Resisting Diversity: a Long-Term Archaeological Study

Abstract

The value of "diversity" in social and ecological systems is frequently asserted in academic and policy literature. Diversity is thought to enhance the resilience of social-ecological systems to varied and potentially uncertain future conditions. Yet there are trade-offs; diversity in ecological and social domains has costs as well as benefits. In this paper, we examine social diversity, specifically its costs and benefits in terms of decision making in middle range or tribal societies, using archaeological evidence spanning seven centuries from four regions of the U.S. Southwest. In these nonstate societies, social diversity may detract from the capacity for collective action. We ask whether as population density increases, making collective action increasingly difficult, social diversity declines. Further, we trace the cases of low diversity and high population density across our long-temporal sequences to see how they associate with the most dramatic transformations. This latter analysis is inspired by the claim in resilience literature that reduction of diversity may contribute to reduction in resilience to varied conditions. Using archaeological data, we examine social diversity and conformity through the material culture (pottery styles) of past societies. Our research contributes to an enhanced understanding of how population density may limit social diversity and suggests the role that this association may play in some contexts of dramatic social transformation.

Synthesis: Vulnerability, Traps, and Transformations—Long-term Perspectives from Archaeology

“…The second issue surfaces when building robustness to relevant shocks runs counter to the immediate desires of society. Decisions to migrate (as in Anderies and Hegmon 2011), to trade (Janssen 2011) or to nucleate (Nelson et al 2011a) may all be responses to system shocks and perceived vulnerabilities, or they may be decisions made for wholly different reasons such as individual or societal values and beliefs. Societies continually face the challenge of minimizing appropriate vulnerabilities and the balancing of trade-offs of both performance and vulnerability.…”

“…This special feature considers the following strategies for reducing vulnerability: 1) migration Hegmon 2011, Spielmann et al 2011), 2) social networking and trading (Janssen 2011, Nelson et al 2011b), 3) engaging in a diversity of social practices (Nelson et al 2011a), reciprocity by sharing resources with others (Spielmann et al 2011), and 4) conserving and storing food and water resources (Anderies and Hegmon 2011, Janssen 2011, Spielmann et al 2011). However, our case studies show that, in hindsight, prehistoric societies sometimes made choices that increased rather than decreased their vulnerability.…”

“…Archaeological research shows that two factors were closely associated with rapid and severe transformations in these prehistoric American societies: 1) limitations in social and materials diversity, and 2) investments in infrastructure that limited Ecology and Society 16(2): 24 http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol16/iss2/art24/ options. Nelson et al(2011a) find that, in some cases, low material diversity, such as of pottery ware, is indicative of conforming behavior preceding dramatic transformations, and postulate, along with theorists (Folke 2006), that diversity can increase resilience. Nelson et al (2011b) show that rigidly designed, "heavy" canal systems of the Hohokam contributed to conditions that precipitated a catastrophic collapse, whereas the Zuni, who maintained a diverse suite of farming practices that were modified with changes in climate conditions, experienced a more gradual transformation.…”

“…Embrace adaptive governance. Anderies and Hegmon (2011) and Nelson et al (2011a) examine how a flexible social system, in this case one that supports frequent movement and reorganization of people across landscapes and villages, provides the backdrop to allow solutions to difficulties. In the Mimbres case, people adjusted to population-resource challenges, climate change, and social tensions by reorganizing, rather than through short-term solutions of capitalizing their investments in land and infrastructure.…”

Complexity, Modeling, and Natural Resource Management

“…Too much conformity lessens the potential response range. Overall, a reduction in diversity can increase short-term efficiency but create long-term vulnerability (Nelson et al 2011). This diversity is often seen as a hurdle-how can we in practice manage it to achieve short-term goals and retain long-term resilience?…”