From Prehistoric Villages to Cities by Birch Jennifer

Author:Birch, Jennifer
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781135045104
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

6

Social Integration and the Built Environment of Aggregated Communities in the North American Puebloan Southwest

Alison E. Rautman

The archaeological record of Puebloan groups in the American Southwest shows two widespread and broadly shared periods of population aggregation: an initial development of small farming villages and a later period of nucleation into the high-density settlements that the Spanish referred to as pueblos, or towns (e.g., Cordell et al. 1994). In general, the Spanish explorers, conquerors, and missionaries seem to have viewed each pueblo as a relatively well-organized and integrated community, with internal governance and varied relationships with neighboring groups. The Spanish also recognized that shared religious beliefs and communal rituals were important in creating a sense of community within each pueblo. Some of these rituals and activities were private, involving only selected individuals in the secluded space of an interior ceremonial room or kiva (Adams 1991). Other activities on the plaza involved larger groups and were visible to all pueblo residents and even visitors. The Spanish recognized pueblo plazas as open areas similar to their own marketplaces or town squares—that is, areas that functioned in part as a symbol and expression of the community as a whole (Adler 1996; Adler and Wilshusen 1990; Barrett 2002).

The Spanish made inferences of pueblo social and political organization based on comparisons with their own experiences of the associations between social life and the features of the built environment in Spain and in Mexico. In many cases, their immediate impressions of Pueblo Indian life were perceptive and accurate (Foster 1960). As one might expect, however, they were likely less aware of other differences in organization within and between pueblo villages. They were also less aware of cultural differences in the significance or meaning of their observations.

When archaeologists consider more ancient time periods in Puebloan history, they similarly interpret evidence in light of their own knowledge of specific case studies and a general cross-cultural understanding of small-scale village organization. Some of these cross-cultural studies include specifically the study of architecture, the built environment of domestic and communal structures, and people's use of space within the village itself (e.g., Moore 1996; Reed 1956).

In this chapter, I use some of these ideas of the built environment to identify some basic principles of village layout and space use that seem to have been important for the first aggregated villages in my study area, the Salinas province of central New Mexico. In this region, there are two overall phases or periods of population aggregation and village formation. The earlier period, from about AD 1100 to 1350, is the time in which people first built the contiguous apartment-style dwellings that the Spanish recognized as pueblos. During the second period of aggregation, after about AD 1400, most of these small pueblos were abandoned, and the remaining villages grew markedly in size. Three of the large late pueblos in the area are preserved today as Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, and are known as Abo, Quarai, and Gran Quivira. In this study, I consider particularly the first period of aggregation and village formation in the area around Gran Quivira (Figure 6.

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