Reconstructing the past: architectural analysis of communal structures at the NAN Ranch ruin (LA2465), Grant County, New Mexico

Abstract

Eleven seasons of field work at the NAN Ranch ruin (LA 2465), a multicomponent Mimbres site in Grant County, New Mexico, have allowed researchers to reconstruct a detailed sequence of architectural development stretching from the Three Circle phase (A.D. 750-900) to the Classic period (A.D. 1000-1130). During the course of excavation, investigators exposed a number of structures that are believed to have served in a communal or integrative capacity. This structure type served as the focus for this work. The purpose of this study was threefold: a) to present detailed descriptions of those structures believed to have served in a communal or integrative capacity; b) to trace the development of this structure type from its first known manifestations at the NAN Ranch ruin in the Three Circle phase to its latest forms at the end of the Classic period; and c) to analyze these structures as a distinct social space, both at the intramural and site level. Eleven structures are described in detail in this text. Six other spaces are also briefly described. Careful attention to detail has allowed this study to address whether previous judgements about the function of the rooms noted herein are in fact supportable. Scrutiny of architectural features also permitted a consideration of how well generally accepted indicators of communal space apply in the case of the NAN Ranch ruin. Finally, the structure provided by the architectural descriptions served as a foundation on which to base a number of inferences concerning population-guided socio-cultural change. Whereas architectural data suggest a shift away from a site-inclusive to a more privatized, lineage-based communal organization during the Late Pithouse/Classic period transition, the appearance of a new structure type at the end of the Classic period suggests that population pressures fostered social reorganization at the room block level around A.D. 1100.