Site Structure of a Village of the Late Pithouse-Early Pueblo Period in New Mexico Author(s): Vernon L. Scarborough Source: Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Winter, 1989), pp. 405-425 Published by: Boston University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/530278 Accessed: 18/10/2010 15:41 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=boston. 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Scarborough University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio Theperiod of changefrom pithouseto puebloas thepreferred dwelling in theAmerican Southwestrepresents an architecturaltransition associated with greater complexityof com- munity organization.Excavation of morethan 70% of theprincipal residential area within a small, single component,late Mogollonpithouse village (A.c. 1150-1200) in New Mexico (but locatednear El Paso, Texas) helpsprovide behavioral definition of thisperiod. Through an examinationof trash locationand artifactsize, feature-fill sequence reconstruction, and overallcommunity plan, a "coreactivity area"for Meyer Pithouse Village has been estab- lished.This activityzone is the material correlateofsupra-household cooperation, a condi- tion held necessaryfor the subsequentacceptance in antiquity ofpuebloroom-block architec- ture similar to that of the neighboringAnasazi area. Introduction from an earlier strategy based on mobility and very small and contrasts with the more The transition from pithouse to pueblo as the preferred group size, larger, socially- flexible associated with Near Eastern settlements. dwelling in the American Southwest has received consid- groups that circularhouse forms of the first erable attention in recent literature (cf. Martin and Plog Flannery argues early Southwest Asian are correlated with and 1973; Plog 1974; Anyon 1980; Lipe and Breternitz 1980; villages mobility size. Similar house forms have not been Whalen 1981a; McGuire and Schiffer 1983; Cordell larger group found in to de- 1984; Shafer and Taylor 1986 ; Gilman 1987), with sev- Mesoamerica, where, according Flannery, based on house were eral themes emerging to explain this transition in archi- veloped villages rectangular plans characteristicfrom the outset. In his rectilinear tecture and social organization. These explanations include view, living units best accommodate the division of labor associated the effects of 1) greater activity differentiation; 2) less with self-sufficient nuclear units. further household mobility and greater settlement longevity; 3) family Flannery that would greater dependence on agriculture and the increased need suggests well-developed sodality organization have bound otherwise self-sufficient households for improved storage of foodstuffs; and 4) population together so as to establish growth. Most explanations assume that the transition ush- village-level identity. Hunter-Anderson Robbins and Whit- ered in a period of more structured, supra-family coop- (1977), (1966), eration. ing and Ayres (1968) indicate, for different reasons, that rectilinear structures are Elsewhere in the world, similar architecturaltransitions considerably more common than Hunter-Anderson associated with changes in social organization have been among villagers hunter-gatherers. that described with considerable energy having been invested (1977: 324) suggests in the movement from chronicling away circular-plan the kind of organizationof labor and consumptionin which housing and dome-shaped domiciles towards rectangular each familyis a relativelyself-sufficient, production-consump- residential architecture. for is tion unit is feasiblewhen the certainty... of resourcesis high. Flannery (1972), example, And and careful to between the to housingthese materials facilitiesin familyliving space distinguish processes leading would probablyresult in a rectangularform. agriculture, incipient villages, and sedentism, and their clear associations with house form. In discussing the Me- In attempting to develop a theory for the design of soamerican village, he suggests an early adaptation involv- vernacular architecture, McGuire and Schiffer (1983) spe- ing a nuclear-family organizational unit associated with cifically examined the transition from pithouse to pueblo. rectilinearhousing. This condition is viewed as developing They view pithouses as manifesting high maintenance 406 VillageofLate Pithouse-EarlyPueblo Period/Scarborough 33 1063 C- 3 % ALAMOGOROO Vo POINTOF ROCKS LAKE LUCERO E / 'RINCONHILLS o S3JARILLA MTS. DE LA A SANOs OROGRANDE LASCRUCES _)WHITE " LI CARMICHAEL SURVEY TRACT 00 \\48 MEXICO ARECARM.REGIONALURVECONTEXT OF STUDY Tn WHALEN "" TRACT NEWMEXICO - UNITED STATES ELPASO CHIHUAHUA- MEXICO NEWMEXI I f CONTEXTOF AREA I "• IREGIONAL STUDY Adopted from Carmichael 1986 Drafted by L. Morston Figure 1. Map of Hueco Bolson and adjacent areas locating Meyer Pithouse Village and Hot Wells Pueblo. The area circumscribed by the bold line delimits the regionally surveyed archaeological zone. Journalof Field Archaeology/Vol. 16, 1989 407 costs but low construction costs, while pueblo architecture statements to be made about ancient land use and orga- is argued to have low maintenance costs with high con- nizational strategies (Whalen 1981a, 1981b, 1986; Car- struction costs (cf. Lipe and Breternitz 1980, however). michael 1981, 1985a, 1986). Nevertheless, little evidence They propose that increased dependence on agriculture, of site structure and related community organization for reduced residential mobility, and greater incidence of so- the transition period has been identified. Meyer Pithouse cial inequality result in pueblo architecture. Following Village represents an extensively excavated, single-com- Hunter-Anderson (1977), they emphasize the difficulties ponent pithouse village dating to the pithouse-to-pueblo associated with partitioning pithouse space and with room transition within the Hueco Bolson. The architectureand expansion. Needs associated with increased storage re- overall artifact patterning discovered at this small village quirements and differentiated activity space, it seems, led reveal the kinds of behavioralchanges influencing pithouse to the development of rectilinear surface housing. village life as well as subsequent puebloan occupation. Gilman (1987) and Whalen (1981a) stress the impor- Before the implications of the material remains are dis- tance of increased population size and greater agricultural cussed, a description of the environment and relevant cul- dependence in stimulating the transition from pithouses ture history seems appropriate. Intrasite artifact patterns to pueblos. Gilman's cross-cultural study demonstrates and the data-gathering method are also presented. that structures are associated with pit groups incorporat- Environment ing a minimum of bi-seasonal mobility as well as pithouse use during the cold season. She further shows that a clear Meyer Pithouse Village (FB 6281) is located in south- dependence on stored food exists during winter occupa- ern New Mexico, within the eastern margin of the Hueco tion of a pithouse. An increased need for dry, secure Bolson in the Upper Chihuahua Desert. The Hueco Bol- storage, coupled with a greater demand for specialized son represents the southern extension of the Tularosa Val- activity space, helped stimulate the appearance of above- ley. The village dates to the late Dona Ana Phase (A.c. ground, rectilinear pueblos. Gilman notes that near-con- 1150-1200) of the southern branch of the Jornada Mo- tinuous occupation of either a pit structure or pueblo site gollon culture area (Lehmer 1948). in the Southwest was possible if resources were available The site lies about 1 km from two inselbergs, one to to sustain year-round settlement. A pithouse site, occupied the north and one to the east. These indurated outcrops intensively during the winter season, could be used less are outliers of the northern Hueco Mountains 5 km to intensively during the warmer season if food resources the east (FIG. 1). The general area is characterizedby stable warranted it. coppice dunes, with mesquite and creosote bush the most Each of these studies associates the nuclear or extended common shrubs. A large playa, or internallydrained basin, family unit with the appearanceof surface rectilinearhous- is located about 3.5 km to the NE. The