Description
Book SynopsisWinner of the Don D. and Catherine S. Fowler Prize
The “abandonment” of Mesa Verde and the formation of the Rio Grande Pueblos represent two classic events in North American prehistory. Yet, despite a century of research, no consensus has been reached on precisely how, or even if, these two events were related. In this landmark study, Scott Ortman proposes a novel and compelling solution to this problem through an investigation of the genetic, linguistic, and cultural heritage of the Tewa Pueblo people of New Mexico.
Integrating data and methods from human biology, linguistics, archaeology, and cultural anthropology, Ortman shows that a striking social transformation took place as Mesa Verde people moved to the Rio Grande, such that the resulting ancestral Tewa culture was a unique hybrid of ideas and practices from various sources. While addressing several long-standing questions in American archaeology, Winds from the North also serves as a methodological guidebook, including new approaches to integrating archaeology and language based on cognitive science research. As such, it will be of interest to researchers throughout the social and human sciences.
Table of Contents
- Foreword by Porter Swentzell
- Acknowledgments
- 1. The Puzzle of Tewa Origins
- 2. Inheritance and Ethnic Groups
- 3. Population and Movement
- 4. Population History of the Tewa Basin
- 5. Biological Variation and Tewa Ancestry
- 6. The Tewa Language in Kiowa-Tanoan Context
- 7. Homelands and Dating of Kiowa-Tanoan Subgroups
- 8. Place-Names, Place-Lore, and Oral Tradition
- 9. Metaphors, Language, and Archaeology
- 10. Mesa Verde Metaphors in the Tewa Language
- 11. Immigration, Population Movement, and Material Culture
- 12. The End of Mesa Verde Society
- 13. The Archaeology of Tewa Origins
- 14. Population Movement, Social Movements, and Ethnogenesis
- Appendix A. Kiowa-Tanoan Reconstructions
- Appendix B. Archaeological Dating of Kiowa-Tanoan Terms
- Appendix C. Correlation of Site Numbers with Tewa Names
- Appendix D. Correlation of Kiowa-Tanoan Speech Communities with Archaeological Complexes
- References Cited
- Index
