Warfare and Migration in the Galisteo Basin, AD 1250-1400

George Mason University, Fairfax VA

Investigators

Abstract

With the support of the National Science Foundation James E. Snead and a research team from George Mason University will conduct a three-year archaeological program in northern New Mexico studying the relationship between migration and warfare in Ancestral Pueblo society. The issue of conflict in human culture has recently attracted considerable attention, and archaeology provides one of the few means of studying this phenomenon as it existed in the ancient world. The study of warfare in the Pueblo past is particularly interesting, since in the modern era their culture is famously "peaceful": evidence has accumulated, however, that these conditions did not always prevail in earlier eras. Sensational reports have argued for the presence of extreme violence and even cannibalism in the ancient Southwest. What continues to elude us, however, is a detailed understanding of how conflict played out in particular circumstances. What conditions promote the outbreak of warfare? And what leads to its cessation? Archaeologists have advocated various causes, such as environmental stress, but relatively little attention has been placed on the role of social and political factors in promoting violence in the past. Migration is a primary element in many modern conflicts, as well as a process that has been part of human interaction for millennia. This was also true for the Southwest, where during the 13th century AD the traditional population centers in southwestern Colorado and parts of adjacent states were abandoned in favor of newer areas, including the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Widespread drought was a factor in this migration, but does not provide a clear explanation. Complex political processes are thus implicated. We also have increasing evidence that conflict characterized the process of setting up new settlements in the Rio Grande and elsewhere. This suggests that migration itself - which disrupted traditional relationships, both cultural and economic - played a key role in the spread of warfare during this era. This research program focuses on Burnt Corn Pueblo, an Ancestral Pueblo village established by migrants at the end of the 13th century AD and destroyed shortly afterwards. Located in the Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe, the site contains critical information for the understanding of this process. Work will be conducted at three scales: excavation in the ruins themselves, to gain a better understanding of its occupation and destruction; survey in the surrounding hinterland, to explore the structure of the settlement and use of the land, particularly to evaluate perceptions of "threat" held by the inhabitants; and examination of other residential sites in the broader region, to clarify relationships between contemporary populations. This latter project will require study of previously-excavated collections now housed in the Museum of New Mexico. Additional goals of the project include the training of undergraduate students from George Mason, both in field strategies and in laboratory techniques back at the university. Ultimately this project will provide a window on the relationship between warfare and migration in Ancestral Pueblo society, and thereby expand our knowledge of these processes in the broader human context.