The Diversity of the Postclassic Mimbres Periods (AD 1150–1450): Insights from Las Animas Village in Southwestern New Mexico

Abstract

The Postclassic period (ca. AD 1150–1450) in the Mimbres region is diverse and variable. Excavation data from Las Animas Village (LA3949) is used to explore this variability and better delineate the regional sequence. Las Animas Village is a large multicomponent site with Pithouse, Classic, and Postclassic occupations. Focus here is on the Postclassic component, a roughly oval adobe pueblo, two-story in parts, that surrounded a plaza. There was extensive evidence of remodeling; some lower story rooms were filled in and use of the second story continued, in one case the second story was remodeled into small storage units. Both ceramic and chronometric dates indicate that the adobe pueblo was used in the AD 1300s and probably after 1400; it has numerous late types though little Roosevelt Red Ware. Las Animas Village is one of the only eastern Mimbres sites known for this time period, and it may have been where remaining populations gathered in late prehispanic times.