Community Landscapes, Identity, and Practice: Ancestral Pueblos of the Lion Mountain Area, Central New Mexico, USA

Suzanne L. Eckert, Deborah L. Huntley

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Landscape archaeology has been widely used as a framework for understanding the myriad ways in which people lived in their natural and built environments. In this study, we use systematic survey data in conjunction with ceramic chronology building to explore how residents of the Lion Mountain area in Central New Mexico created and sustained community landscapes over time as memories and stories became linked with specific places. We combine practice theory with the concept of social memory to show that these residents used their community landscape to both maintain and transform community identity over multiple generations. To strengthen our argument, we use a dual temporal approach, considering our data both by looking back and looking forward in time relative to the residents living on the landscape. Ultimately, we argue that residents of the Lion Mountain Community lived and died within a community landscape of their making. This community landscape, which was maintained and transformed through collective memory, included significant landmarks and entailed participation in specific networks, helping to reinforce community identity over time.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)142-167
Number of pages26
JournalAmerican Antiquity
Volume87
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 10 2022

Keywords

  • Ancestral Pueblo
  • community landscape
  • identity
  • practice theory

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • History
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Archaeology
  • Museology

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