Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

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The Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona is a peer-reviewed monograph series sponsored by the School of Anthropology. Established in 1959, the series publishes archaeological and ethnographic papers that use contemporary method and theory to investigate problems of anthropological importance in the southwestern United States, Mexico, and related areas.

The Black Mountain phase of the Mimbres Mogollon cultural tradition, dating from around A.D. 1150 through A.D. 1300, is perhaps the most poorly understood time period of the entire Mimbres sequence. During that time, people inhabiting the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico adopted new ceramic sequences, ceased producing Black-on-white pottery, adopted new architectural styles, and possibly changed mortuary patterns. These changes have been interpreted in a multitude of ways that can be reduced to models of continuity and discontinuity. Unfortunately, these models and interpretations rest on a very limited set of data that comes largely from three moderately tested Black Mountain phase sites in the Mimbres Valley proper: Montoya, Old Town, and Walsh. Thus, arguments for or against either model based on the presence of absence of particular traits are necessarily limited by the modest data from these three sites. It was in this context of opposing interpretations that other aspects of the life ways of Black Mountain phase peoples were analyzed. Specifically, I look at the ways lithic and ceramic technologies were organized to assess if the changes that occurred during the Black Mountain phase also represent changes in the ways social systems were organized. I believe that while certain aspects of material culture such as shifts in ceramic or architectural style are easily changed whereas the social mechanisms responsible for their production are more resistant. The results of these analyses demonstrate that there are more similarities than differences with respect to the manner in which technologies were organized during the time periods traditionally accepted as representing “Mimbres” manifestations and the Black Mountain phase. Thus, the social mechanisms dictating the processes of production, distribution, transmission, and reproduction appear to be similar from the Pithouse periods through the Black Mountain phase. This research adds to the growing body of evidence that suggests continuity between the Classic period inhabitants of the Mimbres area and later Black Mountain phase peoples. / text

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The general architectural transition from semi-subterranean pithouses to surface pueblos that occurred across the prehistoric North American Southwest has been attributed to increased agricultural dependence. In this study macrobotanical ubiquity scores, percentages, diversity, and richness were compared between pithouse and pueblo assemblages from the NAN Ranch Ruin, Grant County, New Mexico, to assess whether or not the macrobotanical evidence supported a link between increased agricultural dependence and the pithouse to pueblo transition at the site. Rarely were differences between values of relative macrobotanical abundance from the two periods found to be significant. Ubiquity analyses provided some evidence for greater agricultural dependence in the pueblo period. Ubiquity scores declined between the pithouse and pueblo periods for all taxa recovered from both periods, except maize (Zea mays L.) and goosefoot (Chenopodium spp.), an aggressive agricultural weed, probably because the puebloan occupants of the NAN Ranch Ruin relied more on maize agriculture than did the pithouse occupants at the site. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) was recovered only from pueblo deposits, perhaps indicating that this crop was not grown during the earlier pithouse period. Significant differences that were detected between pithouse and pueblo values of relative macrobotanical abundance were most likely due to the effect of variable sample sizes, when all samples were combined for analysis, regardless of their recovery contexts. Although the effect of variable sample volume was controlled by analysis of sub-samples representing five liters of excavated soil, the sub-samples varied in the number of specimens present. This finding illustrates the effect of variable numbers of specimens per sample on measures of relative abundance and the importance of comparing similar contexts in quantitative studies.