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The Search for Anasazi Village Origins: Basketmaker II Dwelling Aggregation on Cedar Mesa

1994; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 60; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00231940.1994.11758269

2051-6177

Karen M. Dohm,

Archaeology and Rock Art Studies

Before there were villages, there must have been dwelling aggregates with characteristics that served as a basis for later village spatial and social organization. This paper reports survey evidence of an early Anasazi neighborhood containing at least 14 Basketmaker II pit houses, most of which are arranged in clusters of two or three dwellings. These settlements (A D. 200 to A.D. 400) are important to the understanding of local village origins because they may predate the first Anasazi villages. Contemporaneity of dwellings within each of the small clusters offers a good explanation for the similarity in spatial layout of the pit houses, ancillary features, and artifact scatters, including the similar sizes of the habitation areas, the similar cardinal orientation among features, and the absence of overlap among dwelling areas. Each dwelling cluster may have been a hamlet, and if some hamlets were also contemporaneous, then Anasazi villages may have originated in neighborhoods like the one described here.