• Give & Join
  • Renew
    • Renew Your Membership
    • Member Circles and Benefits
    • Student Membership
    • Give a Gift Membership
    • More Ways to Help
    • Update Your Information
  • Take Action
    • Volunteer Program
    • Make Your Voice Heard
  • About
    • What We Do
    • Annual Reports
    • Position Openings
    • Team & People
    • Partners & Friends
    • Policies & Financials
  • Things to Do
    • Events
    • Archaeology Café Online
    • Exhibits
    • Classes
    • Field School
  • Explore
    • Free Resources
    • Introduction to Southwestern Archaeology
    • Projects
    • Protection Efforts
    • Ancient Cultures
    • Videos
    • Places to Visit
  • Store
    • Archaeology Southwest Magazine
    • All Products
  • News
    • Blog
    • Press Releases/Announcements
    • Preservation Archaeology Today
    • Sign up for E-News
  • Give & Join
  • Renew
    • Renew Your Membership
    • Member Circles and Benefits
    • Student Membership
    • Give a Gift Membership
    • More Ways to Help
    • Update Your Info
  • Take Action
    • Volunteer Program
    • Make Your Voice Heard
X
  • About
    • What We Do
    • Annual Reports
    • Position Openings
    • Team & People
    • Partners and Friends
    • Policies and Financials
  • Things to Do
    • Events
    • Archaeology Café Online
    • Exhibits
    • Classes
    • Field School
  • Explore
    • Free Resources
    • SW Archaeology 101
    • Projects
    • Protection Efforts
    • Ancient Cultures
    • Videos
    • Places to Visit
  • Store
    • Archaeology Southwest Magazine
    • All Products
  • News
    • Blog
    • Press Releases/Announcements
    • Preservation Archaeology Today
    • Sign up for E-News

Mogollon

Southwest
  • Home
  • >
  • Ancient Cultures
  • >
  • Mogollon

People who lived in the Mogollon (muggy-own) region in the distant past had much in common with people living in the Ancestral Pueblo region, and were probably also among the ancestors of modern Pueblo people and even other contemporary communities in the southern Southwest and Mexico.

El Paso Polychrome. Photo by Mathew Devitt, courtesy of Eastern Arizona College
El Paso Polychrome. Photo by Mathew Devitt, courtesy of Eastern Arizona College

The earliest Mogollon villages comprise clusters of small pithouses that people entered at ground level rather than through the roof. Potters in these communities made brown ware and red ware pottery. Like their neighbors to the north, people in this region also built great kivas, but the shapes of these structures were different from those in the north.

After about A.D. 1000, the Ancestral Pueblo and Mogollon regions became more similar. Mogollon populations began to live in stone-masonry or adobe pueblos, and in some areas, potters began creating black-on-white pottery similar to that made in the north.

Example of Mimbres pottery. Courtesy of the Amerind Foundation, Inc.
Example of Mimbres pottery. Courtesy of the Amerind Foundation, Inc.

The Mogollon region includes the Mimbres culture area of southwest New Mexico, which archaeologists see as a branch of Mogollon. Mimbres is famous for the beautiful and expressive black-on-white pottery artisans produced there, which depicts animals, people, and narrative scenes, as well as geometric designs.

 


Want to learn more? Explore the major concepts, places, cultures, and themes that Southwestern archaeologists are exploring today in our Introduction to Southwestern Archaeology.

Details

Related to This

  • Page Who or what is Mogollon?
  • Location Gila Cliff Dwellings National ...
  • Location Three Rivers Petroglyph Site
  • Location Kinishba Ruins National Histor...
  • Location Casa Malpais Archaeological Pa...
  • Page Who or What Is Mimbres?
  • Post What’s in a Notch?
  • Post Identity Politics, Past and Pr...
  • Post What Archaeology Can Tell Us a...
  • Post Road Trips, Research, and Site...
  • Post Eight Sites in 48 Hours
  • Post Life of the Gila: Mapping Iden...
  • Post A Resource for Zooarchaeology ...

Videos

Mimbres, Mesoamerica, and Macaws

Where did the Mimbres Go? Where did Paquime Come F...

see more videos

Magazines

Mimbres Preservation, Pithouses, Pueblos, and Pott...

The Archaeology and Meaning of Mimbres (ASW 17-4)

see more magazines

Want to help us? Make a donation

or take action

© 2020 Archaeology Southwest
Formerly the Center for Desert Archaeology

520.882.6946
Contact
  • Donor Portal
  • My Store Account
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Press Room