Evan Giomi

Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Andrews, Anthony

Keywords

New Mexico, Colonialsm, Archaeology, Piro, American Southwest

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

The history of the late pre-contact and early Colonial periods along the lower Rio Grande in New Mexico has been poorly studied archaeologically. Without an indigenous occupation after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, the region has had little academic attention comparative to the histories of the Pueblos along the middle and northern Rio Grande, many of which maintain an indigenous population into the present. Yet, a descendent population of the Piro people who lived in the lower Rio Grande does exists in the present day, centered mainly in El Paso and Ciudad de Juarez. Following developments in indigenous archaeology in the last two decades, this thesis argues that further archaeological study of the Piro region is necessary not only to better understand this significant component of New Mexican history, but also to better recognize the persistence of indigenous cultures. This thesis is the result of field work at the Piro site of Tiffany Pueblo over the course of 2012. Survey, extensive surface collection, and exploratory excavations provided a body of archaeological materials, particularly ceramics. Analysis of these materials aimed to test and further refine existing models of regional demographic and technological-stylistic changes as well as guide future archaeological work at the site by identifying key issues and research questions. Further subsurface work is necessary in order to clear up the chronology of occupation at Tiffany Pueblo through analysis of ceramics in a stratigraphic context. Such work at other Piro pueblos is also necessary to better define what is clearly a regional variation on the standard Rio Grande ceramic sequence and improve site dating across the region. Finally, current archaeological interest in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt will be significantly aided by improved understanding of Piro history as a means to understanding the complex historical moment of the Revolt in its totality. This thesis represents a plan for future study of Piro archaeology in order to accomplish as much.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida Libraries, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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