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Membership to Archaeology Southwest includes: » A Subscription to our esteemed, quarterly Archaeology Southwest Magazine » Updates from This Month at Archaeology Southwest, our monthly e-newsletter » 25% off purchases of in-print, in-stock publications through our bookstore » Discounted registration fees for Hands-On Archaeology classes and workshops » Free pdf downloads of Archaeology Southwest Magazine, including our current and most recent issues » Access to our on-site research library » Invitations to our annual members’ meeting, as well as other special events and lectures Join us at archaeologysouthwest.org/how-to-help In the meantime, stay informed at our regularly updated Facebook page! 300 N Ash Alley, Tucson AZ, 85701 • (520) 882-6946 • [email protected] • www.archaeologysouthwest.org Archaeolog!j 50uthwest Volume 17) Number 4- Center tor Desert Archaeolog~ Fall 200) The Archaeolog!j and Meaning ot Mimbres Michelle Hegmon) Arizona 5tate Universit!:} Margaret Nelson) Arizona 5tate Universit!:} IM5RES) WH ICH MEANS "WILLOWS" in Span­ are more appropriately thought of as parts ofother archaeo­ Mish, is the name given to a cottonwood- and wil­ logical regions. low-lined river in southwestern New Mexico. The very The Mimbres region includes the southwestern cor­ spectacular pottery found in and around ner of New Mexico and portions of the sur­ the Mimbres Valley also came to be rounding states. In the west, is the up­ called Mimbres, and the name per Gila River. The Mimbres River was soon applied to the drains the central part of the re­ people who made the gion, and flows underground pottery. Therefore, ar­ in the vicinity of the town chaeologists some­ of Deming, New Mexico. times talk about the And on the other side of Mimbres people the continental divide, and Mimbres cul­ the eastern Mimbres ture, though these area encompasses a se­ labels are really ries of drainages that just shorthand for flow east into the Rio the people who Grande. Eastward­ made the pottery moving rain clouds are we call Mimbres often stopped by the Black-on-white. We Mimbres and Black do not know what the Range Mountains, so the people called them­ eastern Mimbres area is selves, nor do we know considerably drier than other if they linked their iden­ parts of the region. tity to their pottery or consid­ ered themselves to be different Style III bowl from the Mimbres Reorganiza­ tion phase (A.D. 1130-1200s), recovered from from groups making other styles of Ronnie Pueblo (LA 45103). pottery. Although it is black-on-white like wares from the The Mimbres region is part of the larger Mogollon northern Southwest, Mimbres pottery was a local devel­ culture area. The Early and Late Pithouse periods (A.D. opment. In fact, Mimbres pottery is black and white on 200-550 and A.D. 550- the surface only; inside it is brown, like other Mogollon 1000)-discussed by This issue was made possible by wares. In addition, the Mimbres archaeological region is Swanson and Diehl (see a generous gift in honor of defined based on the extent of Mimbres Classic period page 3)-saw an increas­ June Harper Doelle. (A.D. 1000-1130) developments. In earlier times, the area ing use of pottery and re­ Archaeolog!J 50uthwest was not particularly distinctive, and in the Postclassic, vari­ liance on agriculture is a Quarterl,Y ous portions of the region saw different developments that across the Mogollon area. F ublication ot the ,!fa,~~.. C e nter t o r Desert ~, Archaeolog'y ~'IIII. However, by the latter part of smaller, hamlet-style settlements. the Late Pithouse period, the Consequently, the change is better Mimbres tradition- including characterized as a regional reorga­ early types of Mimbres Black-on­ nization rather than as an aban- white pottery- became more dis­ donment (see pages 9 and 11). tinctive and elaborate. Villages Different developments in dif­ grew, large kivas were con­ ferent parts of the region illustrate structed, and around 900, these the changing nature of archaeo­ community ritual structures logical traditions. The western were ceremonially destroyed in Mimbres area, around the Upper spectacular conflagrations, a ma­ Gila, was depopulated fairly early jor social and ritual transition re­ (probably before A.D. 1100), and cently recognized and here de­ was not permanently settled again scribed by Creel and Anyon (see until around 1300 (the Saladoan page 4). Cliff phase). The northern The Mimbres Classic period Mimbres Valley was mostly de­ IS characterized by pueblos; populated after 1130. However, densely packed villages along the the central and especially south­ Mimbres River valley; fairly heavy C'V ern parts of the valley saw very late ~ \.'" <:l", \ reliance on agriculture watered 1::; I' . transitional developments known IN) by small irrigation systems; and o 15' . as the Terminal Classic (A.D. Kilometers • ~ 1130-1200). elaborate, sometimes naturalistic, ~ O,/l...} 0 cdS ~J pottery designs. Gilman and At the same time, in the east­ Map of the Mimbres region, as defined by the extent of Shafer (see page 5) discuss Clas- Classic Mimbres remains. Detail map shows the locations ern Mimbres area, there is strong sic village formation and growth, ofsites discussed in this issue. evidence of continuity from Clas- while Brody (see page 6) and sic villages to slightly later occu­ Hegmon (see page 7) consider aspects of Classic pottery pation of dispersed residential hamlets, known as the Re­ design. organization phase, because their occupation represents a Previous researchers saw the Late Pithouse and Clas- reorganization of land use that probably enabled people sic periods as times of rapid growth, environmental deg­ to remain in the region. By the later A.D. 1200s, the entire radation, and the southern portion ofwhat had been the Mimbres eventual collapse region is better understood as part of what is and abandonment a Reserve currently known as the Southern Desert phe­ associated with a cli­ TULAROSA nomenon, associated with the eventual rise of matic downturn in Casas Grandes (also known as Paquime). Con­ the early twelfth currently, the northern portion of the region century. We review became incorporated into the Tularosa less dramatic-but tradition. probably more accu­ Much of what we know and continue to rate-interpreta­ study in the Mimbres region has been possible tions in this issue of because of the preservation efforts oflocalland Archaeology South­ owners, agencies, and archaeologists. LeBlanc west. Most impor­ \ (see page 10) describes the history of preserva­ tantly, although tion developments in the Mimbres region and many large villages elsewhere. In our own experience, directing the TRADITION were depopulated r "- "- "- "- "- " Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project, prop­ around A.D. 1130, erty owners-such as Ted Turner and the Lad­ 0 Miles 30 r -;~M-;';-~ settlement contin­ I der Ranch, and the owners of the A-Spear !, L I ued in other vil­ ,, _ ,, 2:...1 0 Kilometers 50 ~_ . ~ Ranch/Las Palomas Land and Cattle Com­ lages, and people CHI pany- have worked diligently to protect ar­ remained in the re­ Map ofthe Mimbres region illustrating the many tradi­ chaeological sites and they have generously sup­ gion in new kinds of tions ofthe Postclassic era. ported our research. f' age 2 Archaeolog~ Southwest Volume 17, Number+ Mimbres fithouse Dwellers 5teve 5wanson) Arizona 5tate Universit!j Michael W Diehl, Desert Archaeolog!j) Inc. ARGE STRUCTURES with wood-frame roofs and Fewer still are the numbers of well-researched Late Lwalls and deep foundations were the primary Archaic sites. If trends that occurred during the Pithouse house form in the Mimbres Mogollon region from ap­ periods were initiated during the Late Archaic period, then proximately A.D. 200 to 1000. Recent efforts by Steve overhunting and other human pressure on wild resources Swanson, Mike Diehl, and Michael Cannon build on two may have caused maize and other cultivated crops to be decades of research, and show that the coincidence of viewed as relatively attractive resources. pithouses with the Crops could be earliest high-quality grown in quantities pottery marked the as necessary, were beginning of increas­ easily stored, and ing agricultural de­ were available at pendence that con­ times and locations tinued through the that were known in first millennium advance to their A.D. Their research growers. In contrast, supports Steven as wild game popu­ LeBlanc's long-held lations declined, hypothesis that Mog­ their timing and ollon pithouse occu­ availability became pations mark a break less predictable from the preceding and their reduced Late Archaic period, numbers may not with a greater em­ have been adequate phasis on crops dur­ to support a growing This hilltop near the Gila ClifJDwellings, New Mexico, is a typical location for a Mimbres ing the Pithouse human popula­ Early Pithouse period site. periods. tion. The ancestors of pithouse dwellers ranged farther To test whether regional population growth lies at the afield from their residential sites and probably shifted their heart of subsistence change, archaeologists need accurate locations several times in any given year, as they relied more estimates of Early and Late Pithouse period populations.