Patricia A. Gilman

Early procurement of scarlet macaws and the emergence of social complexity in Chaco Canyon, NM

Significance New accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) 14C dates of scarlet macaw (Ara macao) skeletons from Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico reveal the earliest (A.D. 900–975) direct evidence for procurement of this Neotropical species by Pueblo people from Mesoamerica. By directly dating the macaws, we demonstrate the existence of long-distance acquisition networks throughout much (A.D. 900–1150) of Chaco’s history. In contrast to models of societal evolution that attribute procurement of macaws to the 11th-century peak of Chacoan influence and architectural expansion, most 14C dates significantly predate this period. We propose that access to and control of these important status markers from Mesoamerica before A.D. 1040 was thus linked to the early formalization of social hierarchy in Chaco. High-precision accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) 14C dates of scarlet macaw (Ara macao) skeletal remains provide the first direct evidence from Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico that these Neotropical birds were procured from Mesoamerica by Pueblo people as early as ∼A.D. 900–975. Chaco was a prominent prehistoric Pueblo center with a dense concentration of multistoried great houses constructed from the 9th through early 12th centuries. At the best known great house of Pueblo Bonito, unusual burial crypts and significant quantities of exotic and symbolically important materials, including scarlet macaws, turquoise, marine shell, and cacao, suggest societal complexity unprecedented elsewhere in the Puebloan world. Scarlet macaws are known markers of social and political status among the Pueblos. New AMS 14C-dated scarlet macaw remains from Pueblo Bonito demonstrate that these birds were acquired persistently from Mesoamerica between A.D. 900 and 1150. Most of the macaws date before the hypothesized apogeal Chacoan period (A.D. 1040–1110) to which they are commonly attributed. The 10th century acquisition of these birds is consistent with the hypothesis that more formalized status hierarchies developed with significant connections to Mesoamerica before the post-A.D. 1040 architectural florescence in Chaco Canyon.

Mogollon Village Revisited: Recent Chronometric Results and Interpretations

ABSTRACTIn 1933 Emil Haury conducted excavations at Mogollon Village that began to establish the Mogollon as a distinct region and to develop the current phase sequence. Haurys tree-ring cutting dates document occupation at the site for roughly 160 years (a.d. 736 to 898). Recent chronometric dates from Mogollon Village, including archaeomagnetic, radiocarbon, and obsidian hydration, identify occupations prior to a.d. 700 and document structures that span a period between a.d. 120 and 898. The site may have been used as early as 400 b.c. We are aware of no other pit structure site in the region that has some level of use for over 1000 years and is not capped by Pueblo period use. This extensive occupational range provides a foundation for future investigations into settlement and subsistence in the region.

Multiple Dimensions of the Archaic-to-Pit Structure Period Transition in Southeastern Arizona

ABSTRACTMany archaeologists have noted a major discontinuity throughout the Southwest between the Late Archaic (1500 to 1 B.C.) and the Pit Structure (A.D. 1 to 1050) periods, perhaps largely because of the addition of ceramics to the artifact assemblage. The discontinuity has been interpreted as the time when agriculture changed from casual to intensive, wild foods became much less important in the diet, and people practiced residential sedentism for much or all of the year. Data from surveys that the author has conducted in the northern San Simon drainage of southeastern Arizona, however, suggest that the Late Archaic and Pit Structure period settlement patterns are more similar to each other than either is to Middle Archaic or post-Pit Structure period settlement patterns. In contrast to similarities in the settlement patterns, the artifact assemblage—including ceramics, chipped stone, and architecture—changes from the Late Archaic to the Pit Structure period. The continuation of the artifact trends th...

A REEVALUATION OF THE MOGOLLON-MIMBRES ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEQUENCE**Contribution No. 24 of the Mimbres Foundation

Abstract A new series of radiocarbon and tree-ring dates from the Mimbres area of the Mogollon region has modified the accepted chronology in the area. Recent work in the Mogollon-Mimbres area has firmly established the existence of a plain ware pit house period dated about a.d. 200–550. The dates of phases between a.d. 550–1000 have been modified, and the termination of the Classic period is dated at a.d. 1150. The Mangas phase is dropped, and it is shown that black-on-white ceramics and puebloan architecture do not appear almost simultaneously as previously believed. These changes have implications for the investigation of past settlement subsistence and social interaction patterns in southwestern New Mexico.

Re-evaluating the Mimbres Region Prehispanic Chronometric Record

Many decades of archaeological research in the Mimbres region have resulted in hundreds of chronometric dates obtained from contexts dating prior to A.D. 1450, but until now these data have not been compiled into a single database. Using dendrochronological, radiocarbon, and archaeomagnetic dates, we analyze each of the chronometric data sets to identify patterns and biases that help us better understand the tempo and duration of fundamental transitions in the Mimbres archaeological record. We also identify critical gaps in our knowledge of the chronometric record that provide new research opportunities.

Archaeogenomic evidence from the southwestern US points to a pre-Hispanic scarlet macaw breeding colony

Significance Archaeogenomic analysis of scarlet macaw bones demonstrates that the genetic diversity of these birds acquired by people in the southwestern United States (SW) between 900 and 1200 CE was exceedingly low. Only one mitochondrial DNA haplogroup (Haplo6) is present of the five historically known haplogroups in the lowland forests of Mexico and Central America. Phylogenetic analyses indicate the ancient macaw lineage in the SW shared genetic affinities with this wild lineage. These data support the hypothesis that a translocated breeding colony of scarlet macaws belonging to only one haplogroup existed some distance north of their endemic range, and SW peoples continuously acquired these birds from this unknown location for nearly 3 centuries, as no evidence currently exists for macaw breeding in SW. Hundreds of scarlet macaw (Ara macao cyanoptera) skeletons have been recovered from archaeological contexts in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico (SW/NW). The location of these skeletons, >1,000 km outside their Neotropical endemic range, has suggested a far-reaching pre-Hispanic acquisition network. Clear evidence for scarlet macaw breeding within this network is only known from the settlement of Paquimé in NW dating between 1250 and 1450 CE. Although some scholars have speculated on the probable existence of earlier breeding centers in the SW/NW region, there has been no supporting evidence. In this study, we performed an ancient DNA analysis of scarlet macaws recovered from archaeological sites in Chaco Canyon and the contemporaneous Mimbres area of New Mexico. All samples were directly radiocarbon dated between 900 and 1200 CE. We reconstructed complete or near-complete mitochondrial genome sequences of 14 scarlet macaws from five different sites. We observed remarkably low genetic diversity in this sample, consistent with breeding of a small founder population translocated outside their natural range. Phylogeographic comparisons of our ancient DNA mitogenomes with mitochondrial sequences from macaws collected during the last 200 years from their endemic Neotropical range identified genetic affinity between the ancient macaws and a single rare haplogroup (Haplo6) observed only among wild macaws in Mexico and northern Guatemala. Our results suggest that people at an undiscovered pre-Hispanic settlement dating between 900 and 1200 CE managed a macaw breeding colony outside their endemic range and distributed these symbolically important birds through the SW.