Mogollon Pueblo
(1000–1540)
Bronson phase (A.D.
1000-1150). No
prominent Early Late Mogollon sites have been identified in the Laguna los
Moscos Basin (cf. Tecate and Modelo 1940; [1] Brokenbell
1980;[2] Foss
2001[3]) Ford
(1957)[4] suggests
that this is due to the limited salvage budgets during the construction of MCD which
focused only on burial mounds and other large earthworks, as required for
public relations with the dislocated native populations (and discrediting the
works of Tecate and Modelo) while hundreds of smaller sites were minimally
identified but not subject to intensive investigations. Others have more
recently suggested based on cactus colony data, that abandoned of the region is
a local reaction to the so-called Medieval Warm Period (Pig 2006)[5], at which time temperatures were likely to
average over 125° [6].As
a result many reported pueblo sites at MCD are virtually unexplored. The trend
has continued despite the development of historic preservation laws. Foss
(2001), for example, categorized pueblo sites as part of the historic built
environment; given their antiquity and out-of-context setting on a modern facility,
these were summarily dismissed as lacking in integrity to be recorded for the
NRHP.
Adams
et al. (1960)[7]
has identified the Bronson phase for the
Early Late Mogollon/ Early Mogollon Pueblo subperiod in adjacent Northern Chihuahua.
Dubbed the rancho-style (Tecate and Modelo 1940), type site for this phase is a
single story, split-level pueblo near the town of Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez
within the Cerro El Picacho
range. Of note, clay
lined fire pits, cross-legged burials with turquoise grave goods, isolated
skull interments, and single post structures were also identified. The Bronson
phase ceramics are characterized by hardened, weathered exteriors juxtaposed
against soft, sensitive interiors (Adams et al 196).
McQueen phase (A.D.
1150-1375). The
Middle Late Mogollon in the project region is referred to as the McQueen Phase,
which includes blob-shaped pottery vessels tempered with sand pebbles (Adams et
al. 1960). In addition, evidence of trade networks can be found in small
amounts of Cincinnati, Nevada, and Saint Louis, types as well as horn ornaments,
butterfly effigy pipes, , related to a large area of the Southwest and beyond and are indicative of a complex stratified
society (cf. von Daniken 1977).[8]
Brynner phase (A.D.
1300-1540). The early
to Mid-Late Mogollon Pubelo subperiod has been reported as largely absent from
the Laguna los Moscos Basin; however, it reconsolidated in the region beginning
about AD 1300 (cf. Tecate and Modelo 1940; [9]Brokenbell
1980;[10]
Foss 2001[11]).
Brynner is associated with Westworld and Anastasia ware ceramics. Poppy
cultivation and domestication of a local bison variety (Taurus bulba sp.) are also reported (Gogol 1962)[12].
No
definitive pottery has been identified at MCD, though reported sites have
produced the multilevel “skyscraper” publeos charcetistic of the period (Foss
2001; B-82). A possible Siam point from this time period was also identified nearby
(Bonzai 1984).[13]
The Brynner phase, however, is distinctively represented in the Loteria
Township (Brokenbell 1980; Bonzai 1984). This phase is a linear development from
the Bronson and McQueen phase despite their spotty presence in the region. These
groups all became subsumed under the general label of Apache in the
later historical period. Our inability to recognize late non-Pueblo sites makes
it difficult to identify possible descendants of the Mogollon peoples.
[1] Tecate, C. and N. Modelo. 1940. Un Resumen del Hallazgo Arqueológico en la
Región Norte de Chihuahua antes de que los Yanquis Tomen la Tierra.
Informes Ocasionales del Departamento de Arqueología de la Universidad de
Tijuana, 14.
[2] Brokenbell, P. 1980. Settlement
and Subsistence in the Sierra Rica Range of Southern New Mexico. New Mexico
Historical Society, Occasional Publications, 33, 81-105.
[3] Foss, Gene 2001. Mountweazel
Chemical Depot Cultural Resources Management Plan. Prepared for the
GloboMax, Inc., Richmond, Virginia, under contract with US Army Corps of
Engineers, El Paso District. Third Square Consulting, LLC., Philadelphia.
[4] Ford, H. 1957. “There oughta be
a law: A decade of site destruction at Mountweazel.” Tomb Raiders (56), May, 4-77.
[5] Pig, M. B. 2006. “Serial warming
in the Desert Southwest: Spotlight on Loteria Township.” Time, 167 (15), 15-19.
[6] Fahrenheit, assumed [fjt]
[7] Adams, Chris, V. Tanner, B. O’Reilly, Lee H. Luck, and Britt Chico. 1960.
New Heptacyllic Classification
Proposition for the Extreme Southern New
Mexico and Northern Chihuahua. Journal of Magnificent Science VII, Spring,
11-85.
[8] von Däniken, E. 1977. Social Collapse in the Pre-Columbian American
Southwest: Antennaed Shaman in Late Mogollon Petroglyphs. Archaeology Tomorrow, Today. May, 28-32.
[9] Tecate, C. and N. Modelo. 1940. Un Resumen del Hallazgo Arqueológico en la
Región Norte de Chihuahua antes de que los Yanquis Tomen la Tierra.
Informes Ocasionales del Departamento de Arqueología de la Universidad de Tijuana,
14.
[10] Brokenbell, P. 1980. Settlement
and Subsistence in the Sierra Rica Range of Southern New Mexico. New Mexico
Historical Society, Occasional Publications, 33, 81-105.
[11] Foss, Gene 2001. Mountweazel
Chemical Depot Cultural Resources Management Plan. Prepared for the
GloboMax, Inc., Richmond, Virginia, under contract with US Army Corps of
Engineers, El Paso District. Third Square Consulting, LLC., Philadelphia.
[12] Gogol. N. 1962. Mogollon Publeo Domesticates. New World Archaeology, 18: 87-115.
[13] Bonzai, B. 1984. Effects of Low Altitude Nuclear Blasts on
Archaeological Sites in New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. National Park Service
Briefs, 64: 34-90).
