In a recent North American Archaeologist, Ambler and Sutton (1989) discussed the Anasazi abandonment of the San Juan drainage, attributing the movement of Anasazi peoples to the influx of aggressive Numic speaking populations into the region after about A.D. 1000. This article posits an alternative model of abandonment, using a systems model that deals with the economic and political relationships that existed in the northern Southwest from the 10th to 12th centuries A.D. It is suggested that the collapse of a Pan-Southwestern system of trade and economic relationships, that ultimately had its roots in the Toltec “world system,” was responsible for the collapse of Anasazi polities during this time period. Data are used from the Virgin Anasazi homeland in the northern Southwest to build the model. In addition, comments concerning the utility of the ethnographic models employed by Ambler and Sutton and the seeming weakness of some of the logic of some of their arguments are also discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamsRichard E.1977Prehistoric Mesoamerica, Little, Brown and Company, Boston.
2.
AikensC. Melvin1965Excavations in Southern Utah, University of Utah Anthropological Papers, 76, Salt Lake City.
3.
AikensC. Melvin1966Virgin-Kayenta Cultural Relationships, University of Utah Anthropological Papers, 79, Salt Lake City.
4.
AikensC. Melvin and WitherspoonY. T.1986Great Basin Numic Prehistory: Linguistics, Archaeology and Environment, in Anthropology of the Desert West: Essays in Honor of Jesse D. Jennings, CondieC. J. and FowlerD. D. (eds.), University of Utah Anthropological Papers, 111, pp. 7–21, Salt Lake City.
5.
AmblerRichard and SuttonMark Q.1989The Anasazi Abandonment of the San Juan Drainage and the Numic Expansion, North American Archaeologist, 10: 1, pp. 39–53.
6.
BerginKathleen1979Final Report on the 1978 Archaeological Investigations of the Nellis Air Force Bombing and Gunnery Ranges, Nye, Lincoln and Clark Counties, Nevada, ARC Report 1-8-3, Archaeological Research Center, Museum of Natural History, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
7.
BettingerRobert L. and BaumhoffMartin A.1982The Numic Spread: Great Basin Cultures in Competition, American Antiquity, 47: 3, pp. 485–503.
8.
BettingerRobert L. and KingT. L.1971Interaction and Political Organization: A Theoretical Framework for Archaeology in the Owens Valley, California, Annual Report, Archaeological Survey, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles.
9.
BrandDonald D.1938Aboriginal Trade Routes for Sea Shells in the Southwest, Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, 4, pp. 3–10.
10.
BrennanLynda. n.d. Aboriginal Turquoise Mining at Halloran Springs, manuscript in possession of author, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
11.
ChagnonNapoleon1983Yanomamo: The Fierce People (3rd Edition), Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
12.
ColtonHarold S.1941Prehistoric Trade in the Southwest, Scientific Monthly, April, pp. 308–319.
13.
DalleyGardiner F. and McFaddenDouglas A.1985The Archaeology of the Red Cliffs Site, Cultural Resources Series, No. 17, Bureau of Land Management, Utah State Office, Salt Lake City.
14.
DiPesoCharles C.1968Casas Grandes and the Gran Chichimeca, El Palacio, 75, pp. 37–61.
15.
DiPesoCharles C.1974Casas Grandes: A Fallen Trading Center of the Gran Chichimeca (8 Volumes), Northland Press, Flagstaff.
16.
DoyelDavid E.1980Hohokam Social Organization and the Sedentary to Classic Transition, in Current Issues in Hohokam Prehistory, DoyelD. E. and PlogF. (eds.), Arizona State University Anthropological Research Paper No. 23, pp. 23–40, Tempe.
17.
EllisRobert R. and BerginKathleen1981Project LAME 80F: A Cultural Resource Survey around Boulder Beach Echo Bay, Temple Bar and Cottonwood Cove in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Clark County, Nevada and Mojave County, Arizona, ARC Reports, 1-2-11, Archaeological Research Center, Museum of Natural History, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
18.
EmberCarol R. and EmberMelvin1971The Conditions Favoring Matrilocal vs. Patrilocal Residence, American Anthropologist, 75, pp. 571–594.
19.
EulerR. C.GumermanG. J.KarlstromT. N. V.DeanJ. S. and HevlyR. C.1979The Colorado Plateaus: Cultural Dynamics and Paleoenvironment, Science, 205: 4411, pp. 1089–1101.
20.
FerdonE. N.1955A Trial Survey of Mexican-Southwestern Architectural Parallels, Monographs of the School of American Research, 21, Santa Fe.
21.
FlanneryKent V. and SchoenwetterJames1970Climate and Man in Formative Oaxaca, Archaeology, 23, pp. 44–152.
22.
FowlerDon D.MadsenDavid S., and HattoriEugene1973Prehistory of Southeastern Nevada, Desert Research Institute Publications in the Social Sciences, No. 6, Reno.
23.
FriedMorton1967The Evolution of Political Society, Random House, New York.
24.
HarringtonMark R.1925An Ancient Salt Mine Near St. Thomas, Nevada, Indian Notes, 2: 3, pp. 227–231, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.
25.
HarringtonMark R.1926aWestern Extension of Early Pueblo Culture, Indian Notes, 3: 2, pp. 69–73, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.
26.
HarringtonMark R.1926bAnother Ancient Salt Mine in Nevada, Indian Notes, 3: 4, pp. 221–232. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.
27.
HarringtonMark R.1928Tracing the Pueblo Boundary in Nevada, Indian Notes, 5: 2, pp. 235–240, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.
28.
HarringtonMark R.1929Notes on Turquoise Mines, File No. N-C-CR-BOC-1, Southwest Museum, Los Angeles.
29.
HaydenJulian1930Mesa House, Southwest Museum Papers, 4, Los Angeles.
30.
HayesAlden C.BruggeD. M., and JudgeJames W.1981Archaeological Surveys of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, Publications in Archaeology, Chaco Canyon Studies, 18A, National Park Service, Washington.
HudsonLuanne B.1978“A Quantitative Analysis of Prehistoric Exchange in the Southwestern United States,” Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles.
33.
JohnsonG. A.1973A Test of the Utility on Central Place Theory in Archaeology, in Urban Settlements, TringhamR. S. (ed.), Warner Modular Publications, 5.
34.
JudgeW. James1984New Light on Chaco Canyon, in New Light on Chaco Canyon, NobleD. G. (ed.), School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, pp. 1–12.
35.
KelleyJ. Charles and KelleyE. A.1975An Alternative Hypothesis for the Explanation of Anasazi Culture History, in Collected Papers in Honor of Florence Hawley Ellis, FrisbieJ. E. (ed.), Papers of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico, 2, pp. 178–223.
36.
LarsonDaniel O.1987“An Economic Analysis of the Differential Effects of Population Growth and Climatic Variability among Hunters and Gatherers and Food Producers,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara.
37.
LeonardN. N. and DroverC.1980Prehistoric Turquoise Mining in the Halloran Springs District, San Bernardino County, California, Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 2: 2, pp. 245–256.
38.
LerchMichael K. and WilkePhilip J.1985Archaeological Studies at the Colosseum Mine: Surface Collections and Test Excavations at CA-SBr-4889, −5300, −5301, and −5303, Clark Mountain Range, San Bernardino County, California, UCRARU Report #794, Archaeological Research Unit, University of California-Riverside.
39.
LewisHerbert S.1978Warfare and the Origin of the State: Another Formulation, paper presented at the Post-Plenary Session; The Study of the State, Tenth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, New Delhi, India.
40.
LongwellC. R.PampeyanE. H.BowyerB., and RobertsR.1965Geology and Mineral Deposits of Clark County, Nevada, Nevada Bureau of Mines Bulletin, 62, Mackay School of Mines, University of Nevada-Reno.
41.
LyneisMargaret M.1982aPrehistory in the Southern Great Basin, in Man and Environment in the Great Basin, MadsenD. B. and O'ConnellJ. F. (eds.), SAA Papers, 2, pp. 172–185.
42.
LyneisMargaret M.1982bPrehistoric Southern Nevada Study Units, in An Archaeological Element for the Nevada Historic Preservation Plan, LyneisM. M. (ed.), pp. 161–206, prepared for the Nevada Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, Carson City.
43.
LyneisMargaret M.1984The Western Anasazi Frontier: Cultural Processes along a Prehistoric Boundary, in Exploring the Limits: Frontiers and Boundaries in Prehistory, DeAtleyS. P. and FindlowF. J. (eds.), BAR International Series, 223, pp. 81–92.
44.
LyneisMargaret M.1988Ceramic Production and Exchange among the Virgin Anasazi, paper presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Phoenix.
45.
MathienFrances Joan1986External Contacts and the Chaco Anasazi, in Ripples in the Chichimec Sea: New Considerations of Southwestern-Mesoamerican Interactions, MathienF. J. and McGuireR. H. (eds.), pp. 220–242, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.
46.
McGuireRandall H.1980The Mesoamerican Connection in the Southwest, The Kiva, 46: 1–2, pp. 3–38.
47.
MyhrerKeith1986Evidence for an Increasing Dependence on Agriculture during Virgin Anasazi Occupation in the Moapa Valley, unpublished M.A. Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
48.
PailesR. A. and WhitecottonJ. W.1979The Greater Southwest and the Mesoamerican “World System”: An Exploratory Model of Frontier Relationships, in The Frontier: Comparative Studies, vol. 2, SavageW. W. (ed.), University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
49.
PowersRobert P.GillespieWilliam B., and LeksonStephen H.1983The Outlier Survey: A Regional View of Settlement in the San Juan Basin, in Reports of the Chaco Center, No. 3, National Park Service, Albuquerque.
50.
RaffertyKevin1984On Common Ground: The Las Vegas Valley as a Cultural Frontier in Prehistory, DAS Report 2-5-10, Division of Anthropological Studies, Environmental Research Center, Museum of Natural History, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
51.
RaffertyKevin1985The Las Vegas Valley Revisited: Archaeological Investigations in the Las Vegas Valley, Phase II, DAS Report 2-5-11, Division of Anthropological Studies, Environmental Research Center, Museum of Natural History, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
52.
RaffertyKevin1986New Investigations in the Northern Las Vegas Valley: The Las Vegas Valley Archaeological Survey, Phase III, DAS Report 2-5-12, Division of Anthropological Studies, Environmental Research Center, Museum of Natural History, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
53.
RaffertyKevin1989Virgin Anasazi Sociopolitical Structure, A.D. 1–1150, in The Sociopolitical Structure of Prehistoric Southwestern Societies, UphamS. and LightfootK. (eds.), Westview Press, Boulder.
54.
RaffertyKevin and BlairLynda1984aBilly Goat Peak: An Investigation and Reinterpretation of Virgin Anasazi and Paiute Prehistory and Ethnohistory, DAS Report 2-5-9, Division of Anthropological Studies, Environmental Research Center, Museum of Natural History, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
55.
RaffertyKevin and BlairLynda1984bArchaeological Mitigation of 26CK3115 and 26CK3117, Midby Site Complex, Paradise Valley, Nevada: Final Phase, DAS Report 5-50-4, Division of Anthropological Studies, Environmental Research Center, Museum of Natural History, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
56.
RaffertyKevin and BlairLynda1987Final Report: Archaeological Mitigation at Sites CA-SBr-4889, −5300, −5302, and −5303, Colosseum Mine Project, Clark Mountains, San Bernardino County, California, DAS Report 5-97-2, Division of Anthropological Studies, Environmental Research Center, Museum of Natural History, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
57.
RenfrewColin1975Trade as Action at a Distance: Questions of Integration and Communication, in Ancient Civilization and Trade, SabloffI. A. and Lamberg-KarlovskyC. C. (eds.), University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, pp. 3–59.
58.
RogersMalcolm J.1929Report on an Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Mojave Sink Region, San Diego Museum Papers, 1: 1.
59.
SahlinsMarshall D.1963Poor Man, Rich Man, Big Man, Chief: Political Types in Melanesia and Polynesia, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 5, pp. 285–303.
60.
ServiceElman R.1962Primitive Social Organization, Random House, New York.
61.
ServiceElman R.1975Origin of the State and Civilization, W. W. Norton and Company, New York.
62.
ShutlerRichardJr.1961Lost City: Pueblo Grande de Nevada, Nevada State Museum Anthropological Papers, 5, Carson City.
63.
SingerJ. David1980Accounting for International War: The State of the Discipline, Annual Review of Sociology, 6, pp. 349–367.
64.
SteponaitisVincas1979Location Theory and Complex Chiefdoms: A Mississippian Example, in Mississippian Settlement Patterns, SmithB. (ed.), Academic Press, New York, pp. 417–454.
65.
StoffleRichard W. and DobynsHenry F.1983Nuvugantu: Nevada Indians Comment on the Intermountain Power Project, in Cultural Resource Series, 7, Nevada State Office, Bureau of Land Management, Reno.
66.
StoneConnie L.1987People of the Desert, Canyons, and Pines: Prehistory of the Patayan Country in West-Central Arizona, Cultural Resource Series, 5, Arizona State Office, Bureau of Land Management, Phoenix.
67.
SuttonMark1988“A Consideration of the Numic Spread,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California-Riverside.
68.
ThompsonRichard A. and ThompsonGeorgia Beth1974A Preliminary Report on Excavations in the Grand Canyon National Monument, Sites GC-670, GC-671, and GC-663, manuscript on file, Museum of Southern Utah, Southern Utah State College, Cedar City.
69.
ThompsonRichard A. and ThompsonGeorgia Beth1982The Prehistory and Environment of Southwest Utah, unpublished manuscript, Intersearch, Cedar City, Utah.
70.
TowerDonald Brand1945The use of Marine Mollusca and Their Value in Reconstructing Trade Routes in the American Southwest, Papers of the Excavator's Club, 2, pp. 2–56.
71.
UphamSteadman1982Polities and Power: An Economic and Political History of the Western Pueblo, Academic Press, New York.
72.
UphamSteadman1986Imperialists, Isolationists, World Systems, and Political Realities: Perspectives on Mesoamerican-Southwestern Interaction, in Ripples in the Chichimec Sea: New Considerations of Southwestern-Mesoamerican Interactions, MathienF. J. and McGuireR. H. (eds.), Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, pp. 205–219.
73.
Von BlomJohn L.1929A Toltec God from Nevada, Touring Topics, September.
74.
WallersteinImmanuel1974The Modern World System, Academic Press, New York.
75.
WarrenClaude N.KnackMartha, and Von Till WarrenElizabeth1980A Cultural Resource Overview for the Amargosa-Mojave Basin Planning Units, Cultural Resources Publications: Anthropology-History, Bureau of Land Management, Riverside, California.
76.
WebbMalcolm C.1973The Peten Maya Decline Viewed in the Perspective of State Formation, in The Classic Maya Collapse, CulbertT. P. (ed.), University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, pp. 367–404.
77.
WeigandPhil C.HarbottleGarmon, and SayreE. V.1977Turquoise Sources and Source Analysis: Mesoamerica and the Southwestern U.S.A., in Exchange Systems in Prehistory, EriksonJ. E. and EarleT. K. (eds.), Academic Press, New York.
78.
WestfallDeborah A.1987The Pinenut Site: Virgin Anasazi Archaeology on the Kanab Plateau of Northwestern Arizona, Cultural Resource Series, 4, Bureau of Land Management, Arizona State Office, Phoenix.
79.
WhiteChristopher1974Lower Colorado River Area Aboriginal Warfare and Alliance Dynamics, in ANTAP California Political and Economic Organization, BeanL. J. and KingT. F. (eds.), Ballena Press Anthropological Papers, 2, pp. 111–136, Ramona, California.
80.
WhitecottonJoseph W. and PailesRichard A.1979Mesoamerica as an Historical Unit: A World System Model, paper presènted to the XLIII International Congress of Americanists, Vancouver.
81.
WhitecottonJoseph W. and PailesRichard A.1986New World Precolumbia World Systems, in Ripples in the Chichimec Sea: New Considerations of Southwestern-Mesoamerican Interactions, MathienF. J. and McGuireR. H. (eds.), Academic Press, New York, pp. 183–204.
82.
WolfEric1967Sons of the Shaking Earth (6th Edition), University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
