Magic and Migration among the Jornada Mogollon

Abstract This article focuses on benefits of understanding magic and animism in archaeological study of migration. We argue that new religious movements offer causes for migration and that ethnic understandings of animistic power shape preferences in construction materials, artifacts, and closure practices. In our North American Southwest case study of the Cottonwood Spring Pueblo Community (LA 175), we contend this fourteenth-century site formed through coalescence of migrants from the northern reaches of Jornada Mogollon Culture with others from its eastern and southern boundaries. Under pressure from new religious movements, northern migrants moved south to preserve their social relations with human and nonhuman (spirit) beings populating their material world (people, artifacts, and architecture). They knew the Cottonwood area, having exchanged pottery in the region during the previous two centuries. Their animistic understanding of architecture and artifacts persisted in their new homes. This led persistence of patterns in artifacts, wall construction, and closure practices.