Biological Distance Analysis and the Fate of the Gallina in the American Southwest

Abstract

The Gallina heartland was abandoned around AD 1275. The fate of the Gallina people after this abandonment is not well understood. This study uses biological distance analysis to evaluate possible migratory patterns of the Gallina people after their decline. Is there evidence for population continuity of the Gallina in the Rio Grande Valley, or did cultural pressures drive them to more distant areas such as the Mogollon Rim or Greater Southwest? We use dental morphological data to compare individuals from Gallina with samples representing the Rio Grande Valley, as well as the Arizona Mountain Mogollon and Northern Mexico dating after AD 1300. Our results indicate the Gallina possibly migrated to the Middle Rio Grande region, and refute hypotheses that the Gallina people were culturally and biologically isolated from other American Southwest populations. We emphasize the importance of combining archaeological, linguistic, and biological data to evaluate migratory patterns of past populations.

El núcleo de Gallina fue abandonado alrededor de 1275 DC. El destino de la gente de Gallina después del abandono es aún desconocido. Este estudio utiliza el análisis de distancia biológica para evaluar los posibles patrones migratorios de la población de Gallina después de su disminución. ¿Existe evidencia de continuidad para la población de Gallina en el Valle del Río Grande, o acaso las presiones culturales los llevaron a áreas más distantes como la zona del Mogollon Rim o el Gran Suroeste? Empleamos datos morfológicos dentales para comparar individuos de Gallina con muestras que representan al Valle del Río Grande, la Montaña de Arizona Mogollon y el Norte de México, los que datan de 1300 DC. Nuestros resultados indican que la población Gallina probablemente emigró a la región del Río Grande, refutando las hipótesis que sostienen que la población de Gallina estuvo culturalmente y biológicamente aislada de otras poblaciones del suroeste americano. Finalmente, enfatizamos la importancia de combinar datos arqueológicos, lingüísticos y biológicos para evaluar patrones migratorios de poblaciones del pasado.

Keywords:

• Biodistance
• Gallina people
• Migration
• Northern Rio Grande Valley
• Linear discriminant analysis
• Dental morphology
• Ancestral Puebloans
• Middle Rio Grande

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Latin American and Iberian Institute at the University of New Mexico for their partial financial support of this project. We would also like to thank several individuals and institutions for their help with collections access and sample selection, without which this research would not have been possible: Dr. Heather Edgar and the staff of the Laboratory of Human Osteology, Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico; Drs. James Watson and John McClelland at the Arizona State Museum; Dr. David Hunt at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; and Dr. Arleyn Simon at Arizona State University. Thank you to Shelby Magee and Abel Traslaviña Arias for abstract translation. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and suggestions.