Main Ridge Community at Lost City
Virgin Anasazi Architecture, Ceramics, and Burials

University of Utah Anthropological Papers #117
Margaret M. Lyneis

Paper $25.00
ISBN 978-0-87480-411-9

Examines the site and data for indications of size and community organization, evidence of social differentiation in the burials, and involvement in ceramic production and trade.

The Main Ridge community was one of the Virgin Anazazi settlements along the Muddy River in southern Nevada, part of the westernmost Anasazi concentrations. Situated in the low elevations of the Mojave Desert, Main Ridge is a large site, with the remains of 44 structures including 200 rooms. Its size and location provide a rare opportunity to study the Virgin Anasazi of southern Nevada in relation to the other Virgin settlements to the east. Margaret Lyneis examines the Main Ridge site and data for indications of size and community organization, evidence of social differentiation in the burials, and involvement in ceramic production and trade.

At the time Main Ridge was occupied, Virgin Anasazi settlements across Arizona north of the Colorado River were small, rarely including more than 20 rooms. Given the immense difference in size, Main Ridge probably played an important role among the other southern Nevada communities. The quantities of goods that moved across the region indicate that an intercommunity exchange system linked Main Ridge to settlements more than 100km to the east. Mark Raymond Harrington excavated Main Ridge in the 1920s, and his dara are added to the new data collected by Lyneis and her coworkers in addressing issues of interest to archaeologists and anthropologists in general.