Oshara Tradition

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Oshara (Northern) Tradition (c.5500 BC to c. AD 600) was a Southwestern Archaic Tradition centered in north-central New Mexico, the San Juan Basin, the Rio Grande Valley, southern Colorado, and southeastern Utah. The Oshara may have ancestral roots in earlier Paleo-Indian traditions, but these postulated roots are much disputed and the debate is unresolved. Irwin-Williams dates the beginnings of Oshara to about 5500 BC and has developed a sequence of Archaic culture for Oshara in the Arroyo Cuervo area of north central New Mexico. This sequence defines no fewer than six phases of occupation, each identified by projectile-point forms and other less well defined artifacts. Jay, Bajada, San Jose, Armijo, En Medio, and Trujillo- the successive phases, chronicle local Archaic culture from its earliest manifestations right up until AD 600, by which time Ancestral Pueblo culture is flourishing in the area.