Complex of North American Indians who lived in what is now southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, U.S., 0441; 200 BCAD 1200.
The first pottery in the Southwest was made by the Mogollon; its high quality from the beginning suggests that the craft may have been imported from Mexico. The early economy was based on gathering wild plant foods and hunting small game. Corn cultivation emerged 0441; AD 500. At this time houses also became more elaborate, being constructed of stone masonry. In the final, or Mimbres, period (10501200), new patterns of house design (multilevel pueblo s centred on a plaza) and pottery (crisp black-on-white designs of animals or geometric lines) emerged, suggesting contact with the Anasazi peoples to the north. For unknown reasons, Mogollon culture came to an end in the 13th century.