This dissertation reviews the contexts and conditions for the appearance of monuments in the upper and middle St. Johns basins of peninsular during the Mt. Taylor period. Beginning with an attempt to determine if mortuary monuments built of shell could be distinguished from shell middens, the archaeology of four preceramic shell sites is analyzed using Harris matrices and summarized. It is argued that particular portions of these sites represent intentional constructions. A hermeneutical approach to the study of sacred architecture is employed to bridge understanding between particular archaeological signatures and behaviors. Finally, the development of monumentality is presented as a process of continuous feedback between ecological conditions, personal decisions, and community devotion.

Last modified

• 10/01/2018

Creator

• Virgil Beasley

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/N21B21

Subject

• Anthropology

Keyword

• Mt. Taylor
• Monumentality
• St. Johns
• Preceramic

Date created

• 2008-12-05

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright