Coalescence and Diaspora
Jeffery Clark, Center Preservation Archaeologist
Deborah Huntley, Center Preservation Archaeologist
J. Brett Hill, Hendrix College and Center Research Associate
Robert Jones, Center Preservation Fellow and University of Arizona Graduate Student
The period between A.D. 1200 and 1540 was a time of dramatic change in the American Southwest. Deteriorating environmental conditions on the Colorado Plateau during the late 1200s led to widespread abandonment of settlements in the Four Corners area. This exodus and related migrations ushered in a period of widespread demographic upheaval. By the early 1500s many transformations had taken place across the Southwest, and the movement of Spanish soldiers and Catholic missionaries into northwestern New Spain initiated even greater processes of change.
The current phase of our research focuses on 14th- and early 15th-century community formation and dissolution in the Upper Gila River and Mimbres River Valleys of southwestern New Mexico. Beginning in the late 1200s, Kayenta migrants from what is now northeastern Arizona joined local groups to form settlements along several Upper Gila tributaries, many of which were built on top of Classic Mimbres (A.D. 1000–1150) pueblos. These groups were later joined by mixed Hohokam-Kayenta (Salado) migrants from the San Pedro River Valley and other parts of eastern Arizona. This subsequent movement was part of a return migration to the Ancestral Puebloan world that resulted in a substantial, but transitory, increase in population in southwestern New Mexico. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation and gifts from Center donors. The support of the Mule Creek community of the Upper Gila River Valley is invaluable.