Archeological Settlement Patterns in the Southern Tularosa Basin, New Mexico: Alternative Models of Prehistoric Adaptations

333 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1983.This study is an analysis of the results of a large scale archeological survey conducted in the southern Tularosa Basin, New Mexico, from 1978 to 1981. The data provide the basis for a critical evaluation of previous models for prehistoric settlement patterns in the region. They suggest two significant revisions to earlier interpretations of the local archeological sequence.First, it is concluded that the southern Tularosa Basin comprised only a segment of the effective environment utilized by prehistoric groups. Throughout much of the prehistoric sequence, including the early Formative period, the basin appears to have supported primarily seasonal short term occupations.Second, the findings support a model of cyclic fluctuation in the intensity of land use in the study areas. Previous researchers have assumed a linear increase in intensity and the complexity of cultural systems over time, due largely to the identification of the El Paso phase as the apogee of the prehistoric sequence. In this study a significant earlier, and equally intensive, Dona Ana phase occupation is defined, arguing against the validity of the developmental assumptions of the linear models.Predictive models of settlement locations are developed for each culture period. These reflect the changing role of the study area within the context of various larger settlement systems. The models serve to direct future research toward more intensive investigation of other complimentary environmental strata.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD