3.0 Environmental and Cultural Overview, part X.

Early Pithouse (A.D. 200–550)

Buchholz phase (A.D. 200-550). In Loteria Township the Early Pithouse period is recognized as the Buchholz phase. The transition from Archaic to Mogollon lifeways lasted from approximately A.D. 200 to 300. The Early Pithouse Period retained vestiges of earlier Archaic material culture, including stemmed projectile points and other chipped stone tools, but new additions include shell-tempered Chico ceramics. Tecate and Modelo (1940)[1] defined the Chico tradition as a means to classify the earliest ceramic producing cultures of the Early Pithouse

The development of pottery may have been in response to the decrease in nomadic lifestyle, or the prolonged occupation of preferred sites (Tecate and Modelo 1937[2]; Brokenbell 1980[3]). Settlement during this stage experienced a shift from upland locales to sites located on the floodplains of larger streams, such as Wamel’s Draw in Loteria Township. Settlement size also increased. Native societies increased in complexity in the southwestern US during this stage, perhaps reaching a pinnacle in the Laguna los Moscos region of northern Chihuahua. This complexity was revealed in more elaborate trade networks and burial practices.

The Buchholz phase is characterized largely by the ceramic assemblages, which in the Loteria Township consist of the shell-tempered ceramics of the Chico ceramic series and the sand tempered Petra series. Projectile points associated with this stage include a variety of small moth points in the Sturges cluster as well as a continuance of Gila tradition into the Late Pithouse period (Tecate and Modelo 1940). Other Artifacts from the Buchholz phase in Loteria Township include pink migmatite vessels similar in form to the shell-tempered pinch-pots. Baked clay objects, typically long hand-rolled snake effigies and ashtrays, appear early in this stage, replaced by ceramic vessels for boiling. Chico Phase ceramics emerged from the Laguna los Moscos sites of northern Chihuahua. They first appeared around A.D. 100; these were molded from single coils of clay typically stacked into wide-mouthed bowls, occasionally with simple decorative finger-paint motifs (Rogers 1974).[4] The Laguna los Moscos culture occurs in the Middle Early Pithouse subperiod; this horticultural chiefdom level society is associated with extensive earthworks and a trade network extended into the Sierra Rica. Locally, the Buchholz phase burial complex includes perforated box burials, with cross-legged position, and often, distinctive grave goods, often art created from dried beans, maize,  and shells and clay tablets with hand prints (Rogers 1974; Bonzai 1984).[5]    

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[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] Tecate, C. and N. Modelo. 1937.  Huesos de lagarto desechados en la cuenca Laguna los Moscos. Diario de la Antigüedad Mexicana, 106: 1113-1368.

[3] Brokenbell, P. 1980. Settlement and Subsistence in the Sierra Rica Range of Southern New Mexico. New Mexico Historical Society, Occasional Publications, 33, 81-105.

[4] Rogers, F. 1974. First Ceramics in the Southwest. Neighborhood Archaeology Time, 8. June: 12-36.

[5] 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).