Zuni Origins ─ Toward a New Synthesis of Southwestern Archaeology

The Zuni are a Southwestern people whose origins have long intrigued anthropologists. This volume presents fresh approaches to that question from both anthropological and traditional perspectives, exploring the origins of the tribe and the influences that have affected their way of life. Utilizing macro-regional approaches, it brings together many decades of research in the Zuni and Mogollon areas, incorporating archaeological evidence, environmental data, and linguistic analyses to propose new links among early Southwestern peoples.

The findings reported here postulate the differentiation of the Zuni language at least 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, following the initial peopling of the hemisphere, and both formulate and test the hypothesis that many Mogollon populations were Zunian speakers. Some of the contributions situate Zuni within the developmental context of Southwestern societies from Paleoindian to Mogollon. Others test the Mogollon-Zuni hypothesis by searching for contrasts between these and neighboring peoples and tracing these contrasts through macro-regional analyses of environments, sites, pottery, basketry, and rock art. Several studies of late prehistoric and protohistoric settlement systems in the Zuni area then express more cautious views on the Mogollon connection and present insights from Zuni traditional history and cultural geography. Two internationally known scholars then critique the essays, and the editors present a new research design for pursuing the question of Zuni origins.

By taking stock and synthesizing what is currently known about the origins of the Zuni language and the development of modern Zuni culture, Zuni Origins is the only volume to address this subject with such a breadth of data and interpretations. It will prove invaluable to archaeologists working throughout the North American Southwest as well as to others struggling with issues of ethnicity, migration, incipient agriculture, and linguistic origins.
CONTENTS

Foreword by William H. Doelle

Preface: Constructing and Refining a Research Design for the Study of Zuni Origins
David A. Gregory and David R. Wilcox

Acknowledgments

Part I
Large-Scale Contexts for the Study of Zuni Origins: Language, Culture, and Environment

1. Introduction: The Structure of Anthropological Inquiry into Zuni Origins
David R. Wilcox and David A. Gregory

2. Prehistoric Cultural and Linguistic Patterns in the Southwest since 5 BC
Cynthia Irwin Williams (1967)

3. The Zuni Language in Southwestern Areal Context
Jane H. Hill

4. Archaeological Concepts for Assessing Mogollon-Zuni Connections
Jeffery J. Clark

5. The Environmental Context of Linguistic Differentiation and Other Cultural Developments in the Prehistoric Southwest
David A. Gregory and Fred L. Nials

6. Zuni-Area Paleoenvironment
Jeffrey S. Dean

Part II
Placing Zuni in the Development of Southwestern Societies: From Paleoindian to Mogollon

7. The Archaic Origins of the Zuni: Preliminary Explorations
R. G. Matson

8. Zuni Emergent Agriculture: Economic Strategies and the Origins of Zuni
Jonathan E. Damp

9. A Mogollon-Zuni Hypothesis: Paul Sidney Martin and John B. Rinaldo’s Formulation
David A. Gregory

10. Adaptation of Man to the Mountains: Revising the Mogollon Concept
David A. Gregory and David R. Wilcox (1999)

11. Mogollon Trajectories and Divergences
Michael W. Diehl

Part III
Zuni in the Puebloan World: Mogollon-Zuni Connections

12. Zuni in the Puebloan and Southwestern Worlds
David R. Wilcox, David A. Gregory, and J. Brett Hill

13. A Regional Perspective on Ceramics and Zuni Identity, AD 200--1630
Barbara J. Mills

14. Mogollon Pottery Production and Exchange
C. Dean Wilson

15. R

David A. Gregory is a staff archaeologist at Desert Archaeology, Inc. He has thirty years experience in Arizona archaeology and has directed numerous projects in the Phoenix and Tucson basins. David R. Wilcox is senior research archaeologist and special assistant to the deputy director at the Museum of Northern Arizona.