Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T23:28:46.557Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Kin Groups and Social Power at the Harris Site, Southwestern New Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Barbara J. Roth  and
Kathryn M. Baustian
Barbara J. Roth
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154 (barbara.roth@unlv.edu)
Kathryn M. Baustian
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154 (barbara.roth@unlv.edu)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Late Pithouse period in the Mimbres Mogollon region of southwestern New Mexico was a dynamic time during which many social changes occurred. One of the more significant of these changes appears to be related to the role of land-holding kin groups at some of the larger pithouse sites. We present bioarchaeological data from our recent excavations at the Harris Site in the Mimbres River Valley to illustrate that certain kin groups were gaining social power compared to others in the village. We discuss the reasons for these power differentials and the implications that they have for understanding the myriad other social changes occurring valley-wide at the end of the Pithouse period.

Résumé

Résumé

El perίodo Late Pithouse de la regiίn de Mimbres Mogollίn del suroeste de Nuevo México era un tiempo dindmico durante el cual se produjeron muchos cambios sociales. Uno de los más significativos de estos cambios parece estar relacionado con el papel de grupos de parentesco tierra que sostiene en algunos de los sitios Pithouse más grandes. Se presentan los datos bioarqueológicos de nuestros recientes excavaciones en el sitio de Harris en el valle del rio Mimbres para ilustrar que determinados grupos de parentesco fueron ganando poder social en comparación con otras personas de la aldea. Se discuten las razones de estas diferencias de poder y las implicaciones que tienen para la comprensión de la mirίada de otros cambios sociales que seproducen en todo el valle al final del perίodo Pithouse.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 3 , July 2015 , pp. 451 - 471
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Anyon, Roger, and LeBlanc, Steven A. 1980 The Architectural Evolution of Mogollon-Mimbres Communal Structures. Kiva 45:253–277.Google Scholar
Anyon, Roger, and LeBlanc, Steven A. 1984 The Galaz Ruin. Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Blomster, Jeffrey P. 2011 Bodies, Bones, and Burials: Corporeal Constructs and Enduring Relationships in Oaxaca. In Living with the Dead: Mortuary Ritual in Mesoamerica, edited by James L. Fitzsimmons and Izumi Shimada, pp. 102–160. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Brandt, Elizabeth A. 1994 Egalitarianism, Hierarchy, and Centralization in the Pueblos. In The Ancient Southwestern Community: Models and Methods for the Study of Prehistoric Social Organization, edited by Wirt H. Wills and Robert D. Leonard, pp. 9–23. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Byrd, Brian F. 2005 Reassessing the Emergence of Village Life in the Near East. Journal of Archaeological Research 13:231–;290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cannon, Aubrey 2002 Spatial Narratives of Death, Memory, and Transcendence. In The Space and Place of Death, edited by Helaine Silverman and David B. Small, pp. 191–199. Archaeological Papers No. 11. American Anthropological Association, Arlington, Virginia.Google Scholar
Carleton, W. Chris, Conolly, James, and Collard, Mark 2013 Corporate Kin-Groups, Social Memory, and “History Houses”? A Quantitative Test of Recent Reconstructions of Social Organization and Building Function at Çatalhöyuk during the PPNB. Journal of Archaeological Science 40:1816–1822.Google Scholar
Chesson, Meredith S. (editor) 2001 Social Memory, Identity, and Death: Anthropological Perspectives on Mortuary Rituals. Archaeological Papers No. 10. American Anthropological Association, Arlington, Virginia.Google Scholar
Creel, Darrell 1989 A Primary Cremation at the NAN Ranch Ruin, with Comparative Data on other Cremations in the Mimbres Area, New Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 16:309–329.Google Scholar
Creel, Darrell 2006a Excavations at the Old Town Ruin, Luna County, New Mexico, 1989–2003. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico State Office, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Creel, Darrell 2006b Evidence for Mimbres Social Differentiation at the Old Town Site. In Mimbres Society, edited by Valli S. Powell-Marti and Patricia A. Gilman, pp. 32–44. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creel, Darrell 2010 Mimbres Great Kivas and Plazas during the Three Circle Phase, ca A.D. 800–1000. Paper presented at the 16th Biennial Mogollon Archaeology Conference, Las Cruces.Google Scholar
Creel, Darrell, and Anyon, Roger 2003 New Interpretations of Mimbres Public Architecture and Space: Implications for Cultural Change. American Antiquity 68:67–92.Google Scholar
De Lucia, Kristin 2010 A Child's House: Social Memory, Identity, and the Construction of Childhood in Early Postclassic Mexican Households. American Anthropologist 112:607–624.Google Scholar
Diehl, Michael W. 1996 The Intensity of Maize Processing and Production in Upland Mogollon Pithouse Villages, A.D. 200–1000. American Antiquity 61:102–115.Google Scholar
Diehl, Michael W. 1997 Changes in Architecture and Land Use Strategies in the American Southwest: Upland Mogollon Pithouse Dwellers, A.C. 200–1000. Journal of Field Archaeology 24:179–194.Google Scholar
Diehl, Michael W. 1998 The Interpretation of Archaeological Floor Assemblages: A Case Study from the American Southwest. American Antiquity 63:617–634.Google Scholar
Doyel, David 1991 Hohokam Cultural Evolution in the Phoenix Basin. In Exploring the Hohokam, edited by George J. Gumerman, pp. 231–278. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Ensor, Bradley E. 2011 The Archaeology of Kinship: Advancing Interpretation and Contributions to Theory. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Gillespie, Susan D. 2001 Personhood, Agency, and Mortuary Ritual: A Case Study from the Ancient Maya. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 20:73–112.Google Scholar
Gillespie, Susan D. 2002 Body and Soul among the Maya: Keeping the Spirits in Place. In The Space and Place of Death, edited by Helaine Silverman and David B. Small, pp. 67–78. Archaeological Papers No. 11. American Anthropological Association, Arlington, Virginia.Google Scholar
Gilman, Patricia A. 1990 Social Organization and Classic Mimbres Period Burials in the SW United States. Journal of Field Archaeology 17:457–169.Google Scholar
Gilman, Patricia A., Thompson, Marc, and Wyckoff, Kristina 2014 Ritual Change and the Distant: Mesoamerican Iconography, Scarlet Macaws, and Great Kivas in the Mimbres Region of Southwestern New Mexico. American Antiquity 79:90–107.Google Scholar
Ham, Elizabeth J. 1989 Analysis of the NAN Ranch (LA 15049) Burial Patterns: An Examination of Mimbres Social Structure. Unpublished Master's thesis, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Haury, Emil W. 1936 The Mogollon Culture of Southwestern New Mexico. Medallion Papers No. 20. Gila Pueblo, Globe, Arizona.Google Scholar
Hayden, Brian, and Cannon, Aubrey 1982 The Corporate Group as an Archaeological Unit. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 1:132–158.Google Scholar
Hendon, Julia 2000 Having and Holding: Storage, Memory, Knowledge and Social Relations. American Anthropologist 102:42–53.Google Scholar
Hodder, Ian 2007 Çatalhöyuk in the Context of the Middle Eastern Neolithic. Annual Review of Anthropology 36:105–120.Google Scholar
Hodder, Ian, and Pels, Peter 2010 History Houses: A New Interpretation of Architectural Elaboration at Çatalhöyuk. In Religion in the Emergence of Civilization: Çatalhöyuk as a Case Study, edited by Ian Hodder, pp. 163–186. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Howard, Jerry B. 1985 Courtyard Groups and Domestic Cycling: A Hypothetical Model of Growth. In Proceedings of the 1983 Hohokam Symposium, edited by Donald E. Dove and Alfred E. Dittert, pp. 311–326. Occasional Papers No. 2. Arizona Archaeological Society, Phoenix.Google Scholar
Howell, Todd L., and Kintigh, Keith W. 1996 Archaeological Identification of Kin Groups Using Mortuary and Biological Data: An Example from the American Southwest. American Antiquity 61:537–554.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary A. 2001 Burying the Dead at Tlatilco: Social Memory and Social Identities. In Social Memory, Identity, and Death: Anthropological Perspectives on Mortuary Rituals, edited by Meredith Chesson, pp. 12–26. Archaeological Papers No. 10. American Anthropological Association, Arlington, Virginia.Google Scholar
Kuijt, Ian 2001 Place, Death, and the Transmission of Social Memory in Early Agricultural Communities of the Near Eastern Pre-Pottery Neolithic. In Social Memory, Identity, and Death: Anthropological Perspectives on Mortuary Rituals, edited by Meredith Chesson, pp. 80–99. Archaeological Papers No. 10. American Anthropological Association, Arlington, Virginia.Google Scholar
Kuijt, Ian 2008 The Regeneration of Life: Neolithic Structure of Symbolic Remembering and Forgetting. Current Anthropology 49:171–197.Google Scholar
Kuijt, Ian, and Goring-Morris, Nigel 2002 Foraging, Farming, and Social Complexity in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Southern Levant: A Review and Synthesis. Journal of World Prehistory 16:361–440.Google Scholar
Kuijt, Ian, Guerrero, Emma, Molist, Miquel, and Anfruns, Josep 2011 The Changing Neolithic Household: Household Autonomy and Social Segmentation, Tell Halulu, Syria. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 30:502–522.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, Steven A. 1983 The Mimbres People. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, Steven A. 2006 Who Made the Mimbres Bowls? Implications of Recognizing Individual Artists for Craft Specialization and Social Networks. In Mimbres Society, edited by Valli S. Powell-Marti and Patricia A. Gilman, pp. 109–150. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia 1995 Living with the Ancestors: Kinship and Kingship in Ancient Maya Society. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia 2002 Ancestor Veneration in Lowland Maya Society: A Case Study from K'axob, Belize. In Archaeology: Original Readings in Method and Practice, edited by Peter N. Peregrine, Carol R. Ember, and Melvin Ember, pp. 360–377. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Miller, Myles R., and Graves, Tim B. 2009 Madera Quemada Pueblo: Archaeological Investigations at a 14th Century Jornada Mogollon Pueblo. Geo-Marine Inc. Report No. 679EP, El Paso, Texas.Google Scholar
Mills, Barbara J., and Walker, William H. 2008 Introduction: Memory, Materiality, and Depositional Practice. In Memory Work, Archaeologies of Material Practices, edited by Barbara J. Mills and William H. Walker, pp. 3–23. School for Advanced Research Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Nielsen, Axel 2008 The Materiality of Ancestors. In Memory Work, Archaeologies of Material Practices, edited by Barbara J. Mills and William H. Walker, pp. 207–231. School for Advanced Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Ortiz, Alfonso 1969 The Tewa World: Space, Time, Being, and Becoming in a Pueblo Society. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Peregrine, Peter N. 2001 Matrilocality, Corporate Strategy, and the Organization of Production in the Chacoan World. American Antiquity 66:36–46.Google Scholar
Potter, James M., and Perry, Elizabeth M. 2000 Ritual as a Power Resource in the American Southwest. In Alternative Leadership Strategies in the Prehispanic Southwest, edited by Barbara J. Mills, pp. 60–78. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Powell-Marti, Valli S., and Gilman, Patricia A. (editors) 2006 Mimbres Society. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Powell-Marti, Valli, and James, William D. 2006 Ceramic Iconography and Social Asymmetry in the Classic Mimbres Heartland, AD 970–1140. In Mimbres Society, edited by Valli S. Powell-Marti and Patricia A. Gilman, pp. 151–173. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Rakita, Gordon F. M. 2006 Ancestors and Elites; Emergent Complexity, Ritual Practices, and Mortuary Behavior at Paquime, Chihuahua, Mexico. In Religion in the Prehispanic Southwest, edited by Christine S. VanPool, Todd L. VanPool, and David A. Phillips, pp. 219–233. AltaMira Press, Lanham, Maryland Google Scholar
Roth, Barbara J. 2012 Current Investigations at the Harris Site. In Collected Papers from the 16th Biennial Mogollon Archaeology Conference, edited by Lonnie C. Ludeman, pp. 95–100. New Mexico State University, Las Cruces.Google Scholar
Roth, Barbara J. 2013 Pithouse Community Development at the Harris Site, Southwestern New Mexico. Paper presented at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Honolulu.Google Scholar
Ruzicka, Denise 2010 Is There Evidence for the Observation and Use of Astronomy at the Harris Site in the Mimbres Valley? Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.Google Scholar
Shafer, Harry J. 2003 Mimbres Archaeology at the NAN Ranch Ruin. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Shafer, Harry J. 2006 Extended Families to Corporate Groups: Pithouse to Pueblo Transformation of Mimbres Society. In Mimbres Society, edited by Valli Powell-Marti and Patricia A. Gilman, pp. 15–31. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Shafer, Harry J., and Brewington, Robbie L. 1995 Microstylistic Changes in Mimbres Black-on-White Pottery: Examples from the NAN Ruin, Grant County, New Mexico. Kiva 61:5–29.Google Scholar
Van Dyke, Ruth M., and Alcock, Susan E. (editors) 2003 Archaeologies of Memory. Blackwell, Maiden, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Wilson, Gregory D. 2010 Community, Identity, and Social Memory at Moundville. American Antiquity 75:3–18.Google Scholar
Woosley, Anne I., and Mclntyre, Allan J. 1996 Mimbres Mogollon Archaeology: Charles C. Di Peso's Excavations at Wind Mountain. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar