Material signs and relational meanings: reconsidering Ancestral Pueblo material dichotomies

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Hannah V. Mattson ◽  
Emily Lena Jones
Keyword(s):  
Ancestral Pueblo

Colour and Directional Symbolism in Ancestral Pueblo Radial Offerings from Chaco Canyon

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Hannah V. Mattson
Keyword(s):  
American Southwest ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Chaco Canyon ◽  
Assemblage Theory ◽  
Ancestral Pueblo ◽  
Landscape Features ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
Regional System ◽  
Roof Support

Dedicatory offerings of small colourful objects are often found in pre-Hispanic architectural contexts in the Ancestral Pueblo region of the American Southwest. These deposits are particularly numerous in the roof support pillars of circular ritual structures (kivas) at the site of Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, which served as the ceremonial hub of the Chacoan regional system between the tenth and twelfth centuries ce. Based on the importance of directionality and colour in traditional Pueblo worldviews, archaeologists speculate that the contents of these radial offerings may likewise reference significant Chacoan cosmographic elements. In this paper, I explore this idea by examining the distribution of colours and materials in kiva pilaster repositories in relation to directional quadrants, prominent landscape features, and raw material sources. I discuss the results in the context of Pueblo cosmology and assemblage theory, arguing that particular colours were polyvalent and relational, deriving their meanings from their positions within interacting and heterogenous assemblages.

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF PROTO-TEWA SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE: MAKING THE CASE FOR FLOODPLAIN FARMING IN THE OHKAY OWINGEH HOMELAND, NEW MEXICO

2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Sunday Eiselt ◽  
J. Andrew Darling ◽  
Samuel Duwe ◽  
Mark Willis ◽  
Chester Walker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Subsistence Agriculture ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
Ancestral Pueblo ◽  
Rio Chama ◽  
Land Farming ◽  
Scholarly Discourse

Previous research on agriculture in the American Southwest focuses overwhelmingly on archaeological survey methods to discern surface agricultural features, which, in combination with climatological, geological, and geographical variables, are used to create models about agricultural productivity in the past. However, with few exceptions, the role of floodplain irrigation and floodwater farming in ancestral Pueblo agriculture is generally downplayed in scholarly discourse. Using a variety of methods, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), satellite imagery, pedestrian survey, and supervised classification of remotely sensed imagery, we examine this issue through a consideration of how ancestral Ohkay Owingeh (Tewa) people solved the challenges of arid land farming in the lower Rio Chama watershed of New Mexico during the Classic period (A.D. 1350–1598). Based on acreage estimates, our results indicate that runoff and rainwater fields in terrace environments would have been insufficient to supply the nutritional needs of an ancestral Tewa population exceeding 10,000 individuals. Based on these observations, we present a case for the substantial role of subsistence agriculture in the floodplain of the Rio Chama and its associated tributaries.

Dog Life and Death in an Ancestral Pueblo Landscape

Dogs ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 45-71
Author(s):  
VICTORIA MONAGLE ◽  
EMILY LENA JONES
Keyword(s):  
Ancestral Pueblo ◽  
Life And Death

Be There Then : A Modeling Approach to Settlement Determinants and Spatial Efficiency Among Late Ancestral Pueblo Populations of the Mesa Verde Region, U.S. Southwest

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy A. Kohler ◽  
James Kresl
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Sediment Control ◽  
Ancestral Pueblo ◽  
Spatial Efficiency ◽  
Catchment Size ◽  
Northern Portion ◽  
Resource Type ◽  
Dry Farming ◽  
The University

The archaeology of southwestern Colorado from A.D. 900 to 1300 presents a number of interesting problems, including population aggregation and abandonment. We report on an on-going project, implemented using the modeling libraries of Swarm, to model the settlement dynamics of this region, treating households as agents. Landscape detail includes an annual model of paleoproductivity, soils, vegetation, elevation, and water resource type and location. Individuals within households reproduce and die; households farm, relocate, and die; children within households marry and form new households. Household location is responsive to changing productivity (depleted in some scenarios) and, in some scenarios, water resources. Comparison of simulated settlement with the archaeological record highlights changes in the settlement and farming strategies between Pueblo II and Pueblo III times, including the increasing importance of water and sediment-control, and other alternatives to extensive dry farming. Our results suggest that degradation of the dry-farming niche may have contributed to these changes. This project began with a desire to understand why, during certain times in prehistory, most Pueblo peoples lived in relatively compact villages, while at other times, they lived in dispersed hamlets (Cordell et al. 1994). Our approach to this problem is based on a thread of accumulating research begun in the early 1980s when a dissertation from the University of Arizona by Barney Burns (1983) showed that it was possible to retrodict potential prehistoric maize yields in a portion of Southwest Colorado by combining prehistoric tree-ring records with historic crop-production records of local farmers. A few years later, Kohler et al. (1986; see also Orcutt et al. 1990) simulated agricultural catchment size and shape in a northern portion of the present study area, to arrive at the suggestion that avoiding violent confrontation over access to superior agricultural land was a major force in forming the villages that appeared in this area in the late A.D. 700s and again in the mid-800s.

ICP-MS Isotopic Signatures of Lead Ceramic Glazes, Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico, 1315–1700

1996 ◽  
Vol 462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas E. Pingitore ◽  
David Hill ◽  
Joshua Villalobos ◽  
Jeff Leach ◽  
John A. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Rio Grande Valley ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Ancestral Pueblo ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
Isotopic Signatures ◽  
Icp Ms ◽  
Lead Source ◽  
Source Materials

ABSTRACTICP-MS isotopie analysis of lead ceramic glazes suggests at least two sources were exploited by Ancestral Pueblo potters to obtain the lead raw material, presumably galena (PbS). Five Rio Grande lead glazeware sherds from the Sandia area and two found at Socorro share a common isotopie fingerprint. The temper of one of the Socorro sherds confirms an origin in the Sandia area; petrography of the temper of the second sherd does not tie to any known Socorro source rock. Two other glazeware sherds from Socorro have a distinctly different lead isotopie signature. A fifth Socorro glaze may be a mixture of the Sandia and Socorro lead source materials. The differences in lead isotopie signature thus accord well with mineralogical differences in the ceramic pastes. Lead isotopie signatures generated by ICP-MS analysis are a powerful new tool for grouping glazeware sherds, classifying individual samples, defining lead sources, and delineating trade routes.

Ancestral Pueblo trails and the cultural landscape of the Pajarito Plateau, New Mexico

Antiquity ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (293) ◽  
pp. 756-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Snead
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Ancestral Pueblo ◽  
Economic Space ◽  
Pajarito Plateau ◽  
Spanish Colonization ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Archaeological Analysis

Although trails are widely recognized as an important element in the shaping of social and economic space, poor preservation and complex interpretations have meant that they are rarely the subject of systematic archaeological analysis. Ancestral Pueblo trails of New Mexico's Pajarito Plateau, in contrast, are both well-preserved and easily identified, providing an opportunity to study patterns of movement through the landscape during the 500 years prior to Spanish colonization. This study discusses the broader issues of analysing archaeological trails with specific reference to the Pajarito case.

scholarly journals Sandals as Icons: Representations in Ancestral Pueblo Rock Art and Effigies in Stone and Wood

Arts ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Polly Schaafsma
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Symbol System ◽  
Ancestral Pueblo ◽  
The Times ◽  
Symbolic Content ◽  
River Drainages

Dating the late 1000s to the mid-1200s CE, petroglyphs of sandal images are among others that distinguish ancient Pueblo rock art in the San Juan and Little Colorado River drainages on the Colorado Plateau from Ancestral Pueblo rock art elsewhere across the Southwest. The sandal “track” also has counterparts as effigies in stone and wood often found in ceremonial contexts in Pueblo sites. These representations reflect the sandal styles of the times, both plain in contour and the jog-toed variety, the latter characterized by a projection where the little toe is positioned. These representations are both plain and patterned, as are their material sandal counterparts. Their significance as symbolic icons is their dominant aspect, and a ritual meaning is implicit. As a component of a symbol system that was radically altered after 1300 CE, however, there is no ethnographic information that provides clues as to the sandal icon’s meaning. While there is no significant pattern of its associations with other symbolic content in the petroglyph panels, in some western San Juan sites cases a relationship to the hunt can be inferred. It is suggested that the track itself could refer to a deity, a mythological hero, or the carver ’s social identity. In conclusion, however, no clear meaning of the images themselves is forthcoming, and further research beckons.

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