3.0 Environmental and Cultural Overview, part XII.

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. 

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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] 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).