Meet The Mogollons: Who Were They?

Students learn how the Mogollon people created their civilization and lived in SouthwesternUnited States.

Author Sheila NiceGrade Level 6th gradeDuration 2 class periods

National GeographyStandards

Arizona Geography Standards Arizona History Standards

ELEMENT ONE: TheWorld in SpatialTerms:1 How to use mapsand othergeographicrepresentations,tools, andtechnologies toacquire, process andreport informationfrom a spatialperspective.ELEMENT 4: HumanSystems:12 The process,patterns andfunctions of humansettlement.ELEMENT 6: Usesof Geography:17 How to useGeography tointerpret the past.

Concept 2: Place and RegionsPO 3. Describe the interactions ofpeople in different places andregions.Concept 5: Environment andSocietyPO 1. Describe ways that humandependence on natural resourcesinfluences economic development,settlement, trade, and migration.Concept 6: GeographicApplicationsPO 1. Describe ways geographicfeatures and conditions influencedsettlement in various locations(e.g., near waterways, on highterrain, with adequate fresh water,on good land for farming, intemperate climates) throughoutdifferent periods of time, places,and regions.

Strand 1: American HistoryConcept 2: Early CivilizationsPO 3. Describe the cultures of theMogollon, Ancestral Puebloans (Anasazi)and Hohokam:a. location, agriculture, housing, arts andtrade networksb. how these cultures adapted to andaltered their environment

Overview

We learn about prehistory by studying clues thatwere left behind by the cultures that lived beforeus. Archeologists have helped us discover when,where and how the Mogollon culture of theSouthwest lived. It is important that studentsknow how people survived and created acivilization over two thousand years ago.Understanding the Mogollon culture will givestudents a chance to think about their ownculture.

Purpose

In this lesson students will gain a betterunderstanding of the Mogollon (muggy – on ormuggy – own) culture and how geographicfeatures and conditions influenced settlement invarious locations.

Materials

• Landform Regions of Arizona map• Prehistoric Cultures of the Southwest map• Student Handout Meet the Mogollons

• Layered Book Instructions• PowerPoint with illustration of how the

layered book should be constructed(optional use)

• 3 sheets of blank 81/2” by 11 “ paper foreach student

• Colored pencils or crayons• Stapler and/or glue• Scoring Guide for Layered Book

Objectives

The student will be able to:

1. Locate the following prehistoric cultures on amap: Hohokam, Ancestral Puebloans (Anasazi),and Mogollon.

2. Identify key elements about the Mogollonculture.

3. Identify how the Mogollon used theirenvironment for survival.

Procedures

SESSION ONE

1. Brainstorm:

a. Have students list at least 7 words that theyknow about the Hohokam, Ancestral Puebloans(Anasazi) and Mogollon cultures. Journals can beused for this activity.

b. Group students into pairs to combine their lists.Have the each pair create 4 sections on a piece ofnotebook paper. Title the top of each section withthe following categories: people, places, andevents.

c. Using the categories for a guide, student pairsshould place their words that they listed in theappropriate sections.

d. Instruct students to keep their lists to examineat the end of the lesson to help assess theirlearning.

2. Distribute a Landform Regions of Arizona mapto each student. Point out the desert, plateauand mountain areas – mention that the Hohokamlived in the desert area, the Ancestral Puebloanslived on the plateau and the Mogollons lived in themountain area.

3. Distribute the Prehistoric Cultures of theSouthwest Map. Explain that these cultures livedwithin approximately the same time period (200B.C. – 1300 A.D.) and adapted to their differentenvironments. They also traded with andborrowed ideas from one another. Tell studentsthat in this lesson, they will be learning about justone of these three cultures, the Mogollon.

4. Read Student Handout, Meet the Mogollons,about the Mogollon culture.

5. Create a layered book from information in thehandout. Directions for making a layered book areincluded in the student worksheets. Be sure toread through the directions for each section of thebook (information to be written and what shouldbe drawn). Discuss the Scoring Guide for LayeredBook. There is an optional PowerPoint whichshows how to assemble the layered book.

SESSION TWO:

6. Continue working on the layered book.

7. Have students find the lists of words theybrainstormed and categorized at the beginning ofthe lesson. Have the students think about whatthey learned about other prehistoric cultures.Share as a group or pair share their findings aboutthe Mogollon culture.

Assessment

The layered book can be graded for correctinformation, good sentences, and effort.Mastery would be 80 percent. See the ScoringGuide for Layered Book.

Extensions

Research Mimbres Pottery – Design a bowl in theMimbres tradition reflecting one of the areasstudied in the reading.

Research prehistoric pictographs or petroglyphs.Create a story from the pictures.

Write a summary after completing the layeredbook.

Create a bulletin board with the layered books.

Sources

Alaird, Carilyn and Marilyn Market. Old GrandfatherTeachers a Lesson – Mimbres Children LearnRespect, 2005

Houk, Rose. Mogollon, Prehistoric Cultures of theSouthwest, Western National Parks Association,Tucson, Arizona, 1992 – www.wnpa.org

Maps used: Arizona Geographic Alliance

Http://alliance.la.asu.edu/azga/

Noble, David Grant. Ancient Indians of theSouthwest Western National Parks Association,Tucson, Arizona, 1998

Zike, Dinah. Dinah Zike’s Foldables,Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Columbus, OHISBN: 978-0-07-878243-5

www.desertusa.com Mogollon information