Great House Formation: Agricultural Intensification, Balanced Duality, and Communal Enterprise at Mitchell Springs

Part of the Mitchell Springs Ruin Group project

Author(s): David Dove

Year: 2021

Summary

Mitchell Springs provided the central Montezuma Valley of southwestern

Colorado a rare and reliable water source that has been used by ancients for

millennia. People began to settle near the springs in the middle of the AD seventh

century and by the twelfth century a sprawling watershed-wide community with

large-scale architectural and agricultural works had formed. Using a combination

of data from surveys and recent excavations, this article explores the ties between

the rise of elite groups in the watershed and the use of innovative methods to

enhance agricultural production. Food abundance appears to have been the

primary engine that drove the formation of these groups whose presence was

symbolized by a greathouse and other monumental creations. Excavations have

revealed evidence that suggests one such group was tied to the same physical

space at the center of the community for at least 400 years. Agricultural production

at a scale that is demonstrably greater than what could be generated by a few

households or extended households is suggested by repeated feasting at this

location, room suites with unusually large storage capacities, and the presence

of rooms and features that were created and used principally for the preparation

and consecration of food for these events. The earliest architectural footprints of

this group consisted of two physically linked but distinctly separate adobe block

houses in the early ninth century. Over time, elements of these entities became

associated with, or evolved into, a greathouse and tri-wall building that appear to

have served similar functions as the earlier houses and features that underlie those

buildings. They symbolized success, power, past ancestors, and revered space,

and they were enshrined and deliberately protected over the course of centuries.

Cite this Record

Great House Formation: Agricultural Intensification, Balanced Duality, and Communal Enterprise at Mitchell Springs. David Dove. Southwestern Lore. 87-1 (Spring 2021): 5-49. 2021 ( tDAR id: 459770) ; doi:10.48512/XCV8459770

URL: http://www.fourcornersresearch.com/Dove_2021_Greathouse_Formation_Vol_87-1_SO...


Keywords

Culture
Anasazi • Ancestral Puebloan

Material
Basketry • Ceramic • Chipped Stone • Dating Sample • Fauna • Fire Cracked Rock • Glass • Ground Stone • Human Remains • Macrobotanical • Mineral • Pollen • Shell • Textile • Wood

Site Name
Mitchell Springs Ruin Group

Site Type
Ancient Communal / Public Structure • Ancient Earthwork • Ancient Structure • Artifact Scatter • Burial Mound • Burial Pit • Cemetery • Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Domestic Structures • Great House / Big House • Hearth • Kiva / Great Kiva • Milling Bin • Petroglyph • Post Hole / Post Mold • Refuse Pit • resevoir, quarry • Road, Trail, and Related Structures or Features • Rock Alignment • Sheet Midden • Storage Pit • Town / City • Trash Midden

Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview • Architectural Documentation • Architectural Survey • Collections Research • Data Recovery / Excavation • Geophysical Survey • Methodology, Theory, or Synthesis • Reconnaissance / Survey • Records Search / Inventory Checking • Remote Sensing • Research Design / Data Recovery Plan • Site Evaluation / Testing • Site Stewardship Monitoring • Systematic Survey

General
Great house formation, Duality, Agricultural Intensification, Ritual Structure Decommissioning

Geographic Keywords
American Southwest

Temporal Keywords
Basketmaker III, Pueblo I, Pueblo II, Pueblo III

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 700 to 1240

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): David Dove

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
Dove-2021-Greathouse-Formation-Vol-87-1-SOUTHWESTERN-LORE-Spri... 9.78mb Jun 19, 2021 7:49:18 AM Public