONORA VALLEY: FROM AN ECOLOGICAL TO A SOCIOECONOMIC FOCUS BY: WILLIAM EMERY DOOLITTLE III MAJOR PROFESSOR: B.L. TURNER II, Ph.D. Settlement patterns can be viewed as manifestations of specific levels of cultural development. Less complex cultures tend to maintain settlement patterns that are strongly influenced by ecological factors, whereas more complex cultures tend to exhibit settlement patterns in which socioeconomic factors are the dominant influences. Examinations of prehistoric settlement patterns by archaeo logists have traditionally emphasized the ecological in fluences on less complex and developing cultures. Set tlement research by geographers has tended to focus on the role of socioeconomic interaction factors among highly com plex modern groups. These approaches can be merged to explain the evolution of settlement systems as they reflect changing levels of cultural development. It is suggested that a proportional shift occurs in the principal factors affecting settlement patterns as cultural development takes place. Introduced in terms of a hueristic concept called the "Ecological-Social Continuum", this shift involves a change from predominantly environmental influences to an emphasis on socioeconomic influences. The settlement patterns and related features exam ined in this study are those of the pre-Hispanic ancestors of the Opata Amerinds of the middle Rib Sonora Valley, northwest Mexico. The Rib Sonora Valley lies between two north-south trending ranges in the southern end of the Basin and Range physiographic province. Although the area is geologically, biotically, and edaphically diverse, the areas most conducive to permanent settlement in ancient times are along the mesas overlooking the floodplain and largers arroyos. Evidence of past labor extensive agricul tural practices is found in the form of numerous remnants of channel-bottom, weir terraces in the larger arroyos. The ethnohistorical literature describes past labor inten sive floodplain irrigation agriculture. iii The field study and the laboratory work was con ducted as part of a NSF project on prehistoric trade bet ween Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. Data on settlements and agricultural features were collected throughout a 51 kilometer segment of the Rio Sonora cen tered near the modern town of Aconchi, Sonora. Settlements, agricultural sites, and other special sites were surveyed and described; relationships with physical features were determined; and functions were in terpreted. In addition, a sequence of agricultural devel opment was derived in concert with a settlement evolution sequence. The theoretical argument correlating the two sequences is that of population stress. Theories of set tlement evolution and market development are discussed and the empirical evidence from the Sonoran data compared to the various models for explanatory purposes. The agriculture and population evidence indicates that the pre-Hispanic Opata could have theoretically de veloped from part-time cultivators to intensive agricul turalists in less than a millenium. The evidence offered by changes in settlement hierarchies, and a shift from a gateway city-system to a central place system, however, indicates that contacts with greater cultures to the south were highly probable. Noting the changes in settlement patterns and agricultural practices according tc stress theory reveals that a positive progression along the eco logical-social continuum was characteristic of cultural development in the Rio Sonora Valley. The earliest set tlements were few in number, and randomly spaced with a focus toward extensive arroyo agriculture. The later set tlements were greater in number, more uniformly spaced, hierarchically more complex with some sites displaying public architecture, and focused toward intensive flood- plain agriculture. Through time, the population shifted from the environmentally more circumscribed southern seg ment of the valley to the broader northern segment. Set tlement shifts progressed from a few environmentally fav orable locales to the more spatially homogeneous mesas. This study suggests that cultures can develop from rather low levels to relatively high levels of complexity in short periods of time without external contacts or im migration. It also shows that theories of settlement system evolution proffered by geographers have a great deal of applicability in explaining archaeological occurrances. In a broader context, the concepts of growth and development are discussed with the explanatory value of population stress being shown to be most applicable to less complex cultures, but requiring qualification when applied to more complex cultures. iv PREFACE We remain a part of the organic world, and as we intervene more and more de cisively to change the balance and nature of life, we have also more need to know, by retrospective study, the responsibilities and hazards of our present and our prospects as lords of creation (Sauer 1952:104). That I have been overly influenced by the works of the late Carl Ortwin Sauer (1889-1975) has been one of the most persistent observations made by my col leagues. I take such comments as the highest form of compliment. My interdisciplinary work with anthropol ogists, my interest in cultural ecology and underdevel oped regions, such as Mexico, and my belief that geo graphers need a broad training in both the physical and social sciences follow strongly from the views of Pro fessor Sauer. Perhaps it was Dr. Sauer's comments on the relevance of prehistoric research, however, that led me to investigate a topic such as that covered here. By coincidence, the Rio Sonora Valley