The Classic Mimbres Period in the Eastern Mimbres Area: Evidence from Ceramics, Architecture, and Settlement

Classic Mimbres (ca. AD 1010-mid 1100s) archaeology from the eastern Mimbres area is summarized in comparison to the Mimbres Valley. Focus is on material from sites excavated by the Eastern Mimbres Archaeological Project, including Avilas Canyon, Flying Fish, and Pague Well, and also the Berrenda Creek site. The eastern Mimbres is definitively part of the Mimbres tradition, although there is variability that patterns spatially. Analyses reveal differences between sites and subregions. Intersite differences include groundstone in walls, adobe collars on hearths, and square partitions in corners of rooms. In comparison to the Mimbres Valley, the eastern Mimbres has less intensive settlement, and less evidence of ritual, though clear continuity between the Classic and subsequent Postclassic. These different characteristics are attributed to different social practices, including land tenure systems which engender social inequality that were present in the Mimbres Valley but not the eastern Mimbres.