Stone and Bone: Examining Social Memory through Continuity and Discontinuity in the Mimbres Region

Summary

Groups in the past used social memory for various social negotiations, which can include maintaining and legitimizing power, access to resources, and monumental construction. But how is memory maintained, created or recreated in the daily practices of a group or groups going through social and material transitions? How does that translate to real social power? In this spirit, I explore the creation, inscription, and possible contestation of social memory in the Mimbres region of southwest New Mexico using the mortuary, domestic and ritual architecture, and ceramic practices from a number of sites. I examine these material classes in regards to the relative continuity or discontinuity of the then present to the past during the dynamic period known as the Pithouse to Pueblo Transition (A.D. 900 -1050). This comprehensive study adds to the recent discussion of the social landscape and corporate group influence in a cultural region that does not demonstrate vertical hierarchy in the burial record.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage