A Pit House Site near Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico

Abstract

One of the greatest problems confronting southwestern archaeology in its aim of interpretive reconstruction of the cultures of prehistoric peoples lies in filling the gaps where little or no information exists concerning significant periods of development in particular areas. One such interval, of considerable duration, exists in the middle Rio Grande Valley. We have known for some time that this region was inhabited by some of the early hunting groups (Hibben 1941, 1951) as well as the later Pueblo peoples. But who the people were, if any, that lived here during the interim between these extremes has been, until recently, largely a matter for conjecture. No ecologic reason has been presented to show why this river valley could not have supported its share of inhabitants, whether hunters, gatherers, or agriculturalists, during these thousands of years.