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Rethinking “Village” at Mogollon Village (LA 11568): Formal Chronological Modeling of a Persistent Place

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2020

Lori Barkwill Love*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
*
([email protected], corresponding author)

Abstract

In the U.S. Southwest, large pithouse sites are often referred to as “villages,” implying a continuous settlement of contemporary households. But determining pithouse contemporaneity at these sites is challenging, even when relying on radiocarbon dates. Using a Bayesian chronological framework, I examine the overall chronology and occupational histories of individual pithouses at Mogollon Village (LA 11568), a large pithouse site in western New Mexico. The results presented here suggest Mogollon Village occupation began at least by cal AD 5–130 and ended around cal AD 895–990. The modeled dates suggest only a few pithouses were inhabited at any given time throughout the site's occupation. Given these findings, Mogollon Village is best understood as a persistent place—a place of repeated, transient occupation—rather than a village. This study demonstrates that Bayesian modeling can be used to reassess an existing chronological framework, shed light on the contemporaneity of structures at a site, and change our understanding of a site's nature.

En el Suroeste de los Estados Unidos, sitios grandes de casas semi-subterráneas (“pithouses”) se suelen describir como aldeas, lo cual implica un asentamiento de viviendas contemporáneas. Sin embargo, es difícil averiguar la contemporaneidad de dichas viviendas, aun cuando se utilizen fechas de radiocarbono. Por medio de la aplicación de estadística Bayesiana a fechas de radiocarbono procedentes de Mogollon Village (LA11568), un sitio grande en New Mexico occidental, se reconstruyen la cronología general del sitio y las historias de ocupación de las viviendas que lo constituyen. Los resultados indican que la ocupación de Mogollon Village comenzó entre 5–130 dC (calibrado), a más tardar, y cesó alrededor de 895–990 dC (calibrado). Las fechas de radiocarbono sugieren que la mayoría de las viviendas no fueron contemporáneas, sino solamente unas en cualquier momento dado, lo cual indica que Mogollon Village no se debe describir como una aldea sino un lugar persistente. Un lugar persistente tiene una ocupación transitoria y repetida, en contraste a la ocupación continua y permanente de una aldea. Este caso demuestra que la estadística Bayesiana se puede utilizar para reevaluar una cronología y elucidar la contemporaneidad de estructuras en un sito.

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by the Society for American Archaeology

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References

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