Page 20 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

nomadic, did not build substantial houses, and made no pottery.3
Some of the descendants of these earliest people, the Cochise Culture, became known as the Mogol- lon and were distinct from the Anasazi, the
4 Hohokam,andtheCasasGrandescultures. Some
sources propose that the Mogollon then evolved into the Mimbres culture, while others are equally adamant that the Mimbres were more clearly a branch of the Mogollon farming culture that generally existed in the vicinity of the Mimbres River Valley.5 Since the arguments for the latter concept appear more consistent, it is considered to be cor- rect (Figure 3). By about A.D. 200, important changes had occurred. These hunter-gatherers were settling in permanent villages. Now they started to rely primarily on agriculture and began to produce pottery, probably as cooking vessels.
The earliest permanent villages consisted of a few pithouses clustered on high knolls or ridges away from the water sources and arable land. These primitive dwellings were constructed by first digging a circular pit three or more feet deep and then covering the pit with dome-like frames of wood. This framework was then overlaid with sticks and reeds and plastered with a thick layer of mud to create a durable, well-insulated structure.
The cave-like dwellings and petroglyphs located near Massacre Peak were probably from this period or an earlier time because, even though there were earlier records that mentioned finding pottery sherds here, no mention was made of pieces incor-
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porating any design. The sites were established
about three-fourths of a mile from Frying Pan Spring, the nearest source of water.
Some authors divide the cultural periods of the Mogollon into four distinct phases, plus a Classic Mimbres phase denoting the culture after a great deal of outside influence. Between A.D. 200 and A.D. 500, the Pine Lawn Phase, the Mimbres population increased slowly but steadily, but the villages remained small, rarely containing more than sixorsevenpithouses. Theirpithouseswereshal- low and irregularly shaped, their pottery was primi- tive, and their interments contained few artifacts. The Georgetown Phase spanned the period from A.D. 500 to A.D. 700. These people built small, roughly circular pit houses and embellished their pottery by scoring, incising, or punching. Too few burials have been discovered to gain information
about customs. This period was followed by the San Francisco Phase, from A.D. 700 to A.D. 900. The earlier small circular pit houses were replaced by deep rectangular pit houses incorporating a center- pole-supported roof structure. Some painted ceramicswereintroduced,andbrokenvesselsbe- cameapartoftheburialritual. TheThreeCircle Phasefollowedandlastedabout50years. During this short period a black-on-white pottery, which indicated pueblo influence from the north, began to appear. The Three Circle pit houses were shallow and incorporated stone-lined walls and corner-pole
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roof supports.
The Classic Mimbres Phase of the ancient Mogol-
lon Culture was so called for the Mimbres River
where rubble masonry surface structures from this
phase were first discovered. This phase lasted from
about A.D. 950 or A.D. 1000 to about A.D. 1150 or
The Ancient Ones
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The range of habitation (Figure 4) was also
1250.
very limited.
severe, because the author has examined sites east of the Rio Grande, in the Three Rivers area, where Mimbres style pottery sherds were evident. In addi- tion, some sources attributed the petroglyphs found near the same area to belong to the Mimbres culture.
A series of major developments began after A.D.
550. The small villages built on high ground were
gradually abandoned, and new villages were con-
structed just above the floodplain along the
Mimbres River and adjacent to other water sources.
In addition, the practice of interring the dead in the
fill of abandoned dwellings was less evident, and the
deceased were more frequently buried beneath the
floors of pithouses still in use. This practice of bury-
ing the dead in occupied dwellings continued until
the Mimbres disappeared. “ It is quite probable that
the ancient village located next to Cooke’s Spring,
called San Miguel by the Spanish, was of this era or 13
later.
In early Mimbres burials, pottery and other offer-
ings were merely placed adjacent to the body. Later a bowl was frequently broken and the sherds scat- tered throughout the grave. However, by the end of this final period, a small hole was broken or drilled in the bottom of the pottery piece before placing the bowl over the face of the deceased. This practice has been referred to as the “kill hole” in the funerary pieces, and the purpose of this ritual may have been to let the spirit escape. It is to this practice that archaeologists owe some of the most beautiful and
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The boundaries indicated may be too