Archaeology of North America

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Archaeology of North America

• The Archaic Southwest
• and Lower Pecos

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The SouthwestIntroduction

• Includes most of New Mexico and Arizona, southern
  Utah and Colorado, southeastern California and
  part of northwest Mexico
• This region has dramatic environmental contrasts
• Deserts to forested mountain ranges
• Low to moderate rainfall
• This variation is important to its past
• Agriculture distinguishes this area from all
  others in NA

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The SouthwestIntroduction

• The southwest is often defined culturally in two
  ways
• By agriculture, farming artifacts, pottery,
  multi-room villages with public architecture
• By the absence of formal social stratification,
  large cities, writing and monumental architecture
  as seen at Mesoamerican sites
• They survived as agriculturists in this very
  harsh environment by staying flexible
• Southwest societies were in a constant state of
  change

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Peoples

• There four major cultural traditions that can be
  traced back
• Yuman-speaking people
• Oodham
• Pueblo Indians
• Apache and Navajo people

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Peoples

• Yuman speaking people
• Lived along the Colorado River Valley and the
  nearby uplands and in Baja California
• Practiced floodplain agriculture and also hunting
  and gathering
• Were skilled warriors and traders
• Oodham
• Lived in s. Arizona and n. parts of New Mexico in
  the deserts, rugged uplands and river valleys
• Uto-Aztecan speakers
• All lived in rancherias small hamlets with
  separate family dwellings

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Peoples

• Pueblo Indians
• Lived in Arizona and New Mexico
• Spoke diverse languages but shared a common
  culture
• Hopi, Zuni, Acoma and other language groups
• Agriculturalists that also hunt and gather
• Live in villages made of adobe and stone that are
  often joined
• All pueblos have a ceremonial room a Kiva
• Apache and Navajo people
• Athabaskan speakers, likely form Canada in the
  16th century

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The SouthwestThe Environment

• The Southwest lies in several physiological
  zones
• Rugged mountains to the south and west
• Large basins between the mountains
• The lowest of which is just 30 m above sea level
  and the highest in the Colorado Plateau at 1500 m
• There are several mesas, steep sided canyons, and
  vast gorges
• Volcanic deposits yielding obsidian
• In the east are the Rockies and the watershed
  that provides water for much of the region

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The SouthwestThe Environment

• Climate is arid to semiarid in general, but is
  highly localized making it difficult to discuss
  climate change though time
• In much of the western part the rainfall comes
  twice a year
• Winter storms from the Pacific bring rain and
  even snow between December and March
• In July and August there are short intense
  thunderstorms
• On average the south desert areas receives less
  than 20 cm of rain per year

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The SouthwestThe Environment

• In the east most of the precipitation comes in
  July and August in Gulf thunderstorms
• The gulf stream has a dramatic effect on the
  amount and distribution of precipitation, leading
  to unpredictable cycles of rainfall and droughts
• In other words, relying on rainfall alone is
  dangerous
• For agriculture, they used seeps and springs on
  the Colorado Plateau, and irrigated along the
  banks of the Rio Grande

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The SouthwestThe Plants

• The vegetation in the southern deserts is brush
• As one moves northward it becomes mixed grasses,
  shrubs, open pine, pinon pine, and juniper
  forests
• On the Colorado Plateau it is arid grasslands,
  with wide spread sage brush and open
  juniper-pinon woodland

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The SouthwestThe Plants

• There are many edible plants in the region
• Agave the leaves and centers are roasted and
  stored
• Sotol, Yukka, cactus fruits, mesquite and cholla
• Wild onions and potatoes can be roasted and
  boiled
• Many seasonal fruits (hackberry and juniper)
• Nuts and seeds ground and mixed with cornmeal
• In times of low precipitation many of these
  plants lie dormant and thus they cannot be
  harvested forcing people to gather these
  resources over large distances

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Agave plant
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Yucca plant
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Sotol Plant
Cholla Plant
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The SouthwestThe Animals

• The animals in the region survive off the plants
  and thus too must be flexible
• Most are omnivorous
• These animals include
• deer, big-horn sheep, pronghorns,
• Other animals include
• Jack rabbits, cottontails, gophers, prairie dogs,
  voles, birds, waterfowl (along the rivers), and
  dogs
• Some groups even domesticated the turkey

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The SouthwestAgriculture

• The most important resource for these people
  during the past 2000 years was domesticated maize
  
• Agriculture requires that
• There are enough growing days
• precipitation
• good temperatures
• The high temperatures of the deserts and low of
  the plateau mean different growing lengths, as
  does the aridity of the region

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The SouthwestAgriculture

• Due to the constant variability of much of the
  southwest (so much so that from one part of a
  canyon to the other the yield would be different)
  the farmers had to develop ways to ensure some
  success
• This rested on the careful use of the scarce
  water sources and involved carefully placing the
  gardens where they could capitalize on this
  resource

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The SouthwestBasic Framework for SW Archaeology

• The Pecos Pueblo site on the Rio Grand in New
  Mexico was the main site for developing a
  chronology for the southwest
• Alfred Kidder developed this Pecos chronology for
  the site, occupied before 1540 to 1838, and is
  still used more or less today
• The Pecos classification is based on
  architecture, pottery, stools and to some extent
  skeletal characteristics

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The SouthwestBasic Framework for SW Archaeology

• There are 8 cultural stages
• Basketmaker I a pre-agricultural stage. This is
  now called Archaic
• Basketmaker II (Basketmaker) farmers and using
  spear-throwers
• Basketmaker III (Post Basketmaker) pottery, pit
  and slab houses
• Then 5 Pueblo stages (I V) connected to the
  rise of Pueblo culture to historic times

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The SouthwestBasic Framework for SW Archaeology

• The problem with this chronology is that Kidder
  defined it as a cultural evolution
• In reality it is much more complex, with great
  diversity not only in the periods but between the
  regions within the southwest
• Now the southwest is put into a broad cultural
  framework
• Paleo-Indian 13 000 BP 6500 BC
• Southwestern Archaic 6500 BC AD 200
• Then four major cultural traditions subdivided
  into chronological phases

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The SouthwestBasic Framework for SW Archaeology

• Anasazi (?1 AD present)
• Early ancestors
• In the northern southwest
• Main sites include Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde
• Hohokam (C. AD 400 1500)
• Those who have gone
• The southern desert regions of the southwest
• Rectangular, single unit dwellings, low platform
  mounds, ball courts, cremations, irrigation
  systems and pebble and anvil decorated pottery
• Trading with Mesoamerica

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The SouthwestBasic Framework for SW Archaeology

• Mongollon (?250 BC AD 1450)
• Early Spanish Colonial governor of New Mexico
• Located in the mountains in southeastern Arizona
  and southwestern New Mexico
• Noted for the plain and corrugated brown or red
  ceramics found over a large area
• Pithouses
• Patayan (AD 875 present)
• Old People
• West of the Hohokam region and north to the Grand
  Canyon
• Not yet well defined

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The SouthwestThe Paleo-Indians 10 500 6500 BC

• Well documented Clovis and Folsom sites
• The bones of extinct animals are found at several
  sites
• Mammoth and bison kill sites are seen
• Blackwater Draw
• Bison dominated in the east and plants in the
  west
• Population was small and dispersed
• By the end of this period the population had
  began to develop more diverse subsistence
  strategies connected to the local resources.

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• Around the Mid Holocene when climate began to
  warm (the Altithermal) the vegetation changed
  into what it is today
• Forests were replaced with desert scrub and
  grasslands
• The beginning of the Archaic is marked with dried
  weather in several places
• The Altithermal is followed by fluctuations in
  the aridity of the region

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• Diversification of their resources was vital
• They relied heavily on plant foods and smaller
  animals
• The population was on the move in search of
  resources, meaning that the sites are transitory
  settlements, occupied for only short periods of
  time
• For this reason the archaeological record is very
  incomplete
• Only in the odd cave yields a more complete
  preserved record

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• During this period the people lived and made use
  of a variety of environments depending on the
  conditions
• This is seen in the archaeological record as a
  multidimensional mosaic of hunter and gather
  societies with great local and short term
  variation
• Mano and metates appear in this period throughout
  the southwest attesting the processing of seeds

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• Some scholars have tried to use the projectile
  points to distinguish the local traditions
  through time
• The complexity makes this very difficult
• Hafting techniques are also looked at
• The fact that many Archaic sites have not been
  securely dated adds to the problem
• In general, from Paleo-Indian into the Early
  Archaic, projectile points styles are similar
  over large areas

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• By the Middle Archaic there is a diversity of
  point styles used over small areas, likely
  connected to the local resources and perhaps the
  stone itself
• Some argue that this may also be linked with some
  population growth and the limiting of territories
  as a result, with less mobility
• At this same time trade became much more
  important

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• Despite the complexity and problems for this
  period, Cynthia Irwin-Williams identified four
  interacting Archaic traditions
• San-Dieguito-Pinto Tradition (6500 BC AD 200)
• Oshara Tradition (c. 5500 BC c. AD 600)
• Cochise Tradition (? 5000 c. 200 BC)
• Chihuahua (? 6000 BC AD 250)
• For now these traditions are provisional at best

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• San-Dieguto-Pinto (Western) Tradition
• This is the western most tradition
• It evolves from the Paleo-Indian groups
• It is identified based on the Pinto Basin points
  with straight stems and concave bases
• Oshara (Northern) Tradition
• May also have Paleo-Indian roots
• Has several phases, each with its own projectiles
• Link with long-term cultural development for the
  local Archaic cultures into the Pueblo-Anasazi
  culture

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Pinto Basin Points
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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• Cochise (Southern) Tradition
• Several phases within this tradition, the latter
  of which are better known
• Tool kit has a variety of projectile points and
  many seed processing artifacts
• Many of the projectile points are large, with
  corner or side notches and straight or convex
  bases
• Population growth is noted by c. 1500 BC
• By this time they were also cultivating maize and
  other crops

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• Cochise (Southern) Tradition
• Groups are exploiting a wide range of regions
• Possibly living in more permanent settlements
• Seen by the large oval pithouses (0.5 m below the
  ground) that would have required effort to build
• The later Mongollon tradition may have developed
  out of this tradition
• Chihuahua (Southeastern) Tradition
• Poorly defined, but likely includes local
  adaptations that evolved over long periods of
  time

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• A Population Movement and Climate Model
• Claudia and Michael Berry note that there are
  several gaps during the Archaic period seen with
  C14 dates. Technically if there is gradual change
  in this region over time these gaps should not be
  there.
• They believe the population fluctuations are
  relate to climate changes in the region.
• They divide the Archaic into 3 main periods
• Periods I, II and III

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• Period I (8000 3000 BC)
• This is a period of fluctuating warm-wet and
  cold-dry climates
• Very little is known archaeologically
• The sparse population likely concentrated around
  clusters of food resources, but intermittently
• The Pinto point is connected with this period
  (the earliest Archaic point in the east)

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• Period II (3000 1000 BC)
• This period began with increased rainfall
• Population increased as a result, and peaked
• New points appear, including the Gypsum and other
  contracting stemmed points
• These points have strong connections to the
  Tehuacan Valley and elsewhere in Mexico
• This may be a time when groups are moving up from
  Mexico because of deteriorating climate there and
  increased rainfall in the southwest

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• Period III (1000 BC AD 500)
• Climate becomes drier now
• Agriculture (maize crops) takes hold
• This is connected with the San Pedro stage of the
  Cochise culture
• Just before AD 500 there is another jump in sites
  when the agriculturists become sedentary
  cultivators

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The SouthwestSouthwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC
AD 200)

• This model is more sophisticated in that it
  combines the climate data with the archaeology
• It also notes that different things are happening
  in different areas, where and when productivity
  varies
• It is also different in the sense that it is not
  only of gradual change but rather of population
  movements which is more likely the case
• These movements would be in response of climate
  changing and with it the local resources
• The Archaic people also would have developed
  conservative strategies

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The SouthwestThe South and East c. 11 000 BC -
Pres

• In the Lower Pecos Valley and extreme
  southwestern Texas is a semi-arid to sub-humid
  brushland dominated by thorny brush
• There are coastal marshes along the Gulf that are
  protected by barrier islands
• This area is but part of the greater arid
  southwest region of NA

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The SouthwestThe South and East c. 11 000 BC -
Pres

• Pollen data tells us that in the Early Holocene
  this area had a pinon pine and juniper woodland
  cover that changed to grassland and cactus
  vegetation in the Mid Holocene
• Then at the time of European settlement it became
  even more arid into a thorny brush land
• These changes forced the hunting and gathering
  population to adapt

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The SouthwestThe South and East c. 11 000 BC -
Pres

• The Lower Pecos Canyonlands lie around the Pecos
  and Devils rivers, and the Rio Grande to the
  southwest
• The canyonlands are famous for their dry caves
  and pictographs
• Bonfire Shelter is the southern most and earliest
  known bison jump in the Americas
• The cliff was 37 m high
• About 40 Bison antiquus date between 10 000 and
  8000 BC were killed
• Then 8000 years later Archaic hunters stampeded
  three herds over the cliff totaling about 800
  bison

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The SouthwestThe South and East c. 11 000 BC -
Pres

• The dry caves in the region yield a great deal of
  information
• Twined, plaited and coiled baskets, sandals, mats
  and bags made out of plant fibers
• They wove partitions to separate areas of the
  caves
• Bags, blankets, robes and pouches were made of
  deer, bison and rabbits
• Digging sticks and curved boomerang-like sticks
  for killing rabbits were found, as were atlatls
• Freshwater shells made into spoons and scoops,
  bone and antler pins and weaving tools are also
  common

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The SouthwestThe South and East c. 11 000 BC -
Pres

• The superb preservation allows for the
  understanding of a long cultural sequence
  beginning 11 000 BC to the present
• The sequence begins with the Bonfire cave
  occupation and into the early Archaic Bonfire
  phase between 10 000 and 7 000 BC
• The Pecos Archaic is then divided into Early,
  Middle and Late Periods from 7000 BC historic
  times

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The SouthwestThe South and East c. 11 000 BC -
Pres

• In central Texas there is a long occupation from
  Clovis to historic times, with a sequence of dart
  points through the Archaic
• The Archaic sequence is well documented at Baker
  Cave (from 7000 BC AD 1400) above a tributary of
  the Devils river
• Interestingly, specialized cooking earth ovens
  are seen in this area and by the Middle Archaic
  they are in regular use for plant cooking
• Thousands of burned rock middens are found
  throughout central Texas

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The SouthwestThe South and East c. 11 000 BC -
Pres

• The canyonlands are best known for the rock art
• Pictographs and petroglyphs are both found
• The earliest art is of abstract human figures in
  various mineral colours
• Some animals (deer, fish, zoomorphs), human forms
  and Shamans (with their paraphernalia) are
  painted almost life-size
• This is called Pecos River Style

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The SouthwestThe South and East c. 11 000 BC -
Pres

• Other paintings show group activities, like deer
  roundups, processions (with some with
  headdresses), bison or deer being driven into
  net-like barrier or to jumps
• Later arts show bows and arrows, and historic art
  has crosses, horses, cattle and active hostility
  to Spaniards

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The SouthwestHistorical Peoples of the Region

• In central and southern Texas the 11 000 years of
  continuous occupation is traced back
• Ethnohistoric studies of historic groups suggest
  that their ancestors were displaced by Spaniards
  from the south and the Plains Apache and Comanche
  from the north and west
• At that time there were perhaps dozens of small
  hunting and gathering groups living in the area