| Abstrakt: |
Mitchell Springs provided the central Montezuma Valley of southwestern Colorado a rare and reliable water source that has been used by ancients for millennia. People began to settle near the springs in the middle of the AD seventh century and by the twelfth century a sprawling watershed-wide community with large-scale architectural and agricultural works had formed. Using a combination of data from surveys and recent excavations, this article explores the ties between the rise of elite groups in the watershed and the use of innovative methods to enhance agricultural production. Food abundance appears to have been the primary engine that drove the formation of these groups whose presence was symbolized by a greathouse and other monumental creations. Excavations have revealed evidence that suggests one such group was tied to the same physical space at the center of the community for at least 400 years. Agricultural production at a scale that is demonstrably greater than what could be generated by a few households or extended households is suggested by repeated feasting at this location, room suites with unusually large storage capacities, and the presence of rooms and features that were created and used principally for the preparation and consecration of food for these events. The earliest architectural footprints of this group consisted of two physically linked but distinctly separate adobe block houses in the early ninth century. Over time, elements of these entities became associated with, or evolved into, a greathouse and tri-wall building that appear to have served similar functions as the earlier houses and features that underlie those buildings. They symbolized success, power, past ancestors, and revered space, and they were enshrined and deliberately protected over the course of centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
