P Minnis
Biographic Data
| ID | 34970 |
|---|---|
| NAME | P Minnis |
| GIVEN NAMES | P |
| FAMILY NAME | Minnis |
| SIGNATURE | MINNIS P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oklahoma |
| ORCID | 0009-0006-3769-1417 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 331 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 33 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1975 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
‘A Starving Man Does Not Sniff His Food’
The Holodomor (1932–1933) was a politically driven, genocidal famine that killed millions through starvation and disease, as well as disrupting Ukrainian society and agriculture. Through the analysis of various archival sources, particularly survivor narratives, we obtained information about 72 plants used as famine foods, foods not customarily eaten and plants eaten in unusual quantities or ways during the Holodomor. A total of at least 114 part…
Reframing Paquimé
The Prehispanic Ethnobotany of Paquimé and Its Neighbors
Thinking Like An Archaeologist and Thinking Like an Engineer
In this chapter it is argued that an alternative approach for archaeology, namely, utilitarian-perspective archaeology, may be a useful adjunct to more standard protocols for dealing with serious problems facing humanity. The value of utilitarian archaeology is illustrated through consideration of how prehistoric information might help to assure a sustainable agricultural future. Specifically, the archaeological record throughout the world docume…
Reflecting on Ethnobiology from 1978 to 2018
Chihuahuan Archaeology
Northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico, and the U.S. Southwest share broadly similar pre-colonial cultures and sequences of change. In fact, the present-day international boundary artificially divides a single culture area. Even so, northwestern Chihuahua is not simply a southern extension of the U.S. Southwest. This chapter reviews the past of northwestern Chihuahua from the early pre-ceramic era through late pre-Hispanic times, showing how these cultur…
Obsidian in the Casas Grandes world
Prehispanic Northwest and Adjacent West Mexico, 1200 B.C.–A.D. 1400
Northwest Mexico and West Mexico include four to five times as many named cultural areas equivalent to those known in the US Southwest, all with independent yet also connected histories. Together these changing cultures formed the bridge that connected the US Southwest with Mesoamerica. We review some aspects of regional diversity and moments of inter-regional relations, beginning with early agriculture and sedentism in the north. We trace the no…
Ancient Plants and People
Native Plants and Native Peoples
This project report describes a workshop—Native Plants and Native Peoples—held on August 8, 2014 at the Sam Noble Museum, University of Oklahoma
Ceramics and Polity in the Casas Grandes Area, Chihuahua, Mexico
The Medio period (ca. A.D. 1150-1475) at the primate center of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico, is characterized by polychrome pottery with elaborate, finely painted designs. This originally was presumed to be the peak of an evolutionary sequence that began with coarse, simple decoration. New research and dating show that this was not the case. Instead, fine painting and an elaborate set of design motifs are added to the older, simpler style at …
The First Prehispanic Chile ( Capsicum ) from the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico and its Changing Use
Here we report on the first cultivated chile ( Capsicum annuum ) from the prehispanic United States Southwest and far northwest Mexico. A carbonized seed was recovered from a site near Casas Grandes, northwestern Chihuahua dating to the Medio period, A.D. 1200–1450. We then discuss the role of chile among prehispanic indigenous communities in the region and its transformation to a seemingly high profile foodstuff after Spanish contact. We suggest…
Fields of Power
Analysis of nearly 200 prehispanic upland farming locations around Casas Grandes in northwestern Chihuahua indicates that land modification was widespread and involved a range of farming strategies depending on microtopographic setting. Most significantly, some cultivation seems to have been organized or controlled by the leaders of the Casas Grandes polity. Unusually large fields associate with small sites that likely served special administrati…
The Local and the Distant in the Origin of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico
Casas Grandes (or Paquimé), in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico, is the largest and possibly the most complex community in the prehistoric Pueblo world. The literature is, and always has been, dominated by models that attribute the origin of this center to impulses coming from outside of the region. These arguments rest on the assumptions that the Casas Grandes area was underpopulated before the development of the center, and that there was little …
Casas Grandes and Its Hinterland
Casas Grandes and Its Hinterlands
The Casas Grandes Regional System
Architecture and Authority in the Casas Grandes Area, Chihuahua, Mexico
Architecture both reflects and emphasizes the distinctions upon which social and political organization are based. In particular, an 'architecture of power' has been recognized in a number of hierarchical, prehistoric cultural contexts, from the Chacoans to the Mississippians. In these cases, the specific architectural style of a central place is replicated at points in the surrounding area, either as an imitative response by local populations or…
Ball Courts and Political Centralization in the Casas Grandes Region
Ball courts are well-known features of Mesoamerican societies and of the Hohokam culture of the American Southwest. In both cases, the courts are argued to have served a range of ritual, economic, and political purposes. Ball courts have long been known to exist in the northwestern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora as well as in the adjacent portion of New Mexico, although they have never been extensively described or interpreted. This paper…
Prehistoric Macaw Breeding in the North American Southwest
The scarlet macaw (Ara macao) was an important prehistoric trade item in northern Mexico and southwestern United States. Paquimé (or Casas Grandes) in northwestern Chihuahua has been assumed to have dominated or even monopolized the macaw trade. This conclusion is a result of the fact that Paquimé is the only site with evidence of substantial macaw-breeding facilities. Two recent archaeological projects in Chihuahua indicate that macaw production…
Perspectives on Southwestern Prehistory
Social Adaptation to Food Stress
Prehistoric Diet in the Northern Southwest
A large corpus of data on plant remains from prehistoric feces yields patterns of prehistoricFour CornersAnasazi diet. A general stability of plant-food consumption continues from at least theBasketmaker IIIthroughPueblo IIIperiods, with corn being the one consistently common fecal remain. Other agricultural plants-both crops and weeds-are important throughout the region. There is temporal and spatial variation in the types and abundance of macro…
Four Examples of Specialized Production at Casas Grandes, Northwestern Chihuahua
Casas Grandes, in northwestern Chihuahua, is usually interpreted as a center of interregional exchange. Consequently, we might expect evidence for economic specialization. The production of four goods—shell, macaws, turkeys, and agave—is discussed. The abundance and distribution of these items and characteristics of their production facilities are highlighted. There is clear variation in the scale of economic specialization at Casas Grandes. The …
Changing Settlement and Population in the Mimbres Valley, SW New Mexico
Social Adaptation to Food Stress
Combining anthropology, archeology, and evolutionary theory, Paul E. Minnis develops a model of how tribal societies deal with severe food shortages. While focusing on the prehistory of the Rio Mimbres region of New Mexico, he provides comparative data from the Fringe Enga of New Guinea, the Tikopia of Tikopia Island, and the Gwembe Tonga of South Africa. Minnis proposes that, faced with the threat of food shortages, nonstratified societies survi…
Casas Grandes and Its Hinterlands
Changing Settlement and Population in the Mimbres Valley, SW New Mexico
This paper presents a study of the prehistoric settlement patterns and population change in the Mimbres Valley of New Mexico. The first part of the paper describes a judgmental survey methodology used to survey the Mimbres Valley. It was specifically tailored to conditions where neither complete nor probabilistic survey was possible. The methodology involves disproportionate sampling of strata defined during and after the completion of survey, ju…
Seeds in Archaeological Sites
Macroplant remains recovered during excavation and by flotation are an ambiguous record of prehistoric human/plant interactions. This paper attempts to clarify the relationship by considering natural and cultural processes affecting the archaeological survival of seeds recovered from sites. Also outlined are some characteristics of these botanical artifacts useful in distinguishing their source. In addition, brief comments are directed toward the…
Ball Courts and Political Centralization in the Casas Grandes Region
Ball courts are well-known features of Mesoamerican societies and of the Hohokam culture of the American Southwest. In both cases, the courts are argued to have served a range of ritual, economic, and political purposes. Ball courts have long been known to exist in the northwestern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora as well as in the adjacent portion of New Mexico, although they have never been extensively described or interpreted. This paper…
Prehistoric Macaw Breeding in the North American Southwest
The scarlet macaw (Ara macao) was an important prehistoric trade item in northern Mexico and southwestern United States. Paquimé (or Casas Grandes) in northwestern Chihuahua has been assumed to have dominated or even monopolized the macaw trade. This conclusion is a result of the fact that Paquimé is the only site with evidence of substantial macaw-breeding facilities. Two recent archaeological projects in Chihuahua indicate that macaw production…
Architecture and Authority in the Casas Grandes Area, Chihuahua, Mexico
Architecture both reflects and emphasizes the distinctions upon which social and political organization are based. In particular, an 'architecture of power' has been recognized in a number of hierarchical, prehistoric cultural contexts, from the Chacoans to the Mississippians. In these cases, the specific architectural style of a central place is replicated at points in the surrounding area, either as an imitative response by local populations or…
The Local and the Distant in the Origin of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico
Casas Grandes (or Paquimé), in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico, is the largest and possibly the most complex community in the prehistoric Pueblo world. The literature is, and always has been, dominated by models that attribute the origin of this center to impulses coming from outside of the region. These arguments rest on the assumptions that the Casas Grandes area was underpopulated before the development of the center, and that there was little …
Fields of Power
Analysis of nearly 200 prehispanic upland farming locations around Casas Grandes in northwestern Chihuahua indicates that land modification was widespread and involved a range of farming strategies depending on microtopographic setting. Most significantly, some cultivation seems to have been organized or controlled by the leaders of the Casas Grandes polity. Unusually large fields associate with small sites that likely served special administrati…
Four Examples of Specialized Production at Casas Grandes, Northwestern Chihuahua
Casas Grandes, in northwestern Chihuahua, is usually interpreted as a center of interregional exchange. Consequently, we might expect evidence for economic specialization. The production of four goods—shell, macaws, turkeys, and agave—is discussed. The abundance and distribution of these items and characteristics of their production facilities are highlighted. There is clear variation in the scale of economic specialization at Casas Grandes. The …
Prehistoric Diet in the Northern Southwest
A large corpus of data on plant remains from prehistoric feces yields patterns of prehistoricFour CornersAnasazi diet. A general stability of plant-food consumption continues from at least theBasketmaker IIIthroughPueblo IIIperiods, with corn being the one consistently common fecal remain. Other agricultural plants-both crops and weeds-are important throughout the region. There is temporal and spatial variation in the types and abundance of macro…
Ceramics and Polity in the Casas Grandes Area, Chihuahua, Mexico
The Medio period (ca. A.D. 1150-1475) at the primate center of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico, is characterized by polychrome pottery with elaborate, finely painted designs. This originally was presumed to be the peak of an evolutionary sequence that began with coarse, simple decoration. New research and dating show that this was not the case. Instead, fine painting and an elaborate set of design motifs are added to the older, simpler style at …
The Casas Grandes Regional System
Obsidian in the Casas Grandes world
An Efficient, Inexpensive Arid Lands Flotation System
A basic, effective, water-conserving flotation system is described. Reference to this procedure's adaptability to various research goals and suggestions concerning the presentation of the material to the analyst are discussed
A Study of the Site Specific Distribution ofAgave Parryiin East Central Arizona
While there have been many observations concerning specific plant distributions as they relate to archaeological sites, most of the associated species are “weedy”—they inhabit disturbed microenvironments. The distribution of Agave parryi Engelm. in the western portion of Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest exhibits an interesting association with archaeological sites. Because agave does not have a weedy growth pattern, the specific mechanisms of th…
Changing Settlement and Population in the Mimbres Valley, SW New Mexico
Identification of wood from archaeological sites in the American Southwest. I. Keys for gymnosperms
The sex difference in dimensional communalities in Macaca nemestrina
Intra‐individual correlations for cranial, mandibular and dental measurements made on lateral skull radiographs of Macaca nemestrina were systematically higher in 30 adult females than in 31 adult males by an average of 0.11 to 0.15, depending upon method of computation. Clearly, for the adult pig‐tailed monkey as in Homo during both prenatal and postnatal life, developmental and dimensional communalities are systematically higher in the female i…
Perspectives on Southwestern Prehistory
The sex difference in dimensional communalities in Macaca nemestrina
Intra‐individual correlations for cranial, mandibular and dental measurements made on lateral skull radiographs of Macaca nemestrina were systematically higher in 30 adult females than in 31 adult males by an average of 0.11 to 0.15, depending upon method of computation. Clearly, for the adult pig‐tailed monkey as in Homo during both prenatal and postnatal life, developmental and dimensional communalities are systematically higher in the female i…
A Study of the Site Specific Distribution ofAgave Parryiin East Central Arizona
While there have been many observations concerning specific plant distributions as they relate to archaeological sites, most of the associated species are “weedy”—they inhabit disturbed microenvironments. The distribution of Agave parryi Engelm. in the western portion of Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest exhibits an interesting association with archaeological sites. Because agave does not have a weedy growth pattern, the specific mechanisms of th…
An Efficient, Inexpensive Arid Lands Flotation System
A basic, effective, water-conserving flotation system is described. Reference to this procedure's adaptability to various research goals and suggestions concerning the presentation of the material to the analyst are discussed
Seeds in Archaeological Sites
Macroplant remains recovered during excavation and by flotation are an ambiguous record of prehistoric human/plant interactions. This paper attempts to clarify the relationship by considering natural and cultural processes affecting the archaeological survival of seeds recovered from sites. Also outlined are some characteristics of these botanical artifacts useful in distinguishing their source. In addition, brief comments are directed toward the…
Changing Settlement and Population in the Mimbres Valley, SW New Mexico
This paper presents a study of the prehistoric settlement patterns and population change in the Mimbres Valley of New Mexico. The first part of the paper describes a judgmental survey methodology used to survey the Mimbres Valley. It was specifically tailored to conditions where neither complete nor probabilistic survey was possible. The methodology involves disproportionate sampling of strata defined during and after the completion of survey, ju…
Social Adaptation to Food Stress
Combining anthropology, archeology, and evolutionary theory, Paul E. Minnis develops a model of how tribal societies deal with severe food shortages. While focusing on the prehistory of the Rio Mimbres region of New Mexico, he provides comparative data from the Fringe Enga of New Guinea, the Tikopia of Tikopia Island, and the Gwembe Tonga of South Africa. Minnis proposes that, faced with the threat of food shortages, nonstratified societies survi…
Identification of wood from archaeological sites in the American Southwest. I. Keys for gymnosperms
Archeology
Four Examples of Specialized Production at Casas Grandes, Northwestern Chihuahua
Casas Grandes, in northwestern Chihuahua, is usually interpreted as a center of interregional exchange. Consequently, we might expect evidence for economic specialization. The production of four goods—shell, macaws, turkeys, and agave—is discussed. The abundance and distribution of these items and characteristics of their production facilities are highlighted. There is clear variation in the scale of economic specialization at Casas Grandes. The …
Prehistoric Diet in the Northern Southwest
A large corpus of data on plant remains from prehistoric feces yields patterns of prehistoricFour CornersAnasazi diet. A general stability of plant-food consumption continues from at least theBasketmaker IIIthroughPueblo IIIperiods, with corn being the one consistently common fecal remain. Other agricultural plants-both crops and weeds-are important throughout the region. There is temporal and spatial variation in the types and abundance of macro…
Social Adaptation to Food Stress
Perspectives on Southwestern Prehistory
Prehistoric Macaw Breeding in the North American Southwest
The scarlet macaw (Ara macao) was an important prehistoric trade item in northern Mexico and southwestern United States. Paquimé (or Casas Grandes) in northwestern Chihuahua has been assumed to have dominated or even monopolized the macaw trade. This conclusion is a result of the fact that Paquimé is the only site with evidence of substantial macaw-breeding facilities. Two recent archaeological projects in Chihuahua indicate that macaw production…
Ball Courts and Political Centralization in the Casas Grandes Region
Ball courts are well-known features of Mesoamerican societies and of the Hohokam culture of the American Southwest. In both cases, the courts are argued to have served a range of ritual, economic, and political purposes. Ball courts have long been known to exist in the northwestern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora as well as in the adjacent portion of New Mexico, although they have never been extensively described or interpreted. This paper…
Casas Grandes and Its Hinterland
Casas Grandes and Its Hinterlands
The Casas Grandes Regional System
Architecture and Authority in the Casas Grandes Area, Chihuahua, Mexico
Architecture both reflects and emphasizes the distinctions upon which social and political organization are based. In particular, an 'architecture of power' has been recognized in a number of hierarchical, prehistoric cultural contexts, from the Chacoans to the Mississippians. In these cases, the specific architectural style of a central place is replicated at points in the surrounding area, either as an imitative response by local populations or…
The Local and the Distant in the Origin of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico
Casas Grandes (or Paquimé), in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico, is the largest and possibly the most complex community in the prehistoric Pueblo world. The literature is, and always has been, dominated by models that attribute the origin of this center to impulses coming from outside of the region. These arguments rest on the assumptions that the Casas Grandes area was underpopulated before the development of the center, and that there was little …
Fields of Power
Analysis of nearly 200 prehispanic upland farming locations around Casas Grandes in northwestern Chihuahua indicates that land modification was widespread and involved a range of farming strategies depending on microtopographic setting. Most significantly, some cultivation seems to have been organized or controlled by the leaders of the Casas Grandes polity. Unusually large fields associate with small sites that likely served special administrati…
The First Prehispanic Chile ( Capsicum ) from the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico and its Changing Use
Here we report on the first cultivated chile ( Capsicum annuum ) from the prehispanic United States Southwest and far northwest Mexico. A carbonized seed was recovered from a site near Casas Grandes, northwestern Chihuahua dating to the Medio period, A.D. 1200–1450. We then discuss the role of chile among prehispanic indigenous communities in the region and its transformation to a seemingly high profile foodstuff after Spanish contact. We suggest…
Ceramics and Polity in the Casas Grandes Area, Chihuahua, Mexico
The Medio period (ca. A.D. 1150-1475) at the primate center of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico, is characterized by polychrome pottery with elaborate, finely painted designs. This originally was presumed to be the peak of an evolutionary sequence that began with coarse, simple decoration. New research and dating show that this was not the case. Instead, fine painting and an elaborate set of design motifs are added to the older, simpler style at …
Native Plants and Native Peoples
This project report describes a workshop—Native Plants and Native Peoples—held on August 8, 2014 at the Sam Noble Museum, University of Oklahoma
Prehispanic Northwest and Adjacent West Mexico, 1200 B.C.–A.D. 1400
Northwest Mexico and West Mexico include four to five times as many named cultural areas equivalent to those known in the US Southwest, all with independent yet also connected histories. Together these changing cultures formed the bridge that connected the US Southwest with Mesoamerica. We review some aspects of regional diversity and moments of inter-regional relations, beginning with early agriculture and sedentism in the north. We trace the no…
Ancient Plants and People
Geography (30 works) · Archaeology (26 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (19 works) · Archaeology and Natural History (18 works) · History (14 works) · Prehistory (12 works) · Ethnology (8 works) · Latin American history and culture (8 works) · Biology (7 works) · Ecology (7 works)