Middle-Late Desert Archaic

expand_more Description

The Middle-Late Desert Archaic tradition extends from 8000 to 500 BP in southwestern United States (Arizona, New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and Utah) and northern Mexico (Chihuahua and Sonora). The people were primarily hunters and gatherers. At the end of the time period they began to use domesticated maize, squash and, lastly, beans that were introduced from Mesoamerica. They lived in small, mobile social groups using huts or pithouses mainly for storage. After 2000 BP the Middle-Late Desert Archaic is distinguished from overlapping traditions by evidence for relatively greater reliance on hunting and gathering, and by the absence of ceramics.

Identifier

Region

• North America

Subregion

• Southwest and Basin

Subsistence Type

• hunter-gatherers

Countries

• Mexico
• United States