Mike Adler is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Executive Director of Academics for the SMU-in-Taos program at Southern Methodist University. Adler's primary research focus is the complex ancestries of Puebloan communities in the American Southwest. He has a strong interest in the current roles (and sometimes, failures) of archaeology in the creation of knowledge about the past. He collaborates with both Pueblo and Hispanic communities to investigate concepts of ancestry, cultural identity and how we create that complicated concept called “the past.”
We present obsidian-sourcing data from Pot Creek Pueblo (LA 260), one of the northernmost Puebloa... more We present obsidian-sourcing data from Pot Creek Pueblo (LA 260), one of the northernmost Puebloan settlements in the Northern Rio Grande, occupied from at least 1260 ce until ca. 1320 ce when much of the pueblo was burned and the site was depopulated. Although the occupation of Pot Creek Pueblo was short, it occurred during a pivotal period in the Northern Rio Grande. The population of the region increased rapidly at this time, possibly due to an influx of migrants from the Mesa Verde/San Juan area to the west, and locally people living in relatively small villages comprised of pithouses and above-ground unit pueblos begin to coalesce into fewer, but much larger above-ground pueblos. Obsidian-source choices throughout the region may provide insight into how the proposed migration impacted existing resource-procurement patterns. Our data demonstrate that despite the diverse histories of the settlement’s inhabitants, the exchange system supplying obsidian to Pot Creek Pueblo remained...
We present obsidian sourcing data from Pot Creek Pueblo (LA 260), one of the northernmost Puebloa... more We present obsidian sourcing data from Pot Creek Pueblo (LA 260), one of the northernmost Puebloan settlements in the Northern Rio Grande, occupied from at least 1260 ce until ca. 1320 ce when much of the pueblo was burned and the site was depopulated. Although the occupation of Pot Creek Pueblo was short, it occurred during a pivotal period in the Northern Rio Grande. The population of the region increased rapidly at this time, possibly due to an influx of migrants from the Mesa Verde/San Juan area to the west, and locally people living in relatively small villages comprised of pithouses and above- ground unit pueblos begin to coalesce into fewer, but much larger above-ground pueblos. Obsidian-source choices through- out the region may provide insight into how the proposed migration impacted existing resource-procurement patterns. Our data demonstrate that despite the diverse histories of the settlement’s inhabitants, the exchange system supplying obsidian to Pot Creek Pueblo remained stable throughout its occupation. We argue that exchange dynamics of the local community remained the primary means of obtaining obsidian despite potential for new avenues that might have been available through the addition of new community members from outside the region and despite population growth and changing settlement patterns in the broader Northern Rio Grande.
Saving the Past for Whom? Considerations for a New Conservation Ethic in Archaeology, 2005
This paper addresses ethical and professional issue in archaeology that simultaneously conjoin an... more This paper addresses ethical and professional issue in archaeology that simultaneously conjoin and segregate archaeologists and indigenous groups when concepts of ancestry, cultural affiliation, and ethnicity are at stake
Traditional Lands Agriculture: Understanding the Past for the Future, 2015
This chapter assesses archaeological evidence for precontact (before 1600 CE) irrigation technolo... more This chapter assesses archaeological evidence for precontact (before 1600 CE) irrigation technologies in the Taos area of the northern Rio Grande. Evidence for early irrigation is critiqued and standards for assessing the age of water control features are discussed.
Picuris Pueblo through time eight centuries of change in a northern Rio Grande pueblo, 1999
Summary of archaeological and ethnographic research conducted by Herbert Dick and others at Picur... more Summary of archaeological and ethnographic research conducted by Herbert Dick and others at Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico, from 1961-1999
We present obsidian-sourcing data from Pot Creek Pueblo (LA 260), one of the northernmost Puebloa... more We present obsidian-sourcing data from Pot Creek Pueblo (LA 260), one of the northernmost Puebloan settlements in the Northern Rio Grande, occupied from at least 1260 ce until ca. 1320 ce when much of the pueblo was burned and the site was depopulated. Although the occupation of Pot Creek Pueblo was short, it occurred during a pivotal period in the Northern Rio Grande. The population of the region increased rapidly at this time, possibly due to an influx of migrants from the Mesa Verde/San Juan area to the west, and locally people living in relatively small villages comprised of pithouses and above-ground unit pueblos begin to coalesce into fewer, but much larger above-ground pueblos. Obsidian-source choices throughout the region may provide insight into how the proposed migration impacted existing resource-procurement patterns. Our data demonstrate that despite the diverse histories of the settlement’s inhabitants, the exchange system supplying obsidian to Pot Creek Pueblo remained...
We present obsidian sourcing data from Pot Creek Pueblo (LA 260), one of the northernmost Puebloa... more We present obsidian sourcing data from Pot Creek Pueblo (LA 260), one of the northernmost Puebloan settlements in the Northern Rio Grande, occupied from at least 1260 ce until ca. 1320 ce when much of the pueblo was burned and the site was depopulated. Although the occupation of Pot Creek Pueblo was short, it occurred during a pivotal period in the Northern Rio Grande. The population of the region increased rapidly at this time, possibly due to an influx of migrants from the Mesa Verde/San Juan area to the west, and locally people living in relatively small villages comprised of pithouses and above- ground unit pueblos begin to coalesce into fewer, but much larger above-ground pueblos. Obsidian-source choices through- out the region may provide insight into how the proposed migration impacted existing resource-procurement patterns. Our data demonstrate that despite the diverse histories of the settlement’s inhabitants, the exchange system supplying obsidian to Pot Creek Pueblo remained stable throughout its occupation. We argue that exchange dynamics of the local community remained the primary means of obtaining obsidian despite potential for new avenues that might have been available through the addition of new community members from outside the region and despite population growth and changing settlement patterns in the broader Northern Rio Grande.
Saving the Past for Whom? Considerations for a New Conservation Ethic in Archaeology, 2005
This paper addresses ethical and professional issue in archaeology that simultaneously conjoin an... more This paper addresses ethical and professional issue in archaeology that simultaneously conjoin and segregate archaeologists and indigenous groups when concepts of ancestry, cultural affiliation, and ethnicity are at stake
Traditional Lands Agriculture: Understanding the Past for the Future, 2015
This chapter assesses archaeological evidence for precontact (before 1600 CE) irrigation technolo... more This chapter assesses archaeological evidence for precontact (before 1600 CE) irrigation technologies in the Taos area of the northern Rio Grande. Evidence for early irrigation is critiqued and standards for assessing the age of water control features are discussed.
Picuris Pueblo through time eight centuries of change in a northern Rio Grande pueblo, 1999
Summary of archaeological and ethnographic research conducted by Herbert Dick and others at Picur... more Summary of archaeological and ethnographic research conducted by Herbert Dick and others at Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico, from 1961-1999
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