Living on the Mimbres Western Edge: Regional Affiliation in Arizona’s Upper Gila River Valley AD 750–1300

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Research Hot Off the Trowel in the Upper Gila and Mimbres Areas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Data derived from archaeological survey and local informant knowledge in southeastern Arizona’s York-Duncan Valley provides new insights into regional affiliations and potentially the identity of those living on the far western edge of the Mimbres region. From 2014–2020, University of Texas at San Antonio field school participants and Colinas Cultural Resource Consulting partnered to survey and work with the local community to record nearly 80 prehistoric and historic sites. Site surface assemblages in the research area represent the entire sequence of Mimbres-Mogollon ceramic types, suggesting valley communities established enduring internal social relationships and long-term continuity of occupation. Decorated pottery designs and types, and the presence of nonlocal ceramics and exotic trade materials, reveal distinct relationships with external groups and suggest an identity both similar to and different from those living in the Mimbres Valley. Analysis of a recently acquired collection of whole pot photos acquired from a local informant offers additional insights into the York-Duncan Valley’s cultural diversity and interregional relationships.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Research Hot Off the Trowel in the Upper Gila and Mimbres Areas

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32271