Ground Stone Technology and Household Activities at the Harris Site, Southwestern New Mexico

Abstract

This thesis examines household activities through an analysis of ground stone technology from the Harris Site (LA 1867), a Late Pithouse period (550-1000 CE) Mimbres Mogollon archaeological site. Ground stone technology is a category that includes a wide range of stone tool types used in a variety of processing and manufacturing tasks, as well as stone items that held intrinsic or ritual significance. Previous studies of ground stone technology in the Mimbres Valley have often focused on addressing questions related to subsistence practices. The object of this research is to move beyond a typological documentation of subsistence technology and examine how ground stone tools were manufactured, maintained, and used in various household tasks. In conjunction with contextual data, information gathered from these tools is used to determine what daily activities occurred at the site and discuss how these activities were organized within each household. In addition, this thesis explores how labor investment and the production of goods were organized at the household level and how this may reflect relations between households at the site. By examining how the inhabitants of the Harris Site organized their daily activities, a clearer picture emerges of how people interacted and negotiated social relationships during the Late Pithouse period.