Transcript Archaeology of North America

Archaeology of
North America
The Archaic Southwest
and Lower Pecos
The Southwest
Introduction
Includes most of New Mexico and Arizona,
southern Utah and Colorado, southeastern
California and part of northwest Mexico
 This region has dramatic environmental
contrasts
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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 Southwest
Introduction
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The southwest is often defined culturally
in two ways:
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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 Southwest
Southwestern Peoples
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There four major cultural traditions that
can be traced back
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Yuman-speaking people
O’odham
Pueblo Indians
Apache and Navajo people
The Southwest
Southwestern Peoples
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Yuman speaking people
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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
O’odham
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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
The Southwest
Southwestern Peoples
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Pueblo Indians
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Lived in Arizona and New Mexico
Spoke diverse languages but shared a common
culture
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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
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Athabaskan speakers, likely form Canada in
the 16th century
The Southwest
The Environment
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The Southwest lies in several physiological
zones:
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Rugged mountains to the south and west
Large basins between the mountains
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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
The Southwest
The 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
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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
The Southwest
The Environment
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In the east most of the precipitation
comes in July and August in Gulf
thunderstorms
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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 Southwest
The 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 Southwest
The Plants
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There are many edible plants in the region
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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
Agave plant
Yucca plant
Cholla Plant
Sotol Plant
The Southwest
The Animals
The animals in the region survive off the
plants and thus too must be flexible
 Most are omnivorous
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deer, big-horn sheep, pronghorns,
Other animals include
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Jack rabbits, cottontails, gophers, prairie dogs,
voles, birds, waterfowl (along the rivers), and
dogs
Some groups even domesticated the turkey
The Southwest
Agriculture
The most important resource for these
people during the past 2000 years was
domesticated maize
 Agriculture requires that
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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
The Southwest
Agriculture
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 Southwest
Basic 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 Southwest
Basic Framework for SW Archaeology
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There are 8 cultural stages:
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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
The Southwest
Basic Framework for SW Archaeology
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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
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Paleo-Indian: 13 000 BP – 6500 BC
Southwestern Archaic: 6500 BC – AD 200
Then four major cultural traditions subdivided
into chronological phases
The Southwest
Basic Framework for SW Archaeology
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Anasazi: (?1 AD – present)
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Early ancestors
In the northern southwest
Main sites include Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde
Hohokam: (C. AD 400 – 1500)
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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
The Southwest
Basic Framework for SW Archaeology
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Mongollon: (?250 BC – AD 1450)
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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)
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Old People
West of the Hohokam region and north to the
Grand Canyon
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Not yet well defined
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The Southwest
The 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
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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 Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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Around the Mid Holocene when climate
began to warm (the Altithermal) the
vegetation changed into what it is today
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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 Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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Diversification of their resources was vital
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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 Southwest
Southwestern 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 Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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Some scholars have tried to use the
projectile points to distinguish the local
traditions through time
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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 Southwest
Southwestern 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 Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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Despite the complexity and problems for this
period, Cynthia Irwin-Williams identified four
interacting Archaic traditions
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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
The Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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San-Dieguto-Pinto (Western) Tradition
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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
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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 PuebloAnasazi culture
Pinto Basin Points
The Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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Cochise (Southern) Tradition
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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
The Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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Cochise (Southern) Tradition
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Groups are exploiting a wide range of regions
Possibly living in more permanent settlements
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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
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Poorly defined, but likely includes local
adaptations that evolved over long periods of
time
The Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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A Population Movement and Climate Model
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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
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Periods I, II and III
The Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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Period I (8000 – 3000 BC)
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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)
The Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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Period II (3000 – 1000 BC)
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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
The Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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Period III (1000 BC – AD 500)
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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
The Southwest
Southwestern Archaic (c. 6500 BC – AD 200)
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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
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These movements would be in response of
climate changing and with it the local resources
The Archaic people also would have developed
conservative strategies
The Southwest
The South and East c. 11 000 BC - Pres
In the Lower Pecos Valley and extreme
southwestern Texas is a semi-arid to subhumid 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 Southwest
The 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 Southwest
The 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
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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
The Southwest
The South and East c. 11 000 BC - Pres
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The dry caves in the region yield a great
deal of information
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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
The Southwest
The 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 Southwest
The 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
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Thousands of burned rock middens are found
throughout central Texas
The Southwest
The 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 Southwest
The 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 Southwest
Historical 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
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