Arroyo Hondo Population Affinities

 

Arroyo Hondo Population Affinities, James Mackey, 1980, School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Arroyo Hondo Archeological Series, Appendix G, Volume 3

     The analysis of population affinities at Arroyo Hondo Pueblo was based on the presence or absence of twenty discreet cranial traits. Originally as many as thirty discreet traits were scored for each cranium. However, because the populations were studied over a period of almost two years, a number of series that were scored early in the study were later rescored to see if the data were reproducible. It was found that some of the population means of the discrete traits could not be reliably reproduced. Also, poor preservation resulted in inadequate sample sizes for a number of populations. Therefore, the standard list of thirty traits was reduced to twentyThe reliability of the biological distance estimates could only have increased from shortening the list.

     Based on multivariate analysis of discrete cranial traits, the Arroyo Hondo skeletal series appears to be genetically similar to the other probable ancestral Tewa and Tano skeletal series. This conclusion supports the archeological evidence suggesting that Puye, Pindi, Arroyo Hondo, Sapawe and other populations with ceramically and architecturally similar traditions form a cultural continuum that ends in historic Tewa-Tano villages.