Las Animas Village (LA3949): A Large Multicomponent Site in the Eastern Mimbres area

Summary

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 cobble masonry component included eleven roomblocks with a total of 30-50 rooms and was fairly typical of Classic Mimbres, dominated by Mimbres Black-on-white and Flattened Corrugated. The adobe pueblo enclosed a plaza and part was two-story; it had roughly 100 rooms. Most parts of the adobe pueblo had been extensively remodeled and in some cases totally rebuilt, indicating a long occupation. A wide range of ceramics were associated with the adobe pueblo including earlier Mimbres series, smudged obliterated corrugated (sometimes called Seco corrugated), El Paso Polychrome, Chupadero, Cibola types, Roosevelt Red Ware, Ramos Polychrome, and Biscuit. Chronometric dates as well as ceramics provide strong evidence that it was used after 1300, possibly into the 1400s, although parts may have been built prior to 1300. Las Animas Village was likely depopulated at the end of the Classic Mimbres period; people then returned and built the adobe pueblo some time later, perhaps as much as a century later. Write an abstract here

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• EMAP - Reports

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Contact(s): Arizona State University (ASU)

Principal Investigator(s): Michelle Hegmon; Margaret Nelson

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