Exchange Systems and Social Stratification among the Chaco Anasazi

Mathien, Frances Joan

doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-1149-0_2

Cited by 21 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…More recently, most have concluded that Chacoan people first procured Mesoamerican goods in the decades after A.D. 1030-1050, when the construction of massive great houses expanded exponentially (1,19,20,28,(41)(42)(43), an era that has been referred to as Chaco's "golden century" or the Chaco "florescence" (44,45). These conclusions, however, were based on indirect associations of scarlet macaw remains with tree-ring-dated contexts.…”

Section: Dating the Procurement Of Macawsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1C), the World Heritage Site of Chaco Canyon witnessed an extraordinary coalescence and transformation of dispersed farming communities over the course of more than three centuries (A.D. 800-1120). The unique nature of Chaco is manifested by a dense concentration of more than a dozen multistoried masonry great houses with unusual architecture (17), complex irrigation systems (18), thriving long-distance procurement networks (3,4,19,20), dozens of roads (most 1-5 km, but others 40-50 km in length), and scores of outlying settlements distributed over several hundred square miles that mimicked Chacoan architectural style (21). The hierarchical sociopolitical structure evident in Chaco Canyon is one of the most widely cited cases of emergent societal complexity in prehispanic North America.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Early procurement of scarlet macaws and the emergence of social complexity in Chaco Canyon, NM

Watson

Plog

Culleton

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

High-precision accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) 14C dates of scarlet macaw (Ara macao) skeletal remains provide the first direct evidence from Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico that these Neotropical birds were procured from Mesoamerica by Pueblo people as early as ∼A.D. 900–975. Chaco was a prominent prehistoric Pueblo center with a dense concentration of multistoried great houses constructed from the 9th through early 12th centuries. At the best known great house of Pueblo Bonito, unusual burial crypts and significant quantities of exotic and symbolically important materials, including scarlet macaws, turquoise, marine shell, and cacao, suggest societal complexity unprecedented elsewhere in the Puebloan world. Scarlet macaws are known markers of social and political status among the Pueblos. New AMS 14C-dated scarlet macaw remains from Pueblo Bonito demonstrate that these birds were acquired persistently from Mesoamerica between A.D. 900 and 1150. Most of the macaws date before the hypothesized apogeal Chacoan period (A.D. 1040–1110) to which they are commonly attributed. The 10th century acquisition of these birds is consistent with the hypothesis that more formalized status hierarchies developed with significant connections to Mesoamerica before the post-A.D. 1040 architectural florescence in Chaco Canyon.

show abstract

Section: Dating the Procurement Of Macawsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Early procurement of scarlet macaws and the emergence of social complexity in Chaco Canyon, NM

Watson

Plog

Culleton

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon, for example, was constructed during this period, where over 100 marine shell artifacts have been dated to the tenth century C.E. (Mathien ). Marine shell from the Pacific Coast of southern California is much less common at Hohokam sites, which seem to have primarily drawn trade in marine items and resources up the Colorado River from the Sea of Cortez (Smith ).…”

Section: Evidence Of Interactions Between California and The Southwestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Interactions between California and the Southwest: The Western Edge of the North American Continental System

Smith

Fauvelle

2015

American Anthropologist

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The first few centuries of the second millennium saw drastic changes in Coastal California and the American Southwest. In both areas, systems of internal trade intensified, and social systems sped down a path of increasing complexity. Following Peter Peregrine and Stephen Lekson (2006Lekson ( , 2012, we do not believe that these neighboring developments were purely coincidental. Rather, we see California and the Southwest as components in a continental-wide interaction system spanning both North and Central America. We argue that prehistoric interaction between the two regions was regular and sustained and that economic or political developments in one area are likely to have had important implications in the other. Specifically, we outline archaeological and ethnohistoric evidence for the trade of goods between the two areas, with shell beads and asphaltum moving east from coastal California in exchange for Southwestern ceramics and textiles. Rather than seeing each area as a case study in autochthonous social development, we argue that a regional synthesis of economic interactions and connectivity will build toward a better understanding of social changes in both regions. [world systems theory, trade and exchange, North America] RESUMEN Durante los primeros siglos del segundo milenio muchos cambios importantes ocurrieron en las regiones representadas por la Costa de California y el Suroeste de los Estados Unidos. En estas dos regiones, los sistemas de intercambio se intensificaron, y los sistemas sociales se desarrollaron en una ruta de complejidad creciente. Siguiendo el trabajo de Peter Peregrine y Stephen Lekson (2006Lekson ( , 2012 nosotros no creemos que estos desarrollos sean una coincidencia. Por el contrario, vemos a California y el Suroeste como componentes en un sistema de interacción continental que abarca todo Centroamérica y América del Norte. Debatimos que la interacción prehistórica entre las dos regiones era regular y sostenida, y que los desarrollos económicos o políticos en una de loś areas probablemente haya tenido consecuencias importantes en la otra. Específicamente, describimos la evidencia arqueológica y etnohistórica sobre intercambio entre las dosáreas, con cuentas de conchas y asfalto moviéndose hacia el este desde la costa de California, a cambio de cerámica y textiles desde el Suroeste. Debatimos que una síntesis regional de las interacciones económicas puede construir una mejor comprensión del desarrollo y cambio social en ambas regiones. [teoría del sistema-mundo, comercio e intercambio, arqueología de América del Norte]

show abstract

“…Although everyone agrees that the prehistoric environment, with its unpredictable cycles of drought, short frost-free seasons, and erosional settings, must have imposed great hardships on Southwestern populations, there is no consensus about how exchange networks articulated with community organization to average out risks in different times and at different places. At least two models of the nature of exchange networks have been offered: namely, the evolution of tribal reciprocity (Braun and Plog 1982;Hantman and Plog 1982) and the establishment of elite alliances (Upham, Lightfoot, and Feinman 1981;Upham 1982; see also Mathien and McGuire 1986;Mathien 1993;Sebastian 1992). Each model has contrasting implications for under- (Journal of Anthropological Research, vol.…”

Section: Defining Materials Correlates For Ceramic Circulation In the mentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining Material Correlates for Ceramic Circulation in the Prehistoric Puebloan Southwest

Zedeño¹

1998

Journal of Anthropological Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Exchange Systems and Social Stratification among the Chaco Anasazi

Cited by 21 publications

References 18 publications

Early procurement of scarlet macaws and the emergence of social complexity in Chaco Canyon, NM

Early procurement of scarlet macaws and the emergence of social complexity in Chaco Canyon, NM

Regional Interactions between California and the Southwest: The Western Edge of the North American Continental System

Defining Material Correlates for Ceramic Circulation in the Prehistoric Puebloan Southwest

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About