The
Spread of Maize to the Colorado Plateau (page 2 of 2)
Author: R.G. Matson, from: Matson, R.G. 1999. The Spread of Maize to the Colorado Plateau. Archaeology Southwest 13: 10-11.
Basketmaker II Subsistence and Ethnicity
BM II subsistence has been the subject of controversy in the past. Some scholars have long held that at least some BM II groups in northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado must have been maize-dependent agriculturists, while others argued that extensive maize use did not occur until A.D. 1000. Recent research has put this controversy to rest, and convincing evidence has accumulated that BM II populations all across the Colorado Plateau were dependent on maize. At Cedar Mesa, Utah, for example, four independent lines of evidence from analyses of settlement patterns, human coprolites, midden materials, and stable carbon isotope concentrations in human remains all indicated that maize cultivation played a major role in subsistence.
Geographic contrasts in BM II material culture have been recognized, and clear "ethnic" distinctions between Eastern and Western variants of BM II are seen in perishable items such as basketry and cordage. In addition, there are a number of similarities between Eastern BM II assemblages and those of earlier Colorado Plateau Archaic manifestations. They include projectile point types, cribbed roof pithouses, one-rod-and-bundle-stacked basketry foundations, and some cordage types. Western BM II manifestations do not exhibit these same affinities with earlier indigenous materials (click here for figure).
However, some items of Western BM II material culture are similar to those found in San Pedro phase assemblages from southern Arizona, including projectile points, two-rod-and-bundle basketry, and some sandal types. Thus Eastern BM II groups appear to be the descendants of local Archaic populations, while Western BM II can be argued to represent (at least in part) the descendants of migrants from the south, groups who probably introduced maize cultivation to the Colorado Plateau. The idea that BM II derived from San Pedro Cochise was first seriously proposed by Earl Morris and Robert Burgh in the 1950s and more recently by Claudia and Michael Berry.
Further support for this hypothesis comes from a variety of sources. Studies of dentition patterns by Christy Turner of Arizona State University show that Western BM II populations share more genetic similarities with central Mexican populations than with Eastern BM II. Perishable items and projectile points from McEuen Cave (Huckell, Huckell, and Shackley, 1999) appear similar to both San Pedro Cochise and Western BM II, and linguistic evidence is also consistent with an interpretation of San Pedro Cochise-Western Basketmaker II relationships (Hill, 1999). Finally, pre-BM II direct dates on maize have been derived from Colorado Plateau sites within or near Western BM II territory. Although the associated material culture is not sufficiently distinctive to provide conclusive evidence, such sites as Lukachukai and Salinas Springs may represent early southern migrants.
To summarize, most BM II groups are now known to have been maize-dependent agriculturists. No longer can the Anasazi tradition be thought of as being descended from indigenous hunter-gatherers who became dependent on agriculture only after the BM II stage. The origin of maize cultivation on the Colorado Plateau now appears to have much more direct links to Mexico. The new discovery of maize-dependent agriculture "villages" in the Basin the Range Province shows that these are both earlier and of a greater size than previously recognized, certainly much larger and earlier than the earliest BM II villages dating to A.D. 100. The origin of the Pueblo cultures can now be seen in part as the end result of Mexican maize-growers filling up the niche of the floodwater arable land (at least where the population density of indigenous hunter-gatherers was not high). Although the Eastern BMII do appear to be descendent from indigenous groups, Western BM II most likely derives from one or more migrations of San Pedro Cochise peoples to the Colorado Plateau. Our further understanding of the evolution of the Anasazi is now dependent in part on discovering the timing and character of these migrations. The traditional view of Anasazi developments prior to about A.D. 1100 as essentially independent of Mexico is clearly no longer viable.
Literature Cited
:Hard, R.J. and Roney, J.R. 1999. Cerro Juanaqueña. Archaeology Southwest 13: 4-5.
Hill, J. 1999. Linguistics. Archaeology Southwest 13: 8.
Huckell, B.B., Huckell, L.W., and Shackley, M.S. 1999. McEuen Cave. Archaeology Southwest 13: 12.