Mimbres bowls, produced by people living in the Southwest

from the late 10th to early 12th century A.D., are renowned
for the unique imagery found on their interiors. The blackon-white ceramics were often decorated with geometric
patterns (right). Others featured portraits of everyday
scenes, local wildlife, and even mythical creatures. These, all
found at a site called Swarts Ranch, depict (clockwise from
below) a hunter returning home with a deer, an unknown
figure sometimes interpreted as a tadpole or frog, a woman
giving birth, and a rabbit shown with a sword-like stick.

36

Mimbres.MJ.indd 36

ARCHAEOLOGY May/June 2013

3/11/13 10:48 AM

On the
Trail of
the Mimbres
Archaeologists are tracking the disappearance of
a remarkable type of pottery to rewrite the story
of a cultures decline
by J I

INCE FIRST BEING UNEARTHED in New Mexico in the

late nineteenth century, the striking ceramic bowls
made a millennium earlier by people living in the
Mimbres River Valley of the American Southwest
have inspired countless counterfeiters, a clay art
festival, a burglary at the University of Minnesotas
anthropology department, and even a line of railroad dinnerware.
While their undecorated outsides appear unremarkable in
technique and form, their insides are magic, a canvas for haunt^
kpi"fgrkevkqpu"qh"vqtvqkugu."uj."lcemtcddkvu."cpf"uqogvkogu"
humans, as well as intricate geometric designs. The black forms
on a white background create an arresting contrast.

www.archaeology.org

Mimbres.MJ.indd 37

For more than a century, beginning in the late tenth century

A.D.."vjqwucpfu"qh"vjgug"dncem^qp^yjkvg"dqynu"ygtg"rtqfwegf."

with distinctive designs more spectacular and elaborate than

those of any other culture in the Southwest. It was strikingly
unique, says Steve LeBlanc, an archaeologist at the Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University,
who has studied the pottery makers since the 1970u0Vjg"iw^
tcvkxg"rckpvkpi"qp"vjg"dqynu`uqrjkuvkecvgf"eqorqukvg"cpkocnu"
cpf"eqorngz"uegpgu"cpf"uvqtkgu`ugvu"Okodtgu"rqvvgt{"crctv"
from that of neighboring cultures, where geometric shapes
dominated. Then, in 1130, according to the archaeological
record, the manufacture of the bowls stopped.
37

3/11/13 10:48 AM

HE MIMBRES LIVED IN AN AREA that today is nestled in

New Mexicos southwest corner, spilling over the border
there with Arizona, and dipping into the Mexican state
of Chihuahua. Archaeologists consider Mimbres a subset of the
Oqiqnnqp"ewnvwtg0"Oqiqnnqp"ku"qpg"qh"vjtgg"oclqt"ewnvwtgu"qh"vjg"
ancient American Southwest, along with the Anasazi, also known
as the Ancestral Pueblo, and the Hohokam. The Ancestral
Pueblo are known for large, sophisticated village sites and road
systems, such as Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon. The Hohokam
gpikpggtgf" eqorngz" kttkicvkqp" ecpcnu." wptkxcngf" d{" qvjgt" rtg^
Columbian cultures in North America. Traced to A.D. 200, the
Mogollon stretched across the mountainous region near todays
Ogzkecp^Cogtkecp"dqtfgt."nkxkpi"kp"ugokwpfgtitqwpf"fygnnkpiu0"
Overall, they did not farm intensively. The Mimbres, however,
used irrigation methods similar to those of the Hohokam to
gzrnqkv"vjg"hgtvkng"qqfrnckpu"qh"vjg"Okodtgu"Tkxgt"kp"qtfgt"vq"
produce corn, squash, beans, and other crops.
The Mimbres River, named by the Spanish for the willows that

LIZARD
TERRACE

ila

Ri

ve
r

MOUNTAIN
LION
HAMLET

Palomas Creek

Truth or
Consequences

MATTOCKS RUN

la

EASTERN
MIMBRES

SWARTS
RANCH
ive

r
ve

Ri

Mim

bre

sR

Gi

BLACK MOUNTAIN
Deming

CLASSIC
MIMBRES
El Paso

Archaeological investigation of the Mimbres began with

early digs by independent archaeologists Burt and Hattie
Cosgrove around 1919. Their foundational work soon resulted
in Harvards Peabody Museum asking the pair to lead detailed
excavations at the Swarts Ranch site in southern New Mexico.
Their investigation lasted from 1924 to 1927 and included
the recovery of almost 700"Encuuke"dncem^qp^yjkvg"dqynu0"Vjg"
pots were so impressive that pothunters were gutting other
sites, often on private land. The Swarts Ranch site was chosen
because it was relatively intact.
Thereafter, archaeological work stalled until the 1970s,
though looting of Mimbres sites persisted. When pothunters
began to use heavy machinery in the 1970s, destroying sites
in the process, LeBlanc formed the Mimbres Foundation,
which helped restart work on the culture at sites such as
Mattocks Ruin in the southwestern corner of New Mexico.
At many of the newly studied sites, archaeologists recovered
burned roof rafters, which they think might have been part of
a ritual involved in closing a settlement. Tree ring analysis of
the charcoal returned a series of dates that ended at A.D. 1130.
It wasnt until about 1974 or 1975"yjgp"yg"iqv"vjg"tuv"vtgg"
ring dates back, and the terminal date of 1130, that we began
to ask, what happened? LeBlanc says.
Since then, the prevailing view of researchers was to read
the break in the archaeological record as a systemic social col^
ncrug`fgrqrwncvkqp"ceeqorcp{kpi"vjg"cdcpfqpogpv"qh"c"ukvg0"
Others, such as Margaret Nelson, an archaeologist at Arizona
Uvcvg"Wpkxgtukv{"cCUWd"yjq"dgicp"uvwf{kpi"vjg"rqvvgt{"ocmgtu"
as a graduate student in the 1970u."jcxg"c"fk gtgpv"kpvgtrtgvc^
tion. For Nelson and her ASU colleague Michelle Hegmon,
the sudden cessation of Mimbres pottery production, though
abrupt in the archaeological record, doesnt necessarily point
to the end of the Mimbres culture.
We like that pottery, we call them the Mimbres people,
and they became a famous archeological case. But people are
always changing their styles, Hegmon says. Im not sure it
was as big a change for them as it was for us.

The Mimbres people occupied a region in what is today

southwestern New Mexico and northern Mexico.

grew along its banks, was an oasis in the dry Southwest where
rain clouds cross west to east over the peak of Black Mountain
before shedding their rain. The Mimbres region stretched east
to the Rio Grande and west to the Gila River Valley, in what
is today southwestern Arizona. The years between A.D. 1000
and 1130 mark the cultures apex, called the Mimbres Classic
period. People built pueblos, living in densely packed villages along
the Mimbres River Valley, with a large increase in population
during that time bringing their total numbers as high as 6,000.
38

Mimbres.MJ.indd 38

Amateur archaeologist Hattie Cosgrove poses in the 1920s with

a bowl and water jar at Swarts Ranch, a Classic Mimbres site
due north of the modern-day town of Deming, New Mexico.
ARCHAEOLOGY May/June 2013

3/11/13 10:48 AM

HE FIRST DECORATIONS"qp"Okodtgu"rqvvgt{`ukorng"

igqogvtke"ujcrgu"kp"tgf"qp"dtqyp"enc{`crrgct"ctqwpf"
6000"Vjg" rqvvgtu" fgxgnqrgf" vjg" dncem^qp^yjkvg"
style, an artistically pleasing contrast found in much Southwest
pottery, 150 years later. By about the late 900s, the exceptional
fgukip"vjcv"ecog"vq"fgpg"vjg"Okodtgu"Encuuke"rgtkqf"vqqm"q 0
Mimbres artists painted geometric lines and patterns on
vyq^vjktfu"qh"vjg"dqynu"hqwpf"cpf"iwtgu"qp"cdqwv"qpg^vjktf0"
Vjg{"uoqqvjgf"vjg"kpukfgu"ykvj"uvqpgu."crrn{kpi"c"pg"yjkvg"
clay slip over brown clay, and then brushed on black paint
ocfg"d{"okzkpi"itqwpf"ktqp"qtg"cpf"c"rncpv^fgtkxgf"dkpfgt."
probably with yucca brushes. Animals depicted include prey
urgekgu"uwej"cu"fggt."rtqpijqtpu."cpf"lcemtcddkvu="kpugevu"uwej"
cu"itcuujqrrgtu="urkfgtu="upcmgu="cpf"uj0"Vjg{"cnuq"rckpvgf"
feathered serpents and other mythical creatures. They por^
trayed ceremonial and everyday human scenes, too: a ritual
fcpegt="c"jwpvgt"dtkpikpi"jqog"c"mknn."vtckngf"d{"fqiu="c"oqvjgt"
birthing a baby. The bowls apparently were not traded, as they
rarely turn up outside Mimbres sites.
Indications from use suggest that though thoughtfully
etgcvgf."vjg"dqynu"ygtg"pqv"vjg"gswkxcngpv"qh"jgktnqqo"pg"
china, carefully stashed away for a grand event. Marks found
on their interiors suggest they were scraped by people using
spoons, which were probably made from gourd or wood since
none survive. The bowls measure roughly four inches tall and
vary from six to 16 inches in diameter. The large range of sizes
suggests multiple functions, among them serving and eating.
Kp"hcev."vjg"rgqrng"gxgp"dwtkgf"vjgkt"fgcf`wpfgt"vjgkt"nkxkpi"
ctgcu`ykvj"vjg"dqynu"rncegf"qp"umwnnu0"Vjg"dqynu"hqwpf"ykvj"
skulls have a kill hole in the middle tapped out by a sharp
qdlgev."rgtjcru"cu"c"yc{"hqt"c"urktkv"vq"tkug"qwv0"Cv"Uyctvu."vjg"
Cosgroves recorded 1,009 such burials.
Jars, not as carefully made, and only occasionally found
intact, are more often unpainted plain brownware. Its prob^
able, LeBlanc says, that few potters would bother to decorate
c"rqv"hqt"eqqmkpi"qxgt"c"tg"qt"qpg"ujqxgf"kp"c"eqtpgt"ykvj"
beans stored inside. Jars were large enough to hold a gallon
qt"vyq"qh"ycvgt."qt"uocnn."c"eqwrng"qh"kpejgu"cetquu."lwuv"dki"
gpqwij"hqt"uggf"uvqtcig0"Yg"pf"lctu"dcukecnn{"cu"ujgtfu."
LeBlanc says. The number of complete examples of large
rckpvgf"ycvgt"lctu."hqt"gzcorng."ku"10 or 15, something like
that, versus 10,000 bowls.
LeBlanc notes that researchers have yet to locate the
sources of the clay used in Mimbres pottery, although a tech^
pkswg" ecnngf" kpuvtwogpvcn" pgwvtqp" cevkxcvkqp" cdqodctfkpi"
small sherd samples with neutrons to reveal the clays chemical
eqorqukvkqpd"tgxgcnu"vjcv"vjg"enc{"ecog"htqo"c"nqecn"uqwteg0"
Enc{"ku"jgcx{"uvw ."NgDncpe"uc{u0"K"yqwnf"dg"uwtrtkugf"kh"vjg{"
were going farther than a couple of miles to get it.
A.D.

N THE EARLY TWELFTH CENTURY, after a few generations of

hcxqtcdng"enkocvg"eqpfkvkqpu."vjg"ftqwijv^rtqpg"Uqwvjyguv"
experienced another dry spell. Faunal remains indicate that
big game species such as deer and pronghorn may have already
been scarce throughout the Classic period. But, despite the
drought, the people could apparently still grow crops. Scien^

www.archaeology.org

Mimbres.MJ.indd 39

Archival photos show that archaeologists found remains of a

masonry wall (top) when excavating a structure at Mountain
Lion Hamlet. Behind it was evidence of a previous wall
(above) made of jacal, stick-scaffolding filled in with mud.

vkuvu"jcxg"vcmgp"uqknu"htqo"vgttcegf"gnfu"dcem"vq"vjg"ncd"cpf"
been able to grow corn in them.
Within the Mimbres region responses to the climatic shift
fk gtgf0"Ukipu"qh"Okodtgu"ctejkvgevwtg"cpf"rqvvgt{"rgvgt"qwv"
in the Gila River drainage before A.D. 1100. Stephen Lekson,
an archaeologist at the University of Colorado Boulder who
worked in the Mimbres region with Nelson in the 1980s,
believes many of the Mimbres Valley dwellers steadily headed
uqwvj"vjtqwij"c"ugtkgu"qh"rquv_Encuuke"rgtkqf"xknncigu0"
For the past two decades Nelson and Hegmon have concen^
trated their digs in the east, a promising area, less ransacked
by pothunters than the main valley. As part of the Eastern
Okodtgu"Ctejcgqnqikecn"Rtqlgev."vjg"ctejcgqnqikuvu"gzecxcvgf"
cv"ngcuv"c"fq|gp"ukvgu."kpenwfkpi"xg"Encuuke"xknncigu"cpf"uocnngt"
sites located about one and a half miles from them. Results
from their digs indicate the people adapted to changes in their
climate and reorganized their social structure.
Pgnuqp"cpf"Jgioqpu"gnfyqtm"tgxgcngf"c"rcvvgtp"tgrgcvgf"
kp"vjg"uocnngt"gcuvgtp"Okodtgu"ukvgu0"Vjg{"ygtg"pfkpi"tqqou"
qhvgp"vjg"uk|g"qh"c"ukping^ect"ictcig"cpf"dki"gpqwij"hqt"c"uocnn"
family to live in, with hearths, food grinding areas, and ventila^
vkqp0"Qpg"ygnn^rtgugtxgf"uvtwevwtg"ycu"wpeqxgtgf"cv"pgctd{"
Mountain Lion Hamlet, which sits above the Palomas Creek
ftckpcig" lwuv" uqwvj" qh" vjg" vqyp" qh"Vtwvj" qt" Eqpugswgpegu."
Pgy"Ogzkeq0"Vjg"ukvg"ycu"pcogf"hqt"c"rgvtqin{rj"qh"c"hqwt^
39

3/11/13 10:48 AM

legged creature that a wildlife biologist pointed out had a long

tail like that of a mountain lion.
We found masonry, four walls, Hegmon says, also noting
the presence of a cooking hearth, warming oven, and grinding
hgcvwtg0"Kv"nqqmgf"nkmg"c"rnceg"yjgtg"rgqrng"nkxgf"{gct^tqwpf0"
During their initial excavations in 1994, they found an evenly
rncuvgtgf"qqt"cdqwv"cp"kpej"qt"vyq"vjkem"ykvj"16 postholes in
it. The posts would have likely held up a roof made of beams
cpf"tggfu0"Ocuqpt{"ycnnu"uwttqwpfkpi"vjg"qqt"ygtg"vjtgg"vq"
four feet high.
When Nelson and Hegmons team peeled
back the masonry along one wall, they
exposed vertical pole imprints from
what they believe was an earlier,
koukgt" ycnn" ocfg" qh" jacal." uvkem^
uec qnfkpi"nngf"kp"ykvj"owf0"Hwt^
ther excavation revealed a lower,
unevenly plastered floor with
patches of packed dirt that sat
ukz" kpejgu" dgnqy" vjg" wrrgt" qqt0"
From evidence at other sites, the
Archaeologists digging at Black
Mountain, a postClassic Mimbres site,
found several different types of pottery,
including El Paso polychrome.

ctejcgqnqikuvu"dgnkgxg"vjcv"yjcv"kpkvkcnn{"uvqqf"dghqtg"vjg"hqwt^
ycnngf"tqqo"ycu"c"vgorqtct{"vjtgg^ycnngf"lcecn"uvtwevwtg`c"
Encuuke^rgtkqf"gnf"jqwug"wugf"d{"hctogtu"yjgp"vgpfkpi"etqru"
during the growing season.
Pgnuqp"uc{u"vjg"tgoqfgnkpi"qh"vjg"gnf"jqwugu"ku"cmkp"vq"
having a lake house or cabin in the mountains that initially one
only visits a few times per year. If eventually you left your town
and moved into the cabin, you might add a bunch of things
that make it a more permanent house for you, she explains.
Thats what we see happening for those who remained in the
region but left their villages at the end of the Classic period.
Carbon dating of the roof beams and corn remains, and
cpcn{uku" qh" qdukfkcp" ctvkhcevu" uwej" cu" rtqlgevkng" rqkpvu" cpf"
cmgu."cnn"eqpto"rquv_Encuuke"fcvgu"cv"vjg"tgpqxcvgf"jcongvu"
found at eastern Mimbres sites. The best dating, however, is
the chronology of the ceramics found at places such as the
largest Eastern Mimbres site, Lizard Terrace, which consists
of 12 rooms on an upper terrace and 10 to 12 on a lower one.
Qp" vjg" wrrgt`ncvgt`ctejcgqnqikecn" ngxgnu" qh" vjg" ukvgu"
quarters was a hodgepodge of pottery sherds from some of
the most widely traded ceramics in the Southwest after 1150,
including St. Johns polychrome, which is most commonly
hqwpf"kp"yguv^egpvtcn"Pgy"Ogzkeq0"Vjg"dqyn"kpvgtkqtu"jcxg"
c" vjkem" qtcpig^tgf" unkr" cpf" dncem" igqogvtke." uyktnkpi." qt"
angular designs. The exterior of St. Johns polychrome has a
white, chalky paint with simpler patterns. Also found was El
Paso polychrome, which is easily recognized by its popcorn
vgorgt`htqo"godgffgf"yjkvg"uvqpgu"qp"kvu"uwthceg`gxgp"
kh"vjg"rckpv"jcu"dggp"yqtp"cyc{0"Qp"vjg"nqyguv."dgftqem^ngxgn"
qqt."qpn{"Okodtgu"Encuuke"dncem^qp^yjkvg"rqvvgt{"ycu"hqwpf0"
40

Mimbres.MJ.indd 40

ELSON AND HEGMONS FINDS are mirrored by recent

yqtm" cv" vjg" nctiguv" rquv_Encuuke" Okodtgu" ukvg."
Black Mountain, poised at the southern end of the
Mimbres Valley and occupied by A.D. 1200 and likely earlier.
Archaeologists have recovered a mix of pottery linked to
regions in every direction.
Katy Putsavage, a doctoral student of Leksons, began
excavations there in 2010, uncovering the remains of two large
adobe pueblos with up to 200"tqqou0"Rwvucxcig"pkujgf"jgt"
fkiu"ncuv"{gct"cpf"ku"ewttgpvn{"cpcn{|kpi"vjg"pfkpiu0"Vjg"rqv^
vgt{"jcu"cntgcf{"q gtgf"uqog"kpvgtguvkpi"kpukijvu0"Kp"cffkvkqp"
to St. Johns and El Paso polychrome, Putsavage also found
pottery typically associated with sites as far away as southern
Ejkjwcjwc0"Vjg"rtgugpeg"qh"xgt{"nkvvng"Okodtgu"dncem^qp^yjkvg"
ku"kpvgtrtgvgf"d{"Ngmuqp"cu"c"tglgevkqp"qh"vjg"qnf"yc{u0
From pottery types we can tell there was an expansion of
exchange networks after the Classic Mimbres, Putsavage
says. I would be interested to see how the ceramics compare
to the ceramics from earlier time periods in the Mimbres
Valley. Its possible that some of the pottery types were made
from the same clay sources as earlier time periods.

MIMBRES PEOPLE went from creating and using

only the iconic bowls that are the signature of their
ewnvwtg"vq"wukpi"wr"vq"gkijv"fk gtgpv"v{rgu"qh"rqvvgt{"
that were either imported from anywhere and everywhere or
ocfg"cu"eqrkgu"qh"vjg"fk gtgpv"uv{ngu0"
Ctejcgqnqikuvu" pgzv" ejcnngpig" ku" vq" iwtg" qwv" gzcevn{"
yjkej"qh"vjqug"gkijv"qt"uq"fk gtgpv"rckpvgf"yctgu"ygtg"ocfg"
locally and which were imported. The key will lie in deter^
okpkpi"vjg"uqwtegu"qh"gcej"qh"vjg"fk gtgpv"rckpvgf"egtcokeu0"
Nelson and Hegmon have already noted that some of the El
Paso pots were made from local brown clays, sometimes less
expertly, as if the potters were learning a new style.
If theyre emulating the pottery, then theyre quite likely
emulating a lot of other things that are connected to the people
who make that pottery, and to the region where its made,
Nelson says. Thats an important observation because it tells
us about the social process for adopting a particular ceramic.
Though a lot of ceramic analysis remains to be done, the
assembled evidence from the eastern Mimbres River Valley
and from southern sites such as Black Mountain argue for the
Mimbres transitioning from a closed society making arresting
yqtmu"qh"ctv"vq"ygnn^pgvyqtmgf"korqtvgtu"qh"qvjgt"vtcfkvkqpu0"
It always bothered me, the sense that if the pottery disap^
pears the people disappear, says Nelson. Lekson theorizes,
though evidence is scant, that the bulk of the Mimbres settled
in the Casas Grandes region, forming the base population for
Paquim, located in what is today northwestern Chihuahua,
Ogzkeq0"Rcswko"ycu"vjg"ncuv"oclqt"ekv{"kp"vjg"Uqwvjyguv"rtkqt"
vq"Gwtqrgcp"eqpvcev"kp"vjg"hvggpvj"egpvwt{0
Who are these guys? Lekson asks about the people who
kpjcdkvgf"Dncem"Oqwpvckp0"Ucog"rgqrng."fk gtgpv"enqvjgu0""p
HE

Jude Isabella is a freelance science journalist based in Victoria,

British Columbia.
ARCHAEOLOGY May/June 2013

3/11/13 10:48 AM