Advanced Cultures
The American Indian archaic culture eventually evolved into three major prehistoric archaeological culture areas in the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. These cultures, sometimes referred to as Oasisamerica, are characterized by dependence on agriculture, formal social stratification, population clusters and major architecture.
- The culture of Ancient Pueblo People, academically referred to as the Anasazi, was centered around the present-day Four Corners area. This area also included the southern area of Nevada (hence the "Lost City Museum and site). Their distinctive pottery and dwelling construction styles emerged in the area around CE 750.
- The Hohokam tradition, centered on the middle Gila River and lower Salt River drainage areas, and extending into the southern Sonoran Desert, is believed to have emerged in approximately CE 200. These people lived in smaller settlement clusters than their neighbors, and built extensive irrigation canals for a wide range of agricultural crops. There is evidence the Hohokam had far-reaching trade routes with ancient mesoamerican cultures to the south, and show cultural influences from these southerners.
- The culture known as the Mogollon ( /moʊɡəˈjoʊn/) lived in the southwest from approximately CE 150 until sometime between CE 1300 and 1400. Archaeological sites attributed to the Mogollon are found in the Gila Wilderness, Mimbres River Valley, along the Upper Gila river, Paquime and Hueco Tanks, an area of low mountains between the Franklin Mountains to the west and the Hueco Mountains to the east.
In addition, three distinct minor cultures inhabited the eastern, western, and northern extremes of the area. From CE 1200 into the historic era a people collectively known as the La Junta Indians lived at the junction of the Conchos River and Rio Grande on the border of Texas and Mexico. Several Spanish explorers described this culture which was related to or derivative from the Jornada Mogollon. Between CE 700 and 1550, the Patayan culture inhabited parts of modern day Arizona, California and Baja California, including areas near the Colorado River Valley, nearby uplands, and north to the vicinity of the Grand Canyon. The Fremont culture inhabited sites in what is now Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from CE 700 to 1300.
Read more about this topic: Prehistoric Southwestern Cultural Divisions
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