Archaeology Magazine - October 1970 - 29

Zuni Sacred Spring, a
ritual pattern extending into historic times
at sites closer to the
Zuni Villages than
those of the mountain
fringe. Illustration
from Lt. A. W. Whipple, Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to
Ascertain the most
Practical and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the
Pacific Ocean, volume
3, part III, page 44
(Washington, D. C,
1856).

ceramics.Data were derived from four such ceremonial
springs: Escudilla (elevation 10,700 ft.), Little Valley (8,500 ft.), Point of the Mountain (8,550 ft.)
and Coon Creek (8,500 ft.). The springs are between
one half and one meter deep and have diameters between one half and two meters.
There is no evidence at present that architectural
features were associated with the springs. It may be,
however, that the forces of weathering and erosion
have destroyed such appurtenances if they did exist.
Pottery found in the springs would date the ritual activity between a.D. 800 and A.D.1300. Some of these
springs are well known to local collectors and, consequently, most of the artifacts have been removed.
Estimates of numbers of cultural items found in those
springs range for individual springs from 2,000 to
3,000 items for the smaller sites to possibly 10,000 to
20,000 for larger units such as the Escudilla Spring.
The ritualism associated with the springs appears
to have ended after the population withdrew from the
immediate vicinity. The mountain sites, on the other
hand, show evidence of a continued use until the time
of the Spanish Conquest. At first there seems to be
little significance in the fact that the springs were
abandoned before the mountain sites. However, the
sequence of abandonment might become more logical
with the consideration of the ecological overtones affecting the ethnological subset of the Mogollon resource system. Their survival depended upon a delicate relationship between plants, soils and moisture
receipt; and when precipitation was lacking the consequences were apt to be dire. For such reasons these
sedentary agriculturalists hedged their every bet. The
traditions of their cosmography added stimulation to

a functional ideology which essentially broadened
their total environment to include a zone of higher
mountain country which gave little or no direct economic sustenance.
With abandonment of the mountain fringe and the
gradual movement of people northward onto the
Colorado Plateau, there must have been some hesitation about slighting any of the ceremonial sites in the
mountain region. However, the difficultiesof distance
and topography combined with dwindling population
seems to have fostered a concentration of ritual efforts
in a limited number of select sites. Surprisingly the
sites of latest usage were in the least accessible locations: specifically,the sites in the tundra zone which
were furthest from the occupied villages. Furthermore
the elevations and topography that had to be negotiated were more extreme than those for the lower
spring sites. This departure from typical land use is
suggested as an example of the spatial configuration
of a ritual pattern which is the consequence of an
ideology closely interrelated to the ecological milieu
of that society.
Dr. N. H. Greenwood is Associate Professor of Geography at San Diego State College.His major fields of
interest are resource conservation and human ecology.
Specificinterest toward the inclusion of the Mt. Baldy
Primitive Area as a wilderness in the National System
afforded a chance to deal with this interesting aspect
of the mountain area. See "Preservingthe Corn Ladder:
A Mt. Baldy Wilderness," The Living Wilderness, 33
(1969) No. 106.
C. W. White is a graduate student in anthropology
currently serving in the military. He has participated in
archaeologicalprojects in California and the Southwest
including three seasons of excavation and survey work
in the White Mountain Area.
301

Archaeology Magazine - October 1970

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