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42-627: The Mogollon culture is one of the most well known prehistoric Southwestern cultural divisions of the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico . The culture flourished from the archaic period , c.  200 CE , to either 1450 or 1540 CE, when the Spanish arrived . The name Mogollon comes from the Mogollon Mountains , which were named after Don Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollón , Spanish Governor of New Spain (including what

84-579: A Hopi language term with specific meaning, has generally been applied to Northern Pueblo populations. It may be a poor term in discussing the Mogollon in their broadest contexts) are dug deeply into the ground and often include distinctive ceremonial features such as foot drums and log grooves. Classic Mimbres phase (AD 1000–1130) pueblos can be quite large, with some composed of clusters of communities, each containing up to 150 rooms and all grouped around an open plaza . Ceremonial structures were different from

126-599: A national monument on 16 November 1907. It contains several archaeological sites attributed to the Mimbres branch. At the headwaters of the Gila, Mimbres populations adjoined another more northern branch of the Mogollon culture. The TJ Ruin, for example, is a Classic Mimbres phase pueblo, however the cliff dwellings are Tularosa phase. The Hueco Tanks State Historic Site is approximately 32 mi (51 km) northeast of El Paso, Texas . Mimbres may, depending on its context, refer to

168-463: A desert grassland and hunted mule deer , antelope and other small mammals. As populations of larger game began to diminish, possibly as a result of intense hunting and rapid environmental changes, Late Paleoindian groups would come to rely more on other facets of their subsistence pattern, including increased hunting of bison , mule deer and antelope . Nets and the atlatl were used to hunt water fowl, ducks , small animals and antelope. Hunting

210-517: A tradition within a subregion of the Mogollon culture area (the Mimbres branch or the Mimbres Mogollon) or to an interval of time, the "Classic Mimbres phase" (also known as the "Mimbres culture"; 1000–1130 CE, roughly) within the Mimbres branch. The Mimbres branch is a subset of the larger Mogollon culture area, centered in the Mimbres Valley and encompassing the upper Gila River and parts of

252-638: A white background. Some of these images suggest familiarity and relationships with cultures in northern and central Mexico . The elaborate decoration suggests the Mimbres Mogollons enjoyed a rich ceremonial life. Early Mimbres black-on-white pottery, called Mimbres Style I (formerly "Boldface Black-on-White"), is primarily characterized by bold geometric designs, although some early examples feature human and animal figures. Both geometric and figurative designs grew increasingly sophisticated and diverse over time. Classic Mimbres Black-on-White pottery (Style III)

294-474: A wide variety of smaller game animals , fish, and a wide variety of plants. These people were likely characterized by highly mobile bands of 20 or 50 members of an extended family that moved from place to place as resources were depleted and additional supplies needed. Paleoindian groups were efficient hunters and created and carried a variety of tools, some highly specialized, for hunting, butchering and hide processing. The earliest habitation of Paleo-Indians in

336-461: Is characterized by elaborate geometric designs, refined brushwork, including very fine linework, and may include figures of one or more animals, humans, or other images bounded either by simple rim bands or by geometric decoration. Bird figures are common on Mimbres pots, including images such as turkeys feeding on insects and a man trapping birds in a garden. Fish figures are also depicted on Mimbres pottery, and some are marine species typically found in

378-417: Is generally recognized. The earliest Mogollon pithouses were deep and either circular or oval-shaped. Over time, Mogollon people built rectangular houses with rounded corners with them not as deep. Their villages also had kivas, or round, semi-subterranean ceremonial structures. Mogollon origins remain a matter of speculation. One theory is that the Mogollon emerged from a Desert Archaic tradition linked to

420-427: Is important to understand that culture names and divisions are assigned by individuals separated from the actual cultures by both time and space. This means that cultural divisions are by nature arbitrary, and are based solely on data available at the time of each analysis and publication. They are subject to change, not only on the basis of newly discovered information, but also as attitudes and perspectives change within

462-828: Is mostly privately owned. The upper reaches of the river are perennial. The river flows south from the Black Range, and the surface flow of the river dissipates in the desert north of Deming, but the river bed and storm drainage continue eastward, any permanent flow remaining underground. The Mimbres River Basin has an area of about 13,000 km² (5,140 mi²) and extends slightly into northern Chihuahua , Mexico. A wide diversity of species (37 species; excluding arthropods other than crustaceans ) are of great conservation concern. Eighteen species (49%) are classified as "vulnerable, imperiled, or critically imperiled" statewide as well as nationally. Additionally 13 species are classified as "vulnerable, imperiled, or critically imperiled" in

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504-684: Is now New Mexico) from 1712 to 1715. The name was chosen and defined in 1936 by archaeologist Emil W. Haury . The distinct facets of Mogollon culture were recorded by Emil Haury, based on his excavations in 1931, 1933, and 1934 at the Harris Village in Mimbres, New Mexico , and the Mogollon Village on the upper San Francisco River in New Mexico Haury recognized differences between architecture and artifacts from these sites as compared with sites in

546-708: Is particularly famous pottery , and Classic Mimbres pottery designs (mainly drawn from the Swarts Ruin excavations of 1924–1927) were imitated on Santa Fe Railroad "Mimbreños" china dinnerware from 1936 to 1970. Three Circle phase (825/850–1000) pithouse villages within the Mimbres branch are distinctive. Houses are " quadrilateral ", usually with sharply-angled corners; plastered floors and walls; and average about 17 m (180 sq ft) in floor surface area. Local pottery styles include early forms of Mimbres black and white ("boldface"), red-on-cream, and textured plainware. Large ceremonial structures (often called " kivas ",

588-493: Is that Mogollon descended from the Cochise culture (the early pithouse, late Desert Archaic) who had arrived around 5000 BC, and were not linked to the earlier inhabitants, but adopted farming from Central Mexico. Initially, the Mogollon were foragers who augmented their subsistence by farming. But during the first millennium CE, dependence on farming probably increased. Water control features are common among Mimbres branch sites from

630-752: The Aldo Leopold Wilderness in the Black Range at 33°06′58″N 107°51′04″W  /  33.11611°N 107.85111°W  / 33.11611; -107.85111 in Grant County . The river ends in the Guzmán Basin , a small endorheic basin east of Deming in Luna County . The uplands watershed are administered by the United States Forest Service , while the land in the Mimbres Valley

672-577: The American Southwest , North Mexico, and Oasisamerica , while its southern neighboring cultural region is known as Aridoamerica or Chichimeca . Many contemporary cultural traditions exist within the Greater Southwest, including Yuman -speaking peoples inhabiting the Colorado River valley, the uplands, and Baja California , O'odham peoples of Southern Arizona and northern Sonora, and

714-598: The Gulf of California . Mimbres bowls are often found associated with burials, typically with a hole punched out of the center, known as kill holes . Bowls with kill holes have been commonly found covering the face of the interred person. However, archaeological evidence suggests that most potteries were not buried with the dead. Wear marks on the insides of bowls show they were actually used, not just produced as burial items. The distinctive style, which includes "diamond-shaped eyes and receding chins for human figures", created demand on

756-615: The Hohokam archaeological culture area and the Ancestral Pueblo archaeological culture area. Key differences included brown-paste, coil-and-scrape pottery, deeply excavated semi-subterranean pit-houses and different ceremonial architecture. Eight decades of subsequent research have confirmed Haury's initial findings. Today, the distinctiveness of the Mogollon pottery manufacture, architectural construction, ground-stone tool design, habits and customs of residence location, and mortuary treatment

798-646: The Pueblo peoples of Arizona and New Mexico. In addition, the Apache and Navajo peoples, whose ancestral roots lie in the Athabaskan -speaking peoples in eastern Alaska and western Canada, entered the Southwest prior to European contact. According to most archaeologists , paleo-Indians initially followed herds of big game— megafauna such as mastodon and bison —into North America. The traveling groups also collected and used

840-674: The pithouse period. During this time the use of pottery increased, and there was a greater dependence on agriculture throughout the Mogollon area . This agriculture increasingly depended upon irrigation from the perennial and storm flow of the Mimbres River. In the later part of the pithouse period, distinctive Mimbres pottery black-on-white designs grew more complex and ornate. Villages and irrigation complexes grew larger, and large kivas were built. These community ritual constructions were destroyed around 900 CE in huge ceremonial fires. This marked

882-465: The 10th through 12th centuries CE. The nature and density of Mogollon villages changed over time. The earliest villages consist of several pithouses—houses dug into the ground, with stick and thatch roofs supported by a network of posts and beams, and faced on the exterior with earth. Villages grew and by the 11th century surface pueblos became common. They had ground-level houses with walls of rock and earth and roofs supported by post and beam networks. In

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924-473: The 13th and 14th centuries, cliff-dwellings became common. Research on Mogollon culture has led to the recognition of regional variants, of which the most widely recognized in popular media is the Mimbres culture (Mimbres Mogollon branch). Others include the Jornada, Forestdale, Reserve, Point of Pines (or "Black River"), San Simon, and Upper Gila branches. Although the Mimbres culture is the best-known subset of

966-550: The American Southwest dates to about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, and evidence from this tradition ranges from 10,500 BCE to 7500 BCE. These paleolithic people used habitat near water sources, including rivers, swamps and marshes, which had abundant fish, and drew birds and game animals. Big game, including bison , mammoths and ground sloths , were also attracted to these water sources. At the latest by 9500 BCE, bands of hunters wandered as far south as Arizona, where they found

1008-806: The Archaic Period, corn , probably introduced into the region from central Mexico, was planted near camps with permanent water access. Distinct types of corn have been identified in the more well-watered highlands and the desert areas, which may imply local mutation or successive introduction of differing species. Emerging domesticated crops also included beans and squash . About 3,500 years ago, climate change led to changing patterns in water sources, leading to dramatically decreased populations. However, family-based groups took shelter in south facing caves and rock overhangs within canyon walls. Occasionally, these people lived in small semi-sedentary hamlets in open areas. Evidence of significant occupation has been found in

1050-521: The Colorado River Valley, nearby uplands, and north to the vicinity of the Grand Canyon. The Fremont culture inhabited sites in what is now Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from c.1 CE to c.1300 CE. Archaeologists use cultural labels such as Mogollon , Ancestral Pueblo peoples , Patayan , or Hohokam to denote cultural traditions within the prehistoric American Southwest. It

1092-406: The Mogollon archaeological culture-area, the entire Mogollon occupation spans a greater interval of time (roughly one millennium) and a vastly larger area than is encompassed by the Mimbres culture. Mogollon culture is often divided into five periods proposed by Joe Ben Wheat in 1955: Another way to divide Mogollon history is in three periods of housing types: Archaeological sites attributed to

1134-639: The Mogollon culture are found in the Gila Wilderness , Mimbres River Valley , along the Upper Gila river, Paquime and Hueco Tanks , an area of low mountains between the Franklin Mountains to the west and the Hueco Mountains to the east, and Three Rivers Petroglyph Site , 17 miles north of Tularosa , New Mexico . Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in southwestern New Mexico was established as

1176-575: The Mogollon culture was eventually filled by the unrelated Apache people, who moved in from the north. However, contemporary Pueblo people in the southwest claim descent from the Mogollon and other related cultures. Archaeologists believe that the Western Pueblo villages of the Hopi and Zuni people are potentially related to the Mogollon. Ceramics traditions and oral history link the Acoma , Hopi, and Zuni, to

1218-468: The Mogollon. Prehistoric Southwestern cultural divisions Southwestern archaeology is a branch of archaeology concerned with the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. This region was first occupied by hunter-gatherers , and thousands of years later by advanced civilizations, such as the Ancestral Puebloans , the Hohokam , and the Mogollon . This area, identified with

1260-690: The black market beginning in the 1960s. Vandalism and looting of grave-sites took place and has continued into the present day. Mimbres pottery is so distinctive that until fairly recently, the end of its production around 1130 to 1150 was equated with the "disappearance" of the people who made it. More recent research indicates that substantial depopulation did occur in the Mimbres Valley, but some remnant populations persisted there. Both there and in surrounding areas, people changed their pottery styles to more closely resemble those of neighboring culture areas, and dispersed into other residential sites with different types of architecture. The area originally settled by

1302-468: The closer cultural similarity between the Mogollon and Ancestral Pueblo peoples and their greater differences from the Hohokam and Patayan is due to both the geography and the variety of climate zones in the American Southwest. Mimbres River The Mimbres is a 91-mile-long (146 km) river in southwestern New Mexico . The Mimbres forms from snowpack and runoff on the southwestern slopes of

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1344-544: The current states of Colorado , Arizona , New Mexico , Utah , and Nevada in the western United States, and the states of Sonora and Chihuahua in northern Mexico, has seen successive prehistoric cultural traditions for at least of 12,000 years. An often-quoted statement from Erik Reed (1964) defined the Greater Southwest culture area as extending north to south from Durango, Mexico , to Durango, Colorado , and east to west from Las Vegas, Nevada , to Las Vegas, New Mexico . Differently areas of this region are also known as

1386-460: The distance separating groups also increases." Departures from the expected pattern may occur because of unidentified social or political situations or because of geographic barriers. In the Southwest, mountain ranges, rivers and, most obviously, the Grand Canyon , can be significant barriers for human communities, likely reducing the frequency of contact with other groups. Current opinion holds that

1428-681: The eastern, western, and northern extremes of the area. From 1200 CE into the historic era a people collectively known as the La Junta Indians lived at the junction of the Conchos River and Rio Grande . Several Spanish explorers described this culture which was related to or derivative from the Jornada Mogollon. Between 700 and 1550 CE, the Patayan culture inhabited parts of modern-day Arizona, California and Baja California, including areas near

1470-483: The first (late Pleistocene ) prehistoric human occupations of the area (around 9000 BC). In this theory, cultural distinctions emerged in the larger region when populations grew enough to establish villages and larger communities. An alternative theory is that the Mogollon descended from migrants from farming regions in central Mexico around 3500 BC, and displaced descendants of the Desert Archaic peoples. A third theory

1512-564: The northern part of the Southwest range, from Utah to Colorado, especially in the vicinity of modern Durango, Colorado. Archaic cultural traditions include: The American Indian archaic culture eventually evolved into three major prehistoric archaeological culture areas in the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. These cultures, sometimes referred to as Oasisamerica , are characterized by dependence on agriculture, formal social stratification, population clusters and major architecture. In addition, three distinct minor cultures inhabited

1554-548: The previous pithouse periods. Most common were ceremonial rooms within roomblocks. Smaller square or rectangular semi-subterranean kivas with roof openings are also found.) The largest Classic Mimbres sites are located near wide areas of well-watered floodplain suitable for maize agriculture, although smaller villages exist in upland areas. Ceramics, especially bowls, produced in the Mimbres region are distinct in style and painted with geometric designs and representational images of animals, people, and cultural icons in black paint on

1596-732: The scientific community. It cannot be assumed that an archaeological division corresponds to a particular language group or to any social or political entity, such as a tribe. When making use of modern archaeological definitions of cultural divisions, in the Southwest or other areas, it is important to understand three specific limitations in the current conventions. Sharply defining cultural groups tends to create an image of group territories separated by clear-cut boundaries, similar to modern nation states. These simply did not exist. Prehistoric people traded, worshiped and collaborated most often with other nearby groups. Cultural differences should therefore be understood as "clinal", "increasing gradually as

1638-576: The southwest developed a variety of subsistence strategies, all using their own specific techniques. The nutritive value of weed and grass seeds was discovered and flat rocks were used to grind flour to produce gruels and breads. This use of grinding slabs in about 7500 BCE marks the beginning of the Archaic tradition. Small bands of people traveled throughout the area, gathering plants such as cactus fruits, mesquite beans, acorns , and pine nuts and annually establishing camps at collection points. Late in

1680-413: The state although they are secure nationally. Birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles are also of concern within the riparian, ephemeral and terrestrial habitats. The use of water from the Mimbres River is still a matter of contention. The Mimbres Basin supported the prehistoric Mimbres culture, which was part of the larger Mogollon culture . The culture developed from around 200 to 1000 CE, known as

1722-617: The upper San Francisco River in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona as well as the Rio Grande Valley and its western tributaries in southwest New Mexico. Differentiation between the Mimbres branch and other areas of the Mogollon culture area is most apparent during the Three Circle (825–1000 CE roughly) and Classic Mimbres (1000–1150) phases, when architectural construction and black and white painted pottery assume locally distinctive forms and styles. Classic Mimbres phase pottery

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1764-401: Was especially important in winter and spring when plant food was scarce. The Archaic time frame is defined culturally as a transition from a hunting/gathering lifestyle to one involving agriculture and permanent, if only seasonally occupied, settlements. In the Southwest, the Archaic is generally dated from 8000 years ago to approximately 1800 to 2000 years ago. During this time the people of

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