The Mogollón peoples of the Three Circle period, as this developmental phase is known to scholars, live in the mostly mountainous region of what is now southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.

The means of subsistence continues as before 900, as do the older type of pit houses with mud-plastered walls, but there have appeared rectangular pit houses constructed of stone masonry along with separate ceremonial pit houses.

Both developments suggest influences from the Anasazi (Pueblo) culture to the north.

Pottery types have become more various and sophisticated.

Artists of the Mimbres culture of southwestern New Mexico, a subset of the larger Mogollon culture produce, from 1000, figurative paintings on pottery, remarkable in that much contemporary painted pottery of the Southwest is nonfigurative, its striking appearance reliant on complex linear patterns.

Many of these images suggest familiarity and relationships with cultures in northern and central Mexico.

The elaborate decoration indicates that these people enjoyed an elaborate ceremonial life.

An early style of Mimbres pottery, called Boldface Black-on-white, is characterized by a figure of a single animal surrounded by complex symmetrical and geometric designs drawn on the rims of bowls.

Birds figure prominently on Mimbres pots, with images such as turkeys feeding on insects or a man trapping birds in a garden.

An egalitarian group, the Mimbres live in settlements of up to one hundred and fifty contiguous rooms of very similar size, built of river pebbles and adobe.

These pueblos, usually on one story, gradually grow into large clusters grouped around an open plaza.

Ceremonial structures are more similar to the larger Mogollon culture, with semi-subterranean kivas with entry ramps and ceremonial offerings buried under the floor.

However, smaller square or rectangular kivas with roof openings are also found.