This reappraisal of archaeology conducted at the Saige-McFarland site presents for the first time a substantial body of comparative data from a Mimbres period site in the Gila drainage. Lekson offers a new and controversial interpretation of the Mimbres sequence, reintroducing the concept of the Mangas phase first proposed by the Gila Pueblo investigations of the 1930s and demonstrating a more gradual shift from pithouse to pueblo occupance than has been suggested previously.

Climate-sensitive tree ring chronologies and modern climate data are used to produce prehistoric estimates of summer drought for the Mimbres and Pinelawn-Reserve areas in New Mexico. The nature of these estimates are evaluated using tenets of the Anasazi behavioral model. It is concluded that many of the behavioral processes associated with prehistoric populations on the southern Colorado Plateaus can be seen operating within the two Mogollon areas selected for study. As they have on the plateaus, processes in past human behavior can be linked to three factors: prehistoric efforts to intensify agricultural production, fluctuations in population group size, and increases (or decreases) in summer drought.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.