MOGOLLON CULTURE

culture of a group of North American Indians who, between about 200 BC and AD 1200, lived in the mostly mountainous region of what is now southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. (The name derives from the Mogollon Mountains in New Mexico.) The culture is presumed to have developed out of the earlier Cochise culture (q.v.), with additional influences from elsewhere. The first pottery in the Southwest was made by the Mogollon, and it was well-made from the beginning, suggesting that the craft may have been imported from Mexico. The Mogollon culture has been variously divided into developmental periods; consensus is lacking because of incomplete evidence and because of the different rates of development at different communities at different times. Frequently, however, scholars make reference to five developmental periods, named after representative sites: Pine Lawn period, about 200 BCAD 500; Georgetown period, 500700; San Francisco period, 700900; Three Circle period, 9001050; and Mimbres period, 10501200. During the earliest, or Pine Lawn, period the Mogollon Indians lived in small villages of circular pole-and-mud-covered pit houses, the floors of which were from 10 to 40 inches (25 to 100 cm) below ground level; entrance was usually through tunnels. Food was obtained principally from wild seeds, roots, and nuts, though incipient agriculture apparently existed. Hunting was probably unimportant since neither arrow or spear points nor animal bones are often found. Pottery, as already noted, was being made and differed in type from that which would be developed by neighbouring Indians. The same basic pattern continued in the Georgetown period, except that corn (maize) cultivation and game hunting assumed preeminence and more varieties of pottery appeared. This modified pattern persisted into the San Francisco period, though the pit houses became rectangular and stronger in construction; more pottery types also developed. In the Three Circle period the means of subsistence continued as before, but, along with the older type of pit houses with mud-plastered walls, there appeared rectangular pit houses constructed of stone masonry. Separate ceremonial pit houses were also present. Both developments suggest influences from the Anasazi culture to the north. Pottery types became more various and sophisticated. In the final, or Mimbres, period profound changes occurred: pit houses were replaced by surface apartment houses from one to three stories in height with masonry walls. The pueblos, or villages, sometimes contained 40 or 50 rooms arranged around a plaza. These traits, together with others, were probably introduced to the area by Anasazi (Pueblo) Indian immigrants, whose homeland was in northern New Mexico. There is evidence that these newcomers lived peacefully with the older inhabitants of the area in the same villages. For unknown reasons the Mogollon culture ended in the 13th century. The villages were abandoned, and the people disappeared to parts unknown. Compare Anasazi culture.