The Picosa culture encapsulates the
Archaic lifestyles of people from three locations with interconnected artifacts and lifestyles. It was named by
Cynthia Irwin-Williams
Cynthia Irwin-Williams (April 14, 1936 – June 15, 1990) was an archaeologist of the prehistoric American Southwest. She received a B.A. in Anthropology from Radcliffe College in 1957; the next year she received a M.A. in the same field. In 196 ...
in the 1960s for those areas: Pinto Basin (PI),
Cochise tradition (CO) and San Pedro (SA), which all together is "Picosa".
[Gibbon, Guy E., and Kenneth M. Ames. (1998). Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia. New York: Taylor and Francis. p. 640. .]
The people in the dispersed locations in the American Southwest lived in similar housing, used similar burial practices and had similar lifestyles. The artifacts from the sites demonstrate similarity in the technology used and personal material goods. The Picosa culture has been found in the states of
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
,
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
and
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
. It was the predecessor to the
Oshara tradition
Oshara Tradition, the northern tradition of the Picosa culture, was a Southwestern Archaic tradition centered in the area now called New Mexico and Colorado. Cynthia Irwin-Williams developed the sequence of Archaic culture for Oshara during he ...
.
[
]
References
See also
* Outline of Colorado prehistory
*Prehistory of Colorado
Prehistory of Colorado provides an overview of the activities that occurred prior to Colorado's recorded history. Colorado experienced cataclysmic geological events over billions of years, which shaped the land and resulted in diverse ecosystems. ...
{{Pre-Columbian North America
Archaic period in North America
Archaeological cultures of North America
Archaeological sites in New Mexico
Hunter-gatherers of the United States
Native American history of New Mexico
Native American history of Colorado
Prehistoric cultures in Colorado
Oasisamerica cultures