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A large multi-ethnic hilltop village site, or grand rancheria, in the Hueco Mountains of southern New Mexioc and southwest Texas provides evidence of intercultural interaction during the late 1700s and earlier Occupied by the Apache and renegade segments of the local nomadic groups of Plains origin, this site, with its 275 features, conveys the sta...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... are made with an interesting process that combines expedient and, as noted by Borden (1952:32), "thrifty" (also see (Figure 13, far left). This same tech nique has been noted for Lipan assemblages (Tunnell and Newcomb 1969:122). ...
Context 2
... are triangular in cross section and taper to a point toward one end. They are made on burinated flakes or blades ( Figure 13, second from left). Of ten crushing, grinding, or breakage is noticeable on the ends indicating that they served as gravers, drills, or perforators. ...
Context 3
... Rojo Complex projectile points are con sistently small very thin side-notched and tri notched triangular forms, often between 20 and 25 mm long ( Figure 19). Lateral edges are straight or slightly convex, never serrated. ...
Context 4
... have their closest affinities to the Harrell, Washita, and Desert Side-notched traditions but their dis tinctiveness in a variety of ways provides the basis for suggesting new point classifications. The Desert Side-notched form, or Gileno Side-notched, is rare in this area and none of these are known from the Cerro Rojo site (Figure 19, top left). They tend to be found west of the Rio Grande and occasionally in the mountains (such as the Franklins) immedi ately east of the river. ...
Citations
... These trade trips would usually include small groups of mostly men. During these trips, the Puebloan traders would take part in bison hunts or conduct searches for Comanche, Apache, or Ute camps (Eiselt, 2012;Ford, 1972;Montgomery, 2021;Seymour, 2014). These trips onto the Plains were dangerous because not all mobile groups were friendly to the Puebloan traders, and these trips could involve loss of horses, supplies, personal freedom, or even the lives of these Puebloan travelers (Brooks, 2002). ...
Many Indigenous groups in North America have long-held practices of using migration and movement in response to environmental and social changes. Diasporic communities, composed of migrants maintaining significant connections to their former homelands, were likely once common in refuge areas of North America, but not always recognized by archaeologists. Many Puebloan peoples in the Northern Rio Grande region of the US Southwest used movement as a way to escape Spanish colonial control after AD 1600, yet retained connections to their homelands. This Puebloan diaspora had far-reaching consequences for Native peoples across the Southwest and neighboring regions like the Great Plains. Here, we briefly summarize how diasporas are defined globally and the ways in which these definitions could shift to help us model diasporas in North America. Using the Pueblo diaspora and a multi-generational Pueblo–Ndee (Apache) community in the Central Great Plains as example, we explore the intricacies of identifying diasporas for North America within the contexts of Indigenous resistance and adaptation.
... River groups were Apache (Ndee; Gunnerson 1968Gunnerson , 1987O'Brien 1984;Wedel 1959Wedel , 1982, an interpretation widely accepted these days (Brunswig 1995(Brunswig , 2012Eiselt 2012;Gilmore and Larmore 2012;Scheiber 2006;Seymour 2004). 1) recent evaluation of evidence supports "the contention that the Dismal River complex is situated correctly in time and space for an association with Athapaskan-speaking groups." ...
Nineteen obsidian artifacts from surface contexts of probable Dismal River complex sites in the Sand Hills of Nebraska were analyzed via energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry. The artifacts derive from six distinct geological volcanic glass sources. One of the artifacts was made from ash-flow tuff obsidian of the Brown’s Bench chemical type and another from Wild Horse Canyon, Utah obsidian, representing the first documented use of these western source materials in Nebraska. Southwestern obsidian sources are less well represented than those to the west of Nebraska in this study sample, indicating that more than one pattern of obsidian use and conveyance may have existed during the Dismal River complex.
... Temporary communities are commonplace among transitory populations where mobile groups visit one another or intermittently congregate for large gatherings repeatedly through the years, representing important aspects of the social landscape. The Cerro Rojo site is an example of a location where multiple Apache and non-Apache bands and hundreds of people coalesced briefly for special purposes off and on for centuries (Seymour 2004(Seymour , 2008. ...
... cultures will be referred to as Diné and Dene, respectively. Modern archaeologists (e.g., Brunswig 1995;Eiselt 2012;Gilmore and Larmore 2012;Scheiber 2006;Seymour 2004a) generally accept Ndee origins for the Dismal River complex; however, limited evaluation of the evidence supporting this conclusion has occurred. This paper reviews the cultural affiliation of the Dismal River complex within the broader context of Athapaskan migration and evaluates current evidence (i.e., chronology, house form, baking pits, dietary preference, and micaceous ceramics) used in this debate (Figure 1). ...
... Of course, a key set of data missing from our current analysis is a discussion of lithics. Seymour (2004a) argues for using chipped stone tools to first identify mobile groups; however, Dismal River lithics have not been extensively studied and sufficient comparative data do not currently exist. Dismal River lithic assemblages may contain artifacts and assemblage traits similar to materials found in Northern and Southern Dene communities, but further analysis is needed (e.g., Matson and Magne 2007). ...
Researchers debating whether Dismal River people of the Central Plains were culturally affiliated with Ndee (Apache) groups have used evidence from site chronology, house form, baking pit use, and dietary preference. This paper assesses the quality of evidence traditionally used by prior researchers. We conclude that the archaeological features traditionally used to argue for a Dismal River–Apache association are highly variable in expression and should not be treated as emblematic of Ndee ethnicity. Despite the variability observed in the Dismal River record, evidence still supports the contention that the Dismal River complex is situated correctly in time and space for an association with Athapaskan-speaking groups.
... To determine the degree to which Late Prehistoric groups utilized available plant species as food resources, the recorded diet of the historic Mescalero Apache is used for comparative analysis. This group was selected because the Mescalero Apache are historically known to be hunter-gatherers (Basehart 1960;Castetter and Bell 1936); the tribal group occupied the Chihuahuan Desert (Basehart 1960;Castetter and Bell 1936); there is ethnohistoric and archeological evidence for the displacement, absorption, or both, of peoples by Apache groups already occupying the Eastern Trans-Pecos (Mallouf 1999;Miller and Kenmotsu 2004;Seymour 2004); and ethnographic studies are available that provide extensive botanical diet information (i.e., Basehart 1960;Castetter and Opler 1936). ...
The Eastern Trans-Pecos archeological region of Texas is an area rich in botanical diversity, a resource heavily utilized by both prehistoric and historic hunter-gatherers. A comparison of four paleoethnobotanical investigations of archeological sites dating to the Late Prehistoric Era (A.D. 900-1535) with ethnobotanical information of the Mescalero Apache reveal that the botanical component of prehistoric and historic diets have been similar for the past 1,000 years. Differences in the degree of similarity can be contributed to differential preservation and analytical techniques. Further, ecological sites from the Ecological Site Information System are demonstrated as a novel and useful tool for landscape-scale archeological analysis.
... As a result of this multi-year survey, I have identified evidence of mobile group encampments around the perimeter of the Jumano as well as non-Jumano pueblos in the region. This evidence is consistent with mobile group signatures defined elsewhere in the Southwest and western margin of the Plains (Seymour 2004(Seymour , 2008a(Seymour , 2009a(Seymour , 2009b(Seymour , 2009c(Seymour , 2010a(Seymour , 2010b(Seymour , 2013a. One of the mobile group encampments, site La 152447, is located near Pueblo Blanco (LA 51) which is thought to be the historically referenced Tabirá (Howard 1960;Figure 2). ...
... 'The perishable dwellings would make Apache camps difficult to find and even then an ethnic or temporal identification might be impossible' (Wilson 1975:15). Yet, these 'wickiup-type brush constructions' can in fact be identified archaeologically and their signatures have been well documented (Seymour 2004(Seymour , 2008a(Seymour , 2009a(Seymour , 2009b(Seymour , 2009c(Seymour , 2010b(Seymour , 2013aSeymour and Robertson 2008). ...
... Many other archaeologists expect even the most mobile of groups to have signatures that are more robust than they actually are, especially when a visiting location was returned to annually. Yet, examples of large Apache sites repeatedly used through the years show that there are only incremental increases in visibility that do not approximate the robustness or exhibit the character of Puebloan structures and sites (e.g., Seymour 2004Seymour , 2013a. In other words, these structural remains are still unobtrusive and curvilinear (see below) and as such are distinctive from Puebloan structures. ...
For some time archaeologists have sought evidence of interactions noted in Spanish documents between mobile groups and the Eastern Frontier Pueblos specifically at the Salinas Pueblos. Most effort has focused on the examination and excavation of the pueblos themselves, either under the assumption that visitors routinely lived within the pueblos or because evidence of mobile visitors around and outside the pueblo has not been forthcoming. Surveys over the past decade have revealed evidence of mobile group encampments at the perimeter of these pueblos, consistent with mobile group signatures defined elsewhere in the region. One example described in this article, site LA 152447 is located near and within the influence zone of the pueblo inferred to be the historically referenced Tabirá. This site is a large mobile group encampment with numerous structures. Site LA 152447 is described and discussed with reference to documentary and ethnographic data. Implications for recognizing these types of mobile group sites are discussed.
... The categories range from large multi-band assembly sites that were used intermittently for centuries to large base camps and their associated small temporary encampments, some with one or two hut outlines. These recent studies provide insights into the breadth of possible mobility patterns that hunter-gatherers practiced and at the same time they address the issue of identifying the archaeological signatures of relatively ephemeral residential sites (Seymour 2004(Seymour , 2008a(Seymour , 2009a(Seymour , 2009b(Seymour , 2009c(Seymour , 2009d(Seymour , 2010a(Seymour , 2012a. ...
The Hormiguero site is a large mountainside Apache residential site in the Peloncillo Mountains of southern Arizona that lies in the heart of historically documented Chiricahua Apache territory. It represents an encampment at an important caching location, a category of residential site that has not been previously described archaeologically. Ethnographic data are enlisted to understand this unique type of Apache residential site and a previously unknown cache form-the platform cache. Archaeological evidence is combined from a number of sites with caches like those at Hormiguero to interpret aspects of cultural identity and chronology including the presence of ancestral Apaches in southern Arizona as early as the 14th century A.D.
... Apache hut signatures in the American Southwest remain contentious and are often not accepted as cultural even though hundreds have now been identified (e.g., Seymour 2002Seymour , 2004Seymour , 2009aSeymour , 2010a. This is because they are difficult to recognize and do not meet accepted standards of classification for "dwellings." ...
... Clearly, many different forms of wickiups were used in this circumstance that archaeologists might also classify as different house or shelter types on the basis of their remnant form. These photographically documented house forms correspond to three archaeological types based on their physical imprint (see Seymour 2002Seymour , 2004. The long elongate dome-shaped construction shown in Fig. 1 consists archaeologically of a flat clearing on an otherwise rocky surface. ...
... Whereas Figs. 1 and 2 showed the same wickiup from the same angle in 1886 and 1991, Fig. 7c shows this cultural feature from the north to illustrate its character today. This photographically documented, historically described and pinpointed feature matches the attributes typical of features previously referred to as "structural clearings" or "sleeping circles" by others and myself, including at the Cerro Rojo Site and the Cochise-Howard Treaty Site, (Seymour 2002(Seymour , 2004Seymour and Robertson 2008) (Fig. 8a and c). If there is any doubt remaining about its cultural nature, this feature also contains artifacts specifically indicative of the era of the event and of use and manufacture by the native occupants (1881 Indian head coin, worked glass, and stone artifacts). ...
Photographs and documentary accounts relating to Geronimo’s 1886 attempted surrender at the Cañon de los Embudos site are used to explore the archaeological nature of structure or hut imprints. These primary written and visual sources provide a basis for understanding the extremely unobtrusive nature of these shelter remains. Archaeological footprints from this site today reveal that house construction patterns are consistent with mobile groups in general when under circumstances similar to those at the surrender site.
... 60-61, 110;Matson and Schroeder 1957, p. 342) where multiple bands resided for special purposes. Others are resource procurement or caching locations where people stayed for a short period but returned periodically (Seymour 2013), and still others represent settlement overlays where smaller bands or local groups congregated occasionally but repeatedly (Seymour 2004;Seymour and Henderson 2010). ...
... One of these sites (the Hormiguero site; AZ CC:12:58) in the Peloncillo Mountains overlooks key indigenous and Spanish travel routes and dates to the mid 1600s and early 1700s (Seymour 2008(Seymour , 2013. A moderately large habitation site (41EP396) dating to 1710-90CE period in the Franklin Mountains near El Paso is situated in a rocky saddle high above and overlooking the valley where riverside mission settlements were located (Seymour , 2004. At the Cerro Rojo site (LA 37188) defensive walls, ramparts, and its remote location in the Hueco Mountains east of El Paso provide evidence of this huge 200-plus-structure site's defensive posture during the 1400-1800CE period (Seymour , 2004(Seymour , 2009a. ...
... A moderately large habitation site (41EP396) dating to 1710-90CE period in the Franklin Mountains near El Paso is situated in a rocky saddle high above and overlooking the valley where riverside mission settlements were located (Seymour , 2004. At the Cerro Rojo site (LA 37188) defensive walls, ramparts, and its remote location in the Hueco Mountains east of El Paso provide evidence of this huge 200-plus-structure site's defensive posture during the 1400-1800CE period (Seymour , 2004(Seymour , 2009a. Here a large burned-rock midden suggests that hilltop communal fires were not yet a concern in these especially remote locations. ...
Contradictions exist among primary sources as to the locations of historical Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache encampments. Modern elders state that residential sites were situated in low settings at the base of elevated landforms, whereas textual sources and archaeology suggest otherwise for much of the historic period and before. This contradiction is resolved when it is realized that Chiricahua cultural-specialist knowledge relating to key aspects of landscape use pertains to the last 25 years before Geronimo’s final surrender and removal to the east. This was a time of substantial and increased pressure from the American military using more effective tactics following the Civil War. These tactics included cooperation with Mexico, use of Apache scouts, deeper penetration of the mountains, and more persistent pursuit. Land claims interviews of Chiricahua informants from the 1950s mention this shift from high to low and the reason for it. This case study illustrates the importance of (a) seriating source material rather than assuming long-term continuity, (b) subjecting all sources, including elder knowledge, to standard forms of criticism, and (c) analyzing differences between informant factions.
... The sedentary Sobaípuri (Seymour 2004a(Seymour , b, 2007a(Seymour , b, 2008d) establish a basis for comparison between these sedentary farmers and the contemporaneous mobile groups with respect to the way the built environment organized space and served as the focal point for activities. This group, whose distinctive pattern is visible between 1400 and the 1770s, is an interesting point of contrast because the material record of the Sobaípuri looks superficially flimsy, requiring little investment in labor, and so appears indicative of a transitory lifeway. ...
... The first group examined here represents the highly mobile occupants associated with the Canutillo complex. These likely represent one or more of the non-Athapaskan groups referenced for the area by the Spaniards (most likely the Jano or Jocome) in southern Arizona (Seymour 2002a(Seymour , 2004a(Seymour , b, 2007a(Seymour , 2008c. These non-Athapaskan mobile groups had a durable biface-and formal-tool oriented flaked-stone technology, small expedient groundstone, and small rock-ringed structures or clearings in a rocky surface, as have been recorded on sites from southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and southwest Texas (Seymour 2002a(Seymour , 2009a. ...
... A second group is represented by the seasonally transhumanant ancestral Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache or early Athapaskan occupants (Cerro Rojo complex; Seymour 2002aSeymour , 2004a. Four strategies are recognizable with regard to settlement choice and site layout that are temporally dependent. ...
While extreme mobility and ensconced sedentism can be easily distinguished in the archeological record, effective means are
lacking of discriminating between degrees of mobility that may range from seasonal shifts by farmers to recurrent moves across
the landscape as a way of life. Fortunately, site layout and the way space is used are related to expectations regarding length
of stay, and though they are not quantifiable measures, they provide linkages between the active and material realms. Short
stays elicit a search for distinctive characteristics of a place rather than investing in the modification of a place. The
quest for suitable spaces is a matter of fact among mobile groups, whereas sedentary groups, or those expecting to stay in
one place for an extended period, tend to build their environment to suit their needs, even formalizing spaces in consistent
ways from place to place. By understanding the ramifications of these concepts it is possible to distinguish between differing
degrees of mobility of groups occupying similar environmental zones in the southern portion of the American Southwest in the
protohistoric and early historic periods and to apply these to wider contexts.
