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5. The Late Coalition and Earliest Classic on the Pajarito Plateau (A.D. 1250–1375)
- University of New Mexico Press
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173 T his chapter discusses the radical changes taking place during periods (–), (–), and (–) as recognized by the Bandelier Archaeological Survey (BAS). The last of these is the first portion of the period traditionally called the Early Classic . In many respects the way of life practiced in period represents the final reprise of the Early Coalition under greatly changed conditions. Profound changes in the material, social, and probably the spiritual aspects of life on the Pajarito gradually emerge from the turmoil of the late s and early s and relative stability is achieved in Bandelier around A.D. ,marking the real beginnings here of the Classic period and the onset of the way of life seen by the first Spanish explorers. Understanding the emergence of that way of life, in the Late Coalition and earliest Classic, is one of the largest challenges facing southwestern archaeologists. C H A P T E R F I V E The Late Coalition and Earliest Classic on the Pajarito Plateau (A.D. 1250–1375) Timothy A. Kohler and Matthew J. Root There towards the north, There the fog is lying, There the fog is lying. In the middle stands Blue Corn Happily, prettily, she is singing Ha-we-ra-na na-a-se —A Corn Grinding Song of Tesuque (Spinden 1933 [1976]:78) Regional Perspectives from the Bandelier Survey and PARP Prior to the recent Bandelier survey, it was assumed that population size on the Pajarito grew rapidly to a peak in the Late Coalition or Early Classic before beginning a smooth decline (e.g., Hill et al. :). And when the BAS data are merged with Pajarito Archaeological Research Project (PARP) data by broad traditional time periods, this is still the sort of curve seen (Orcutt a: Figure .), with a population peak (estimated through room block area uncorrected for changing duration of occupation) in the Late Coalition. Then Orcutt unveiled estimates of total population for Bandelieraloneby theshorter periods recognized by survey , correcting for probable changing durations of occupation (Orcutt a:Figure . top). Most Rio Grande archaeologists were surprised to see that the rapid increase in population expected in the Early Coalition was apparently followed by a crash in period back to the levels of the early s before climbing to a maximum in period and then declining slightly in period . Given the weakness of the calibration data available to Orcutt, there is always the possibility that the ceramic criteria for recognizing sites in period are in error; only further excavation on the Pajarito resulting in independently dated collectionswillresolvethisquestion.Forthemoment,however ,Orcutt’s high-resolution estimates are the best available . It is worth pointing out that in some other areas of the Southwest (e.g., Dolores) where excavation data are stronger, considerable movement in and out of areas roughly the size of Bandelier on time scales of one or two generations can be monitored that would be completely lost in a low-temporal-resolution reconstruction. Period 5: A.D. 1250–1290 Are there climatic causes for this emigration? This is not an easy question to answer. It is not enough to find some portions of the A.D. to period that are unfavorable . Tree-ring reconstructions of high-frequency variability in the Pajarito area reviewed in chapter and by Orcutt (a) do portray the late s locally as dry, but so was the Colorado Plateau. On the Pajarito this period in fact seems to lack the long sequences of extremely dry years experienced, for example, from A.D. to and in the mid-4s, when local populations appear to have been relatively high. Period does stand out in one respect, however. Only two periods ( and ) in the occupation have Palmer Drought Severity Indices with both means and variances below the period average (Orcutt a). (The Palmer Drought Severity Index, or PDSI, is a relative measure of meteorological drought. The estimates used by Orcutt were July values generated for the general Northern Rio Grande region and are based on tree-ring sequences from Chama, Tres Piedras, Taos, El Rito, Canjilon Ranger Station, Española,Wolf Canyon, Santa Fe, Jemez Springs, Bandelier National Monument, and Pecos [Rose et al. :]). Only period , during which Bandelier was completely abandoned, has a lower mean. To firmly implicate climatic change as the chief culprit in any period emigration, however, we would have to demonstrate that it caused some neighboring areas receiving population at this time to become more attractive than Bandelier. Since Bandelier offers a quite variable environment with local...