Aspects of Land Tenure in an Ancient Southwestern Farming Society in the Mimbres Valley, New Mexico

This dissertation research focuses on the development of new communities in areas outside of the main Mimbres River Valley during the Classic period, ca. 1000-1150. Based on a review of ethnohistoric farming societies living in marginal areas, a model was developed for understanding when and under what conditions landless groups of people form in established communities and the decisions they then make for survival, including moving into empty, but marginal, agricultural zones and establishing new communities. These new communities typically mimic the older established main valley communities, except are smaller in scale and are later in time. This research clarifies the roles land ownership and land tenure play in the development of new communities and the outward spread of societies.