ABSTRACT
Changes in household organization were a major catalyst for social change in the Mimbres River Valley of southwestern New Mexico across the transition from pithouses to pueblos. Recent work in the valley has highlighted the important role that kin relations played in this transition. This chapter discusses recent work at a Late Pithouse–period village (AD 550–1000) and a Classic period pueblo (AD 1000–1150) that is illuminating the relationship between households, community integration, and social change. Work at the Pithouse period Harris site has documented the crucial role of corporate kin groups in village social dynamics. Data from the pueblo site of Elk Ridge illustrate the different trajectories that households took as pueblos expanded during the Classic period. This chapter examines the reasons for the changes in household organization that occurred at the end of the Pithouse period which, in turn, led to the initial development of pueblos.
