The Mogollon Culture of Southwestern New Mexico
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
!ROBERTS THE MOGOLLON CULTURE OF SOUTHWESTERN NEW MEXICO MEDALLION PAPERS NO. XX BY EMIL W. HAURY PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR THE MEDALLION GILA PUEBLO - GLOBE, ARIZONA April, 1936 THE MOGOLLON CULTURE OF SOUTHWESTERN NEW MEXICO MEDALLION PAPERS NO. XX BY EMIL W. HAURY PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR THE MEDALLION GILA PUEBLO - GLOBE, ARIZONA April, 1936 COPYRIGHT1936 BY GILA PUEBLO LANCASTER PRESS, INC., LANCASTER, PA. CO TENTS PAGE Foreword ix Introduction i The Mogollon Village 5 The Ruin 5 House Remains 8 Round Structures 12 Rectangular Structures 18 Storage Pits 22 Disposal of the Dead 24 Material Culture 26 Pottery 26 Miscellaneous Clay Objects 28 Stonework 30 Shellwork 46 Bonework 48 The Harris Village 49 The Ruin 49 House Remains 52 Round Structures 54 Rectangular Structures 58 Storage Pits 64 Disposal of the Dead 64 Material Culture 66 Pottery 66 Miscellaneous Clay Objects 68 Stonework 70 Bonework 76 Shellwork 78 Perishable Materials 78 Discussion 79 Architecture 79 iv CONTENTS PAGE Storage Pits 90 IDisposal of the Dead 91 Food 92 Pottery 93 Miscellaneous Clay Objects 103 Stonework 104 Shellwork 109 Bonework 110 The Physical Type 111 Dating 116 The J\iogollon Culture 118 Summary of Mimbres Prehistory 127 Appendix 131 Bibliography 137 Index 142 ILLUSTRATIONS PLATES: FACING PAGE ILocation of the Niogollon village 6 IIValley of the San Francisco River 7 IIIA rectangular house (No. 4) built over an ear- lier round house (No. 10) 12 IVHouse 3, a large round structure 14 V Houses 5A and 5B. 16 VIHouse 4, a typical rectangular structure of the San Francisco Phase 18 ViIHouse 2, San Francisco Phase, showing benches20 VIIIHouse 8 and adjoining area with storage pits 22 IX Methods of disposing of the dead in the Mo- gollon village 24 X Intrusive pottery found in the Mogollon village26 XIMiscellaneous clay objects 28 XIIMetates of the Mogollon village 30 XIII A metate in place 32 XIVStone objects from the Mogollon village 36 XV Stone objects from the Mogollon village 38 XVI Chipped implements from the Mogollon village40 XVIIProjectile points from the Mogollon village 42 XVIIIProjectile points and drills from the Mogollon village 44 XIX Shell ornaments from the Mogollon village 46 XX Bone artifacts from the Mogollon village 48 XXI Location of the Harris site 50 XXIITypical examples of Georgetown Phase houses54 XXIII House 14, a large unit of the Georgetown Phase56 XXIV Houses of the San Francisco Phase, the Harris site 58 XXV Houses of the Three Circle Phase, the Harris site 62 V vi ILLUSTRATIONS PLATES: FACING PAGE XXVI A ceremonial(?) structure of the Three Circle Phase, the Harris site 62 XXVII Houses 22 and 23, the Harris site 62 XXVIIIBurial of adult female, the Harris site 64 XXIX Pottery foreign to the Harris site 66 XXX Miscellaneous clay objects, the Harris site 68 XXXI Primitive axes and sculptored stone, the Harris site 70 XXXIIStone objects from the Harris site 72 XXXIIIChipped stone from the Harris site 74 XXXIV Objects of bone from the Harris site 76 TEXT FIGURES: PAGE iMap showing the location of the Mogollon village 7 2 Plan of the Mogollon village 9 3 Plan and sections of Houses 4 and 10 11 4Plan and sections of House 3 14 5 Plan and sections of Houses 5A and SB 17 6 Plan and sections of House 2 21 7 Plan and sections of House 8 and adjoining area of storage pits 22 8 Clay pipe fragment with red painted decoration 28 9 Outline and sections of Type I metate 30 10 Outline and sections of Type II metate 31 11 Outline and sections of Type I mano 34 12 Outline and sections of Type II mano 35 13 Outline and sections of rubbing stone 35 14Section of Type I pipe 38 15 Map showing the location of the Harris site 51 16Plan of the Harris site 53 17 Plan and section of Houses 16 and 24 55 18 Plan and section of Houses 25 and 32 55 19 Plan and section of House 8 57 20Plan and section of Houses 24 and 29 57 21 Plan and section of Houses i and 20 59 22 Plan and section of House 15 60 ILLUSTRATIONS vii TEXT FiGURES: PAGE 23 Plan and sections of Houses 10, 17, 18, and 28 61 24Plan and sections of Houses 22, 23, 30, and 31 63 25 Table of house features based on the Harris site 81 26Reconstruction of dwellings according to phase 83 27 Distribution of pottery types in rubbish deposit over House 1 95 28Distribution of pottery types in houses according to phases 97 29Distribution of textured pottery types in houses ac- cording to phases 99 30Table of phase differences facing 110 31 Comparative measurements of the Mogollon skull and a female Caddoan series 114 32Portion of phase chart given in Medallion XV, revised 123 FOREWORD Permission to dig in the Harris site was freely given by Mrs. John N. Harris, the owner.To her, on behalf of Gua Pueblo, I express my gratitude for this privilege.I am also personally indebted to her for many courtesies extended to the staff during the course of the work.The working force consisted mainly of the holders of scholarships for Training in Anthropological Field Methods, granted by the Lab- oratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe, New Mexico. The personnel of this group and the institutions rep- resented were: Gordon C. Baldwin, University of Arizona; Francis M. Cresson, Jr., University of Penn- sylvania; Gordon F. Ekholm, University of Minne- sota; Ralph T. Esterquest, Columbia University; Hans E. Fischel, University of California; and Nor- man E. Gabel, Harvard University.Deric Nus- baum, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Erik K. Reed, of Washington, D. C., also assisted.To all of these men I feel a sense of obligation for their sustained interest in the work and participation in the discus- sion of problems. The task of identification and analysis of the ma- terial has been shared by the entire staff of GiTa Pueblo, and I wish especialiy to acknowledge the as- sistance of Russell Hastings during the excavation of the Mogollon village and subsequently in the labora- tory.Erik K. Reed likewise assisted in the study of the material from the Harris village.W. H. Burt, of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, kindly identified the animal bones. ix INTRODUCTION report is concerned with the excavations in THIStwo pit house villages of southwestern New Mex- ico; the first, the Mogollon village, situated on the east bank of the San Francisco River about ten miles north of Glenwood, in Catron County; and the second, the Harris site, located on the east bank of the Mimbres River opposite the Mimbres Post Office, in Grant County. The work in the Mogollon village was conducted in the summer of 1933 under a permit granted Gila Pueblo by the United States Department of Agricul- ture.The ruin was first visited by us in July, 1931, during the course of an archaeological reconnaissance in west-central New Mexico, when an effort was being made to define the eastern boundary of the Hohokam Culture.On thisinitialvisit the site yielded pottery which it was thought might be re- lated to the Hohokam, at the same time exhibiting a sharp contrast with that seen in many nearby ruins. It appeared to be either something basically new or a stage of Hohokam development whichhad not been defined.With these factors as inducements, the work was undertaken.During the excavation of this village, eleven pit houses and a number of storage pits were cleared.The nature of the material remains led to the conclusion that something new and practi- cally unknown was being dealt with, and that the cul- ture was not a product of the Hohokam. 2 INTRODUCTION The need for further studies in this same culture led to the excavation, in the summer of 1934, of the Harris site, which had also been visited during the general survey in 1931.The pottery collected from the surface promised greater cultural depth than was found at the Mogollon village, with the additional likelihood of determining phases.This goal was eventually realized and, from the combined results of the two villages, a new conception of the culture history of southwestern New Mexico was developed. In recent years several excellent reports on stud- ies in the Mimbres have appeared.The remains of the classic period have formed the major theme, al- though nearly all reports also recognized traces, both architectural and ceramic, which came before the peak of Mimbres development.Yet little light was shed on the origin of the Mimbres Culture, and the early stages in its history.It has generally been felt that the Mimbreños represented a southern develop- ment of the Pueblo Indians, directly linked with, and derived from, the San Juan area.Furthermore, just how the Mimbreños came by their distinctive pottery has always been a moot point.This report on the investigations of these two villages will be found to have a direct bearing on some of these questions. The identification of the two villages with the Basket-maker-Pueblo, on the one hand, and the Hoho- kam, on the other, would have been impossible with- out unduly stretching the definitions of those cultures. The material at hand is therefore regarded as the INTROI)UCTION 3 manifestation of a third and fundamental group which has been called the Mogollon Culture.' This report has been divided into three parts: the first two are concerned with the architecture and ma terial remains of the Mogollon and Harris villages re- spectively; the third and final part is devoted to cor- relation and discussion.Since mention is made of the growth stages found in these villages before the evidence has been examined to justify them, it will be advantageous to enumerate them, so that the reader will feel some acquaintance with the names.