Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-2001

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Anthropology

Major Professor

Dr. Richard Jantz

Committee Members

Dr. Lyle Konigsberg, Dr. Lee Meadows Jantz

Abstract

The extensive data recorded by Earnest Hooton (1930) during his years of work on the analysis of the remains recovered from Pecos Pueblo provides an excellent database for reconsidering his conclusions within a modern context. The first issue addressed in re-examining Hooton’s data relates to the sex estimations made for the Pecos sample. Researchers, specifically Ruff (1991), questioned the highly biased sex ratio that Hooton reported for the sample. Using the craniometric and postcranial metrics data that Hooton collected it was possible to re-evaluate Hooton’s sex estimations by utilizing discriminant functionanalysis in order to establish a more accurate sex ratio for the sample. The discriminant function analysis showed that in fact, as Ruff (1991) suggested, Hooton and Todd probably overestimated the number of males in the sample.

In addition to the sex estimations, the biological distance of the Pecos sample is examined. In his analysis Hooton merged the sample into groups by dividing the glaze chronology into larger groupings in order to maximize the sample sizes. A biological distance matrix is constructed using both craniometrics and cranial nonmetric traits in order to determine the validity of Hooton’s divisions, and to analyze the population structure. The distance matrices from these two types of data give contradictory results about the temporal trend in the population make-up at Pecos.

Health and stress were examined by looking at changes in asymmetry and sexual dimorphism from the initial occupation of the pueblo to the introduction of Europeans and eventual abandonment of the pueblo. The asymmetry analysis revealed the greatest amount of fluctuating asymmetry for all traits combined in the earliest time period, with the amount of FA decreasing through time. The results of the sexual dimorphism analysis revealed a similar pattern to the asymmetry results. The mean MDI in the early time period was the least for all significant traits, and the MDI generally increases through time, with the MDI being greatest in the latest time period for all measurements except the anterior/posterior midshaft of the femur.

Next, migration is examined by calculating the surplus variation present at Pecos by comparison to the sample from the Larson site, a population known to have little variation. Variation is significantly greater for all time periods of the pooled sexes and throughout the male samples. The greatest variation for pooled, males and females exists in Glaze IV during the building the large pueblo and the establishment of Pecos as a major trading center between the Puebloan and Plains populations, when many people must have been arriving at the pueblo. The variation among the females is significantly greater in the early time periods, but significantly less in the later time periods. Overall, the female variation is less then or equal to the male variation across all time periods and never exceeds the male variation. The surplus variation analysis will be used to give an indication of the migration pattern at the pueblo. The paleodemography of Pecos is the final analysis performed on the sample. The paleodemography of Pecos confirms much of the previously mentioned patterns from the earlier analysis of the health and stress patterns seen at Pecos. The early time period appears to be most different from the middle time period, but not different from the late time period. It is apparent from the results of the analysis that the construction of the pueblo created a significant change in the people of Pecos. However, the significant variation among the time periods suggests that migration is also likely influences the results of the paleodemography.

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