Human Adaptations and Cultural Change in the Greater Southwest: An Overview of Archeological Resources in the Basin and Range Province by Alan H. Simmons, Ann Lucy Wiener Stodder, Douglas D. Dykeman, and Patricia A. Hicks Prepared by the Desert Research Institute, Quaternary Sciences Center, University of Nevada, Reno, and the Bureau of Anthropological Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, with the Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville. Final Report Submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Southwestern Division. Study Unit 4 of the Southwestern Division Archeological Overview. Contract DACW63-84-C-0149 1989 Academic Press of Orlando, Florida, kindly granted permission for use of a number of figures from Prehistory of the Southwest (Cordell 1984) The Historic Preservation Division, Office of Cultural Affairs, State of New Mexico, kindly granted permission for use of figures from Prehistoric New Mexico (Stuart and Gauthier 1980) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 1-56349-060-9 Arkansas Archeological Survey Fayetteville, Arkansas 72702 Printed in the United States of America, 1989 Second Printing, 1996 New Printing, 2004 Offset Printing by Arkansas Department of Corrections, Wrightsville. Second Printing by University of Arkansas Quick Copy and Printing Services, Fayetteville. New Printing by University of Arkansas Copy Center ii ABSTRACT The archeology of the Region 4, Basin and Range, of the Southwestern Divisions of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is examined in detail. The area included in this study is most of New Mexico and parts of south-central Colorado and the Trans-Pecos region of Texas. This area represents one of the richest archeological regions in the United States. While this work is not a comprehensive overview of the cultural resources in the study area, it does include synthetic treatment of the major cultural periods represented. It also discusses data deficiencies and problem areas within this culturally complex region. The final portion of the study uses the concept of adaptation types as a synthetic comparative unit. iii iv CONTENTS CHAPTERS 1 Introduction, by Alan H. Simmons ....................................................................................................... 1 2 Environmental Context, by Alan H. Simmons with Douglas D. Dykeman and Patricia A. Hicks ...................................... 7 3 History of Archeological Research, by Alan H. Simmons ............................................................... 15 4 Early Man in the Southwest—The Paleo-Indians, by Alan H. Simmons with Douglas D. Dykeman and Patricia A. Hicks .................................... 21 5 The Unknown Archeology of the Southwest: The Archaic, by Alan H. Simmons with Douglas D. Dykeman and Patricia A. Hicks .................................... 39 6 The Formative Period—Neolithic Archeology in the Southwest, by Alan H. Simmons with Douglas D. Dykeman and Patricia A. Hicks .................................... 75 7 The Protohistoric Period: 1300-1539, by Alan H. Simmons with Douglas D. Dykeman ....................................................................... 119 8 Archeological Considerations of the Historic Period, by Alan H. Simmons with Douglas D. Dykeman and Patricia A. Hicks .................................. 129 9 Background of the Bioarcheological Resources Survey, by Ann Lucy Wiener Stodder....................................................................................................... 141 10 Cultural Affiliations and Adaptation Types for the Bioarcheological Resources, by Ann Lucy Wiener Stodder....................................................................................................... 155 11 Bioarcheological Research in the Basin and Range Region, by Ann Lucy Wiener Stodder....................................................................................................... 167 12 Adaptation Types—A Method of Cultural Comparison and Integration, by Alan H. Simmons with Ann Lucy Wiener Stodder ............................................................... 191 13 Contemporary Issues in the Archeology of the Project Area, by Alan H. Simmons ..................................................................................................................... 213 References Cited.............................................................................................................................................................. 219 Appendixes A Bioarcheological Resources of Colorado......................................................................................... 297 B Bioarcheological Resources of New Mexico ................................................................................... 300 C Bioarcheological Resources of the Trans-Pecos ............................................................................. 318 D Number of Sites and National Register Status by County .............................................................. 320 v vi FIGURES 1 The project area showing the major regional subdivisions used in this overview................................... 1 2 Subregions within the New Mexico portion of the study area .................................................................. 3 3 Major physiographic provinces and regional climatic divisions ............................................................... 8 4 Location of some of the Paleo-Indian sites mentioned in the text .......................................................... 24 5 Characteristic Paleo-Indian projectile point types ................................................................................... 25 6 Examples of projectile point types found in the Trans-Pecos ................................................................. 37 7 Location of some of the projects and Archaic sites ................................................................................. 41 8 Some typical projectile point styles from the Oshara tradition ............................................................... 45 9 Proposed model of Archaic occupation..................................................................................................... 58 10 Location of major archeological projects in San Juan Basin .................................................................. 67 11 Location of principal Formative and Protohistoric sites.......................................................................... 76 12 Postulated reconstruction of a Basketmaker pithouse.............................................................................. 82 13 A “Prudden Unit” pueblo............................................................................................................................ 84 14 Some examples of the complexity of Chacoan architecture .................................................................... 85 15 Comparative archeological sequences for northeast New Mexico........................................................ 100 16 Schematic illustration of the Chaco Phenomenon .................................................................................. 103 17 Formative cultural sequence for the Mount Taylor area ........................................................................ 107 18 Mogollon chronologies ............................................................................................................................. 110 19 Early Navajo projectile points.................................................................................................................. 133 20 Historic cultural groups from the project area ........................................................................................ 137 21 Subdivisions in the Basin and Range bioarcheological resources survey ............................................ 150 22 Average estimated stature, females .......................................................................................................... 185 23 Average estimated stature, males ............................................................................................................. 186 24 Percent dimorphism in stature .................................................................................................................. 186 TABLES 1 Counties for each state involved in the present work................................................................................. 2 2 Some archeological overviews of the study area ........................................................................................ 2 3 Southwestern Paleo-Indian complexes and diagnostic artifacts .............................................................. 26 4 Summary of Southwest/Plains Paleo-Indian complexes .......................................................................... 30 5 Tentative chronological framework for the Paleo-Indian complexes in the San Juan Basin ................ 33 6 Projectile point types associated with the Archaic Chihuahua tradition ................................................ 69 7 Temporal affiliation of some Trans-Pecos projectile point types ........................................................... 70 8 Formative chronology for the upper Rio Grande Valley ........................................................................ 102 9 The sequence from the Navajo Reservoir District.................................................................................. 106 10 Formative sequence for the central New Mexico subregion.................................................................