book chapter

The Galaz ruin: a prehistoric Mimbres village in southwestern New Mexico

Maxwell Museum of Anthropology : University of New Mexico Press • Albuquerque • Published In 1984 • Pages: xi, 612

By: Anyon, Roger, LeBlanc, Steven A., Sabloff, Paula L. W..

Abstract

Anyon and LeBlanc conducted salvage excavations at Galaz in 1975 and 1976. The site had been excavated previously by the Southwest Museum of Los Angeles in 1927 and the University of Minnesota from 1929 to 1931. Galaz had also been extensively looted from 1931 to 1975. In fact in 1975 the site had been leased to a commercial looter who was searching for pottery. The Mimbres Foundation was able to negotiate with the people involved, the bulldozing was halted for one year, and the Foundation was allowed to conduct controlled excavations at the site from the summer of 1975 through the spring of 1976. Although the Classic Mimbres pueblo had been completely destroyed they were able to excavated the areas around it which meant they were excavating structures from the Late Pithouse period. As some of these pithouses were later used as trash dumps Anyon and LeBlanc were able to obtain a sample of trash from the Classic Mimbres period. The data they obtained from the new excavations was integrated with the previous excavations data as the Foundation also conducted archival research and artifact analysis on the museum collections, and examined the previous collections, field notes, and catalogs from Galaz. This document discusses the previous excavations at Galaz and in the Mimbres region, their excavations, a brief culture history of the Mogollon and the Mimbres Valley, the environmental setting, the architecture found, and their interpretations of the structures. In addition to the Late Pithouse period structures found the excavations also found a Postclassic pueblo and it is also described. The ceramics from all excavations are analyzed and this document presents information on the almost 1000 burials from Galaz along with some inferences about social organization. This document also presents the analyses of the palynological and faunal data and the artifacts that are neither chipped stone nor groundstone artifacts. Document nos. 24-26 present analyses on plant remains, and the chipped stone and groundstone artifacts. Anyon and LeBlanc provide plates of the entire collection of Mimbres painted vessels from Galaz at the end of the document and provide the provenience information for each bowl allowing the reader to determine which room or burial each bowl was from.

HRAF PubDate

2010

Region

North America

Sub Region

Southwest and Basin

Document Type

book chapter

Evaluation

Creator Type

Archaeologist

Document Rating

4: Excellent Secondary Data

5: Excellent Primary Data

Analyst

Sarah Berry; 2010

Field Date

1975-1976

Coverage Date

1450 BP-650 BP (AD 550-AD 1350)

Coverage Place

Galaz, New Mexico, United States

Notes

by Roger Anyon and Steven A. LeBlanc ; edited by Paula L. W. Sabloff

Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-325)

LCCN

83027403

LCSH

Mimbres culture

Galaz Site (N.M.)