Ceramic Production Distribution And Consumption In Two Classic Period Hohokam Communities Phd

Among desert farmers of the prehistoric Southwest, irrigation played a crucial role in the development of social complexity. This innovative study examines the changing relationship between irrigation and community organization among the Hohokam and shows through ceramic data how that dynamic relationship influenced sociopolitical development. David Abbott contends that reconstructions of Hohokam social patterns based solely on settlement pattern data provide limited insight into prehistoric social relationships. By analyzing ceramic exchange patterns, he provides complementary information that challenges existing models of sociopolitical organization among the Hohokam of central Arizona. Through ceramic analyses from Classic period sites such as Pueblo Grande, Abbott shows that ceramic production sources and exchange networks can be determined from the composition, surface treatment attributes, and size and shape of clay containers. The distribution networks revealed by these analyses provide evidence for community boundaries and the web of social ties within them. Abbott's meticulous research documents formerly unrecognized horizontal cohesiveness in Hohokam organizational structure and suggests how irrigation was woven into the fabric of their social evolution. By demonstrating the contribution that ceramic research can make toward resolving issues about community organization, this work expands the breadth and depth of pottery studies in the American Southwest.

In this book, internationally distinguished contributors consider hot topics in turn-of-the-millennium archaeology and chart an ambitious agenda for the future.

Twenty-six leading scholars from around the world have come together to celebrate the strengths, the energies and the sheer intellectual excitement of their discipline. They unashamedly proclaim that over the last hundred years archaeology has transformed itself from a genteel antiquarianpursuit, deeply rooted in the classical tradition, to a rigorous and demanding discipline, spanning the humanities and the sciences, yet at the same time one widely accessible to the public at large. The contributors show how our understanding of the past has changed, reveal the exciting ideas under current debate, and offer their visions of the future.The result is a remarkable overview of world archaeology, focusing on new and unexpected themes at the cutting edge of the discipline.

In considerations of societal change, the application of classic evolutionary schemes to prehistoric southwestern peoples has always been problematic for scholars. Because recent theoretical developments point toward more variation in the scale, hierarchy, and degree of centralization of complex societies, this book takes a fresh look at southwestern prehistory with these new ideas in mind. This is the first book-length work to apply new theories of social organization and leadership strategies to the prehispanic Southwest. It examines leadership strategies in a number of archaeological contexts—from Chaco Canyon to Casas Grandes, from Hohokam to Zuni—to show striking differences in the way that leadership was constructed across the region. These case studies provide ample evidence for alternative models of leadership in middle-range societies. By illustrating complementary approaches in the study of political organization, they offer new insight into power and inequality. They also provide important models of how today's archaeologists are linking data to theory, providing a basis for comparative analysis with other regions. CONTENTS Alternative Models, Alternative Strategies: Leadership in the Prehispanic Southwest / Barbara J. Mills Political Leadership and the Construction of Chacoan Great Houses, A.D. 1020-1140 / W. H. Wills Leadership, Long-Distance Exchange, and Feasting in the Protohistoric Rio Grande / William M. Graves and Katherine A. Spielmann Ritual as a Power Resource in the American Southwest / James M. Potter and Elizabeth M. Perry Ceramic Decoration as Power: Late Prehistoric Design Change in East-Central Arizona / Scott Van Keuren Leadership Strategies in Protohistoric Zuni Towns / Keith W. Kintigh Organizational Variability in Platform Mound-Building Groups of the American Southwest / Mark D. Elson and David R. Abbott Leadership Strategies among the Classic Period Hohokam: A Case Study / Karen G. Harry and James M. Bayman The Institutional Contexts of Hohokam Complexity and Inequality / Suzanne K. Fish and Paul R. Fish Leadership at Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico / Michael E. Whalen and Paul E. Minnis Reciprocity and Its Limits: Considerations for a Study of the Prehispanic Pueblo World / Timothy A. Kohler, Matthew W. Van Pelt, and Lorene Y. L. Yap Dual-Processual Theory and Social Formations in the Southwest / Gary M. Feinman

The use of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) in ceramic research in the American Sothwest has become widespread over the last ten years. This volume presents case studies of Southwestern ceramic production and distribution in which INAA is used as the primary analytical technique. These studies use provenance determination to explore such issues as exchange, migration, social identity, and economic organization. Case studies from the Southwestern periphery provide a comparative perspective from which to view the range of variation in Southwestern ceramic circulation patterns. Several of the case studies use mineralogical approaches to supplement chemical sourcing data. And, a case study using petrographic analyses provides a counterpoint to the emphasis on chemical approaches (INAA) in this volume. This volume documents the cumulative contribution of INAA-based ceramic characterization to knowledge of the prehistory of the Southwest.