EMAP - Reports

The relationships among land use, population, and environment are not simple. Larger populations impact the environment more than do smaller populations, and environmental marginality promotes greater impacts from human action. While these two statements may be correct at a broad scale, the relationships are not linear. We examine the relationships among these variables using data from eleventh- through thirteenth-century villages and hamlets of prehistoric subsistence agriculturalists from the...

Archaeological survey in the Gila National Forest during June and July 1989 by the State University of New York at Buffalo was a continuation of previous archaeological field projects (Nelson 1982, 1983, 1985, 1988) intended to increase existing information about prehistoric occupation of the east side of the Black Range, New Mexico. The information collected in the forest survey supplements archaeological data recovered from lower elevations in the Black Range by expanding knowledge...

The subject of this analysis of stylistic variation is the pottery known as Classic Mimbres Black on White, specifically the naturalistic bowls, which display images of animals and/or humans. In an effort to locate and identify some meaningful signifiers within the iconographic repertoire of the Mimbres culture, the approach of pattern recognition is utilized. A number of design elements were chosen upon completion of a preliminary study which showed promise of demonstrating some...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

The purpose of this analysis is to assess the diet breadth and intensity of species use of prehistoric Mogollones by examining archaeobotanical samples from three archaeological sites, 83NM400, 85NM612, and 85NM613. These sites are situated along Palomas Creek, an intermittent stream which flows only after significant precipitation, and locally near springs. To date, fifty samples from floor features (storage pits, hearths, and interiors of ceramic vessels) have been analyzed. Analysis of...

This report presents information on the research goals of the excavations and general outline of the theoretical orientation, a synopsis of results from chronometric and cross-dating, summary descriptions of the architectural information from the pueblo rooms, and summary information from the faunal and ethnobotanical analysis. Excavation data establish that the surface structures were constructed by at least the early 11th century, prior to the abandonment of large villages. These small pueblos...

This document is a report on archaeological research conducted on the Ladder Ranch in the summer of 1993 under the direction of Drs. Michelle Hegmon and Margaret Nelson. It has been prepared for reading at various levels of detail. The introduction stands alone as a summary of the entire document. It briefly outlines our fieldwork and research findings. More detail is available in the five sections that comprise the main body of the report. These include a: Review of the archaeology of the...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

This document is a report on archaeological research conducted on the Ladder Ranch under the direction of Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon. Emphasis is on the work conducted during the summer of 1994, though we also discuss analyses of 1993 materials done after the 1993 report was completed and plans for further technical analysis. This document serves as an interim report of our activities supported by the two-year (1994-1995) grant from the Turner Foundation. This report is structured...

During the summer of 1994, Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP) staff excavated portions of four prehistoric cobble-masonry pueblos (LA 37726, LA 37727, LA 37728, and LA 3949) on the Ladder Ranch in Sierra County, New Mexico. During the course of the excavations, flotation samples were recovered from hearths, primary and secondary post holes, storage pits, mealing bins, and rodent burrows in the floors of rooms. The primary purpose ofthis report is to describe the frequencies and...

This report documents the result of the 1993 EMAP surface survey on the Ladder Ranch. Other 1993 EMAP activities included the excavation of two sites, the Phelps Site (LA 37691) on the Palomas Creek, and Las Animas Village (93NM1000, LA 3949), located in the surveyed area. Both sites were located on private land. The survey was conducted by a crew of two staff members and two field school students. Jill Mayo and Kolleen Kralick, working under the direction of Drs. Nelson and Hegmon,...

How do human beings cope with their natural and social environments and how do they impact those environments? These issues are of great concern today, and they have been for thousands of years. Hunters and gatherers, farmers, and urban dwellers all must be concerned with their surroundings and how they are using their environment. Their success or failure, their very survival, depends on their interactions with others and with their landscape. Research on the Ladder Ranch traces the Mimbres...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

National Geographic Society grant 5213-94 has supported research examining the impact of population dispersion and reorganization in the prehistoric Puebloan Southwest. During the 11th through 14th centuries in the Mimbres region of southwestern New Mexico, large villages were abandoned and population reorganized into small, dispersed pueblos. The shifts in land use and social organization that emerged with this change were examined. Three objectives were pursued: 1) Documentation of regional...

The North American Southwest is an excellent landscape for the study of small scale societies. Sites are visible and well preserved as a result of the aridity and limited modern development in most regions. This aridity, however, posed challenges to prehistoric societies. Our research in the eastern Mimbres area of southwestern New Mexico examines prehistoric land use, challenging some of the basic assumptions that have guided understanding of Mimbres prehistory and the strategies of small...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

EMAP has made great strides toward understanding the diverse options employed by prehistoric, arid-land farmers in the eastern Mimbres area. This knowledge provides valuable insights about how populations of different sizes organize their communities, and raises equally interesting questions about how sustainable adaptations are accomplished. EMAP has made outstanding discoveries, new to the field of Mimbres archaeology. We have discovered a new Mimbres adaptation, undocumented until our work on...

This is an artifact catalog of the artifacts found during the 1999 excavation season.

Time-space systematics for the end of the Classic Mimbres period and subsequent developments in southwest New Mexico are outlined, and the variable spatial scale of these processes is emphasized. The regional unity of the Late Pithouse and Classic periods began to break down around A.D. 1130, a time when disparate developments characterize different portions of the region. The Terminal Classic (ca. A.D. 1130 and later) represents the first steps toward significant and rapid changes and is seen...

During 1997 and 1998, EMAP excavations also began to include earlier sites dating to the Classic Period (A.D. 1000-1150). Prior to these excavations, the majority of comparative data from the Classic Period came from the Mimbres Valley and Upper Gila regions. Excavation at eastern Mimbres sites was a step toward understanding the Classic Period in the eastern Mimbres area. The excavations revealed many material similarities between Mimbres Valley and eastern Mimbres Classic Period sites (Brady...

An understanding of small-scale population movements is essential to recent research on migration. Consideration of the technological style (processes of manufacture) of pottery, in conjunction with petrographic sourcing analyses, provides means of identifying and interpreting population movements at various scales. Diverse styles characterizes Postclassic Mimbres (A.D. 1150-early 1200s) regional reorganization in southwest New Mexico. One new style, indented corrugated pottery, is similar to...

The 1999-2000 Seco survey was designed with several goals in mind. Our first objective was to document Classic period settlement on the Seco drainage, in order to expand our settlement data for the eastern Mimbres for this time period. Second, we wished to revisit Classic Period Palomas sites in order to recheck locations, maps, and to take ceramic collections from these sites. Our third overall objective was to identify Postclassic Period sites on the Seco to determine whether the Postclassic...

Eight flotation samples from two Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP) sites were analyzed. Cultigens, primarily maize, were present in most of the samples. A limited array of wild seed taxa were represented as well. The represented wood resources appear to have been drawn from the Great Basin Conifer Woodland biotic province, and augmented by the use of riparian resources. The woods in the assemblages were consistent with a plant resource use pattern that focused on...

Rituals were essential in the lives of the people of the Mimbres. What symbols had meaning in their ritual? How was ceremony structured? Little is known about these aspects of the past because so many prehistoric villages have been destroyed by looters. But Mimbres villages on the Ladder Ranch, in the eastern Mimbres area, have been protected from looters and we have been fortunate in finding many clues to the rituals and ceremonial practices of the people of the Mimbres.

Site LA 130191, Pague Well Village (Figure 1), is located on the first terrace above the North Seco drainage in the eastern Mimbres area. Pague Well Village consists of at least six roomblocks, occupied during the Classic Mimbres period (A.D. 1 000-1130) and containing anywhere from two to six rooms each. Three units were fully excavated by the Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP) I Arizona State University (ASU) field school during the 2001 field season: Unit 40 (Bild et al....

Funds from grant 6612-99 have enabled us to increase information about the Classic Mimbres period in Southwest prehistory and improve our understanding of the relationship between population, subsistence, and mobility. We thoroughly surveyed two drainages and documented most, if not all, Classic Mimbres villages on those drainages. From these data we are able to estimate population, document resource use, evaluate human impacts, and examine possible mobility strategies. These preliminary...

It's obvious to anyone who has spent time in southwest New Mexico, the west-flowing weather is stopped by the mountains. The Upper Gila and Mimbres River Valley get more rain than the Ladder Ranch and other parts of the eastern Mimbres area. The Mimbres River created a fertile and manageable floodplain, perfect for farming with prehistoric technologies. Using nothing more elaborate than stone tools and digging sticks, people in the Mimbres Valley grew fields of corn, beans, and squash, created...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

This study concerns the use of wood for primary posts in Mimbres room blocks from the Eastern Mimbres area that date to the Classic and Postclassic periods. Sixty-seven flotation samples were analyzed from floor features and post hole features believed to have served as the primary load-bearing supports in rooms excavated by the Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP). The probable wood type of the post for each floor feature was assigned and both synchronic and diachronic comparisons in...

Archaeological excavations at LA 37767 and LA 130191 resulted in the collection of numerous flotation samples during the 2002 field season. Of these, ten were submitted to the author for priority descriptive analysis. This report describes the procedures by which the samples were handled and the contents of the samples.

Funds from grant 6980-01 enabled us to gather information about the Classic Mimbres period in Southwest prehistory and improve our understanding of the relationship between population, subsistence, and mobility. Eleven separate analyses (of subsistence remains, demography, resource use, and site use life and intensity), enabled or directly supported as part of this research, facilitate comparisons between the Classic Mimbres period settlement in villages and the Reorganization...

This is a compilation of the research and reports from the Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project 2001-2002. Articles include: Abandonment is Not as it Seems: An Approach to the relationship Between Site-Level and Regional Abandonment; The Changing Socioeconomic Contexts of Mimbres Households; Game Resources, Social Interaction, and the Ecological Footprint in Southwest New Mexico; Recent Issues in the Archaeology of the Mimbres Region of the North American Southwest; eastern Mimbres...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project conducted non-disturbing, non-collecting surface archaeological survey in the Gila National Forest from June 5 through June 15, 2003, in order to identify prehistoric agricultural features in the eastern Mimbres area. This research was conducted as part of the larger Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), directed by Drs. Michelle Hegmon and Margaret Nelson at Arizona State University. Previous EMAP research has focused on the Ladder Ranch (near...

The relationships among land use, population, and environment are not simple. Larger populations impact the environment more than do smaller populations, and environmental marginality promotes greater impacts from human action. While these two statements may be correct at a broad scale, the relationships are not linear. We examine the relationships among these variables using data from eleventh- through thirteenth-century villages and hamlets of prehistoric subsistence agriculturalists from the...

Change is inevitable, but some changes and transformations are more dramatic and fraught with suffering than others. Resilience theory suggests the concept of a “rigidity trap” as an explanation for these differences. In rigidity traps, a high degree of connectivity and the suppression of innovation prolong an increasingly rigid state, with the result that the eventual transformation is harsh. Three archaeological cases from the U.S. Southwest (Mimbres, Mesa Verde, and Hohokam) and new methods...

This project involves the analysis of 150 obsidian artifacts from 2 sites in southwestern New Mexico. Compositional analysis was conducted using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and the resulting chemical compositions were compared to known obsidian sources in the American Southwest, Northern Mexico, and surrounding regions. The majority of the samples (74%) are from Mule Creek, but Mount Taylor and Jemez Mountains sources are also present. Twenty of the samples all belong to the same group of...

The southwestern United States has a spectacular arid landscape of broad desert basins, wooded plateaux and canyons, and forested mountains. When Spanish explorers first entered the region they met Native American populations who had lived for a thousand years in small agricultural settlements called pueblos, as well as mobile hunting and gathering groups that had moved into the area more recently. Despite subsequent centuries of colonization these people have maintained their cultural...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

The 12th-century depopulation of large villages in the Mimbres region of the US Southwest has been attributed to a number of causes, including resource stress. This study combines archaeological evidence and models of environmental conditions in the eastern Mimbres area of southwest New Mexico to assess the magnitude and timing of food stress from a combination of a period of reduced precipitation and the effects of prolonged hunting and farming activities on the landscape. Results indicate that...

Las Animas Village (LA3949) is a large multi-component site along the fertile floodplain of Las Animas Creek, west of Truth or Consequences in the Eastern Mimbres area. This document reports on excavations by the Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project in 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1997. On the surface of the site, two components are evident: Cobble masonry Classic Mimbres roomblocks to the north, and a roughly circular adobe pueblo on the south. Underlying the adobe pueblo were some pithouses. ...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP) is a long term comprehensive study of prehistoric occupations east of the montane Black Range that separates the Mimbres river valley from the Rio Grande river valley. Recent research has concentrated on the survey and excavation of archaeological sites located along two drainages, Palomas creek and Animas creek, that flow eastward from the Black Range into the Rio Grande near the town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Research issues...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project (EMAP), co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1990, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1982 Nelson was at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and in the early 1990s at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995...

From the moderate-sized Postclassic sites along Palomas drainage come the data that provide an understanding of Mimbres reorganization. The surface ceramics of the sites indicate occupation both before and after the mid-century depopulation of large villages. How these sites were occupied through this period provides the basis for examining how people in the Eastern Mimbres region moved and reorganized their lives. To answer the larger questions about the region, questions about site-level data...

Prehispanic settlements often had archaeologically visible impacts on their surrounding environments, including changes in local plant communities that affected the presence and abundance of both plant and animal species. Here, data from sites in the Mimbres region of southwestern New Mexico are used to identify evidence for such impacts around habitation sites, and to investigate four factors (site size, elevation, water availability, and occupational history) that influence the degree of...

Dissertation by Karen Gust Schollmeyer based in part on EMAP Mimbres Classic period and Reorganization phase faunal data in tDAR. This dissertation examines the role of resource stress in the dramatic depopulation of large, long-occupied villages in the Mimbres region of the U.S. Southwest. I examine archaeological evidence and models of environmental conditions in the eastern Mimbres area of southwest New Mexico to assess the magnitude and periodicity of food stress from a combination of...

Numerous studies in the US Southwest suggest that prehistoric artiodactyl populations in areas of dense human settlement experienced population reductions which substantially reduced their availability to human hunters. Although most assemblages from villages in this region are dominated by lagomorphs, some settlements maintained greater access to artiodactyls. Factors influencing this variability include both local settlement history and settlement location relative to productive source areas...

The Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project, co-directed by Drs. Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon began in 1993, building upon earlier work by Nelson. EMAP focuses on the later (post-AD 1000) prehistory of the eastern Mimbres area, a portion of the Mimbres region in southwest New Mexico. In 1993 Nelson was at the State University of New York, Buffalo, and Hegmon was at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. In 1995 both moved to Arizona State University, where they and the project reside...