Agriculture and community in Chaco Canyon: Revisiting Pueblo Alto

The Bonito Phase (ca. AD 860–1140) in Chaco Canyon is widely recognized as one of the primary sources of information about emergent social complexity in prehispanic North America. Large masonry buildings called “great houses,” such as Pueblo Bonito, are iconic symbols of the rapid rise of a powerful society based on the ability to harness labor to prolonged construction projects. It is clear that the political forces at work during the Bonito Phase had an agricultural foundation, presumably in the financing of construction through food surpluses, but the actual nature of farming in Chaco is surprisingly opaque to archaeologists. Indeed, many researchers have concluded that farming in Chaco Canyon was too constrained by poor soils to have supported the dynamic developments associated with the massive stone structures and extensive trade systems of the Bonito Phase. The popular perspective that Chaco was mysterious or enigmatic is largely a response to this view of the canyon as agriculturally marginal. In this study we argue that a predictive model of potential agricultural productivity that includes other portions of the canyon besides the floodplain indicates that Chaco was not marginal for farming. The results of this analysis suggest that great house communities may have been sited to control local production zones and that some great houses may have been linked to others in order to manage multiple agricultural areas.     

Modeling agricultural potential in Chaco Canyon during the Bonito phase: a predictive geospatial approach

This study presents a geospatial analysis of surficial hydrology and geomorphology and their relationship to potential agricultural productivity in order to better understand the economic role of water in Chaco Canyon during the Bonito Phase (ca. AD 850–1150). Defined as the Natural Agricultural Suitability Analysis, the foundation of this study is a hierarchical geospatial analysis that integrates six key natural factors: slope, soil texture, soil depth, non-catastrophic overbank flooding potential, drainage flow length, and drainage proximity and flow potential. These factors are combined through a raster weighted overlay function to generate composite suitability map that offers a testable proxy for variability in relative agricultural potential during the Bonito Phase at Chaco. The rationale for including this set of natural factors is based largely on ethnographic and modern agricultural studies, but the predictive model differs from previous studies of agricultural potential in that it is independent of the specific archaeological distribution of evidence of agriculture in the study area. The results of this analysis suggest that previous models of Chacoan agricultural productivity have underestimated local production capacity. Previous studies have focused solely on floodplain contexts, whereas this study points to a more comprehensive and geographically distributed use of the landscape.     

A case of treponematosis from pre‐Columbian Chaco Canyon,New Mexico

Although numerous cases of treponemal infection have been identified in prehispanic New World skeletal remains, none has been reported from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Chaco Canyon was the epicentre of a broad culture system that spanned the Four Corners region of the pre‐Columbian Southwestern United States. A burial recovered from the central Great House of Chaco Canyon, Pueblo Bonito, exhibits lesions indicative of treponematosis. However, the pathological condition of this individual has heretofore been only tentatively diagnosed because the skeleton was collected from a commingled context and distributed across four separate catalogue numbers. Now reassociated, these remains exhibit a pattern of pathological changes strongly indicative of treponemal disease. This case not only adds to the growing body of literature on the clinical expression and geographic distribution of pre‐Columbian treponematosis, but also demonstrates the utility of painstaking reassociation of commingled human remains. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cacao consumption during the 8th century at Alkali Ridge,southeastern Utah

Theobroma cacao was detected in the ceramic assemblage at the 8th century Site 13, Alkali Ridge, southeastern Utah. The presence of this Mesoamerican beverage during the Pueblo I period is the earliest reported use of cacao in the northern American Southwest, coming centuries earlier than the recently documented Pueblo II consumption of cacao in cylinder jars, sharp-shouldered pitchers and shallow bowls at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon. Analogous to the situation at Chaco, cacao was found at Site 13 in a new vessel form decorated with a distinctive design system that contrasted markedly with designs and vessel forms in the local black-on-white ceramic assemblage. We postulate that Abajo R/O at Site 13 represents a ceramic tradition brought by one of the many groups moving into the northern Southwest. The detection of cacao in their ceramic vessels represents new evidence for the migration model that for centuries brought people with Mesoamerican beliefs, ritual practices and a new subsistence lifeway into the American Southwest.     

Development and application of methods used to source prehistoric Southwestern maize: a review

Archaeological cobs free of mineral contaminants should be used to source the soils in which they were grown. Mineral contaminants often contain much higher concentrations of metals than vegetal materials and can alter a cob’s apparent metal and heavy-isotope content. Cleaning a cob via immersion in an acid solution for more than a few minutes will result in the incongruent and sometimes complete leaching of metals, including strontium (Sr), from the cob. When using ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr to determine the location of potential agriculture fields, it is best to either integrate several depth-integrated soil samples or to integrate several vegetation samples from individual fields. Biologically labile Sr in semi-arid Southwestern soils largely originates from eolian source or sources and usually is not derived from underlying bedrock. Existing Sr-isotope data indicate that archaeological cobs from Aztec Ruins came from either the Mesa Verde-McElmo Dome or Totah areas, that Pueblo Bonito and Chetro Ketl cobs, from Chaco Canyon that predate A.D. 1130, probably came from the Rio Chaco corridor, and that cobs from Chaco Canyon, that postdate A.D. 1130, probably came from either the Totah or Zuni areas.     

Archaeologist as anthropologist: Much ado about something after all?

It has been said that “archaeology is anthropology or it is nothing.” And so archaeologists have become conversant in and contributors to cultural theory. Other archaeologists have undertaken ethnoarchaeological studies on material culture when ethnographers have not supplied the data needed. Yet archaeologists might undertake more traditional participant-observation fieldwork to help nuance the cultural questions we ask and to render our tales of the past more convincing, in particular, when we purport to speak of the sensuous and meaningful experience of the “prehistoric other.” This article discusses the venturing of one archaeologist in Madagascar tracking aspects of the classic problem of state origins across archaeology, oral history, ethnoarchaeology, and ethnography. This process of joining objective analysis to lived experience is perhaps the most proper task of anthropology, the one that distinguishes it from other social science…     

Patterning in procurement of obsidian in Chaco Canyon and in Chaco-era communities in New Mexico as revealed by X-ray fluorescence

X-ray fluorescence analysis of obsidian artifacts from sites located in Chaco Canyon and from three Chaco-era communities in New Mexico permits determination of their geological origin. These source data are used to describe patterning in obsidian procurement in sites located in Chaco Canyon dating from A.D. 500–1150, and in a three non-Canyon communities occupied during the period of Chaco Canyon's regional prominence (ca. A.D. 875–1150). These data demonstrate that the most proximate sources generally dominate the sourced obsidian assemblages from sites of all periods, but also suggest differences in procurement patterning both over time and across space. Within Chaco Canyon, there is a notable shift from Mount Taylor obsidian to use of Jemez Mountains sources over time. These data also suggest that earlier analyses of obsidian from sites in Chaco Canyon misidentified some obsidian artifact sources; these new data indicate the central areas of disagreement and provide a revision of procurement patterning. In the Chaco-era communities located outside Chaco Canyon, procurement patterning diverges. The Blue J community shows an increase in use of the nearby Mount Taylor source over time. Two communities located toward the southern extent of the Chaco great house distribution reveal a markedly distinct procurement pattern, obtaining nearly all of their obsidian from southern sources largely unrepresented at Chaco Canyon. Combined, these data provide new insights into raw material procurement and artifact production at sites in Chaco Canyon, and in communities occupied during the Chaco Phenomenon, the period of the Canyon's greatest regional influence.     

Recent Research on Chaco: Changing Views on Economy, Ritual, and Society

Current research on Chaco Canyon and its surrounding outlier communities is at an important juncture. Rather than trying to argue for the presence or absence of complexity, archaeologists working in the area are asking different questions, especially how Chacoan political, economic, ritual, and social organization were structured. These lines of inquiry do not attempt to pigeonhole Chaco into traditional neoevolutionary types, but instead seek to understand the historical trajectory that led to the construction of monumental architecture in Chaco Canyon and a large part of the northern Southwest in the 10th through 12th centuries. This review discusses the conclusions of current research at Chaco including definitions of the Chaco region, recent fieldwork, histories of Chaco archaeology, chronology, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, demography, political organization, outlier communities, economic organization, social organization, ritual, violence, and the post-Chacoan reorganization. Although many issues are hotly debated, there is a growing concensus that power was not based in a centralized political organization and that ritual organization was a key factor in the replication of Chacoan architecture across a vast regional landscape. Exactly how ritual, social, and political organization intersected is a central question for Chaco scholars. The resolution of this problem will prove to be of interest to all archaeologists working with intermediate societies across the globe.     

A Feminist Framework for Analyzing Powered Cultural Landscapes in Historical Archaeology

“Powered cultural landscapes” is my term for landscapes that express social power dynamics. Historical archaeologists have not adopted or developed adequate definitions or theorizations of the terms “power” or “landscape.” Since these terms are predominantly considered separately in the literature, this article first briefly defines power and develops a heterarchical theory of power. Then cultural landscapes are defined and categories of human-landscape interactions are constructed. The bulk of the article applies my heterarchical paradigm to analyze the social power dynamics in selected examples of historical archaeological research concerned with each category of human-landscape interaction.     

The role of a Chaco-Era great house in the Southern Cibola Region of West-Central New Mexico: The Largo Gap great house community

Largo Gap is one of several late Pueblo II (a.d. 1050–1130) Chaco-style great houses located in the southern Cibola region of west-central New Mexico. This region is at the interface of two Southwestern cultural areas: Mogollon and Pueblo. We report results of survey and excavation research at the Largo Gap great house and associated community to explore the role great houses in this region served for local populations, as well as their articulation with other great houses across the “Chaco Sphere.” The results identify Largo Gap as an architecturally “Chacoan” structure and that use of this structure incorporated both Mogollon and Puebloan material culture. The use of ceramics from both ancestral culture groups indicates that the local community was multi-ethnic, and suggests a socially-integrative role for the great house within this region.     

Where East Meets West: The Formative in Mexico’s Central Highlands

Mexico’s Central Highlands form one of Mesoamerica’s fundamental cultural seams, a point of overlap between two traditions, one to the east and the other to the west. Although this area is usually included in the west, it can be more productively viewed as an interface, the physical space where people, goods, and ideas passed from one side to the other, and thus it holds many keys for our understanding of emerging social complexity in Mesoamerica. In reviewing the last two decades of Formative period (1500 BC–AD 100) research in this crucial territory, we focus on themes that reveal the variation and dynamism of interregional interaction, including the formation of regional traditions, exchange systems, and foreign “influence,” and others that help contextualize the events and processes of that time, like household studies and environmental degradation. We stress that this part of Mexico is undergoing relentless development so time is of the essence if we are to broaden our perspectives on social evolution in the Central Highlands. This issue cannot be resolved by rescue and salvage work because it requires long-term, interdisciplinary projects to unravel multifaceted problems.     

In Search of the Social: Steamboats, Square Wheels, Reindeer and Other Things

This paper examines the concept of the ‘social,’ particularly from an archaeological perspective, and explores how it relates to the ways in which we seek to understand the processes of technological innovation and change. It is demonstrated that the concept ‘social’ is far from well defined and that enquiry is bedevilled by artificial polarization between subject-centred approaches and object-centred particularism. Through the medium of early United States steamboat technology a different approach is forged through the melding of people and things with the idea of viewing artefacts as active social actors along with people. Ultimately, it is argued that maritime archaeologists should be more bullish in their approaches to material things—instead of adopting social theories ‘wholesale,’ we should insist that they include the things we study: boats, material objects, people, artefacts, landscapes and animals.     

Wood deterioration in Chacoan great houses of the southwestern United States

Abstract

‘Great houses’ built by the Ancestral Puebloans (Anasazi) (900–1200AD) still contain thousands of pieces of wood used as beams, secondary roof supports and lintels. The wood is an integral part of the surviving Chacoan architecture and has served as a valuable resource for determining the exact age of the structures and for obtaining information about raw material production, procurement and harvesting methods. An assessment of wood deterioration at the great houses in Aztec Ruins National Monument and Pueblo Bonito, Pueblo del Arroyo and Chetro Ked located in Chaco Culture National Historic Park in New Mexico have revealed that both microbial and non-biological deterioration was taking place. The major type of decay found throughout the structures was caused by soft-rot fungi. Cavity formation in secondary walls of conifer woods and an erosion of cell walls in aspen woods was prevalent. A brown-rot type of wood degradation was also found, primarily associated with areas of subterranean termite damage. Another form of deterioration present in some of the woods was a chemical de fibration of wood. This corrosive attack, caused by high concentrations of salts, destroyed the middle lamella between cells, resulting in a stringy mass of loosely attached fibres. Reburial of great house structures as an effective conservation strategy will require an environment that is not conducive to decay, since active wood-destroying fungi are present in the prehistoric woods. If moisture and other conditions suitable for decay exist, the wood will be destroyed and this important historical resource lost.     

Who provided maize to Chaco Canyon after the mid-12th-century drought?

Between A.D. 1181 and 1200, in the early part of a climatically wet period, corn was imported to Chaco Canyon from a region outside the Chaco Halo (defined in this paper as the region between the base of the Chuska Mountains and Raton Wells). Strontium-isotope (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) analyses of 12 corn cobs dating to this period match ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios from five potential source areas, including: the Zuni region, the Mesa Verde-McElmo Dome area, the Totah, the Defiance Plateau, and Lobo Mesa. The latter two areas were eliminated from consideration as possible sources of corn in that they appear to have been unpopulated during the time period of interest. Therefore, it appears that the corn cobs were imported from the Zuni region, the Mesa Verde-McElmo Dome area, or the Totah area during a time when the climate was relatively wet and when a surplus of corn was produced in regions outside Chaco Canyon. Based on proximity to and cultural affiliation with Chaco Canyon, it is hypothesized that the corn probably was imported from the Totah.     

'Minorities with a Message': The Beveridge Report on Broadcasting (1949-1951) and Wales

This article explores the significance of the report of theBeveridge Committee on Broadcasting (1949–1951)—whichwas charged with considering all aspects of post-war broadcastingin Britain at a time of political, social, economic and culturalchange—in relation to Wales. It argues that the interactionbetween the committee and the Welsh political and cultural andgroups that submitted evidence to the committee allows for aninsight into the cultural politics of Wales during the earlypost-war period. It also argues that a study of the report throwslight onto issues of broadcasting and nationhood, the significanceof the Welsh language in defining nationhood and a nationalconsciousness and the relationship between a minority languageand the state, at a time of political and cultural change. Astudy of the Welsh dimension of the committee's report alsoprovides a framework for an understanding of the broadcastingpolitics of Wales in the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, the articleexemplifies the tensions that existed between what media historianJames Curran calls the ‘newness and modernity’ ofthe broadcast media and a political and cultural elite whichsought to preserve a ‘traditional’ way of life inthe face of the perceived impact of those media.     

重返“物质”：新文化地理学视角下的消费研究及进展评述

随着物质地理研究的兴起，消费已成为新文化地理学关注的热点之一。本文回顾了物质地理和消费间的关系，并对物质消费品及其品牌生产的地方性与跨地方性、物质消费中的文化政治及身体实践等相关研究议题进行了评述。新文化地理学“重返物质”倡导下的消费研究，强调以物为线索的“行为-主体-物质”的复杂关系和日常实践，有力拓展了传统“人-地”关系中对“物”维度的关注。同时，这也为消费研究提供了地理学的新视角和新方法，有利于理解物质流动和消费背后的全球-地方关系、文化经济和文化政治。这一新兴交叉研究领域值得国内人文地理界关注和重视。     

First Approach to Study the Presence of Domesticated Camelids (Lama glama) in the Chaco‐Santiago Region,a Marginal Zone of the South Central Andes

We analysed bone remains of camelids from the Maquijata site, assigned to the late pottery‐making and farming stage (ca. 800–400 BP), in order to differentiate between domestic and wild species in the Chaco‐Santiago archaeological region. This region is considered marginal to the Argentine Northwest regarding its cultural development and has received less attention than other regions. South American camelids have been one of the major resources in this continent, with domestication recorded in the South Central Andes at around 4400–3000 BP. We applied osteometric techniques and multivariate statistical analyses to proximal phalanges; the results showed interspecific differentiation of archaeological specimens, though with some methodological application issues. These results are the first contribution regarding the presence of domesticated animals in the study area. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the ‘Meishan Phenomenon’ in Song culture

The Song Dynasty enjoyed a splendid culture. Meishan, a small county in Southwest Sichuan, was one of the most developed cultural areas. This is closely related to a large-scale immigration after the collapse of the Tang Dynasty and the ‘Jingkang defeat’ in the Song Dynasty. Meishan was an area receiving more immigrants than other regions. A great number of distinguished families from North China brought with them the advanced culture of the Yellow River areas to Meishan, which combined with native culture, and produced many “cultural clans” from this “clan culture.” Some of these people became elites in various areas through education and the Civil Service Examinations. The so-called “Meishan Phenomenon” was a result of cultural melting. Translated by Li He and Zhang Hai from the Journal of Sichuan University, 2004: 3     

Record of the meso- and neoholocene palaeoenvironmental changes in the Jesionowa landslide peat bog (Beskid Sądecki MTS. Polish Outer Carpathians)

The paper presents an analysis of depositional sequences of landslide peat bog situated in the depressions developed within the landslide landforms Jesionowa in the Beskid Sądecki Mts. (Outer Carpathians). The peat bog, with depositional sequence 2.80 m long, started to form at the beginning of the Atlantic Phase ca. 6390–5910 cal BC. Palynological and lithological analyses as well as several (14) radiocarbon age determinations of different horizons in the sediments enabled the reconstruction of palaeoenvironmental changes during the Meso-and Neoholocene. The increase in climate humidity at the beginning of the Subboreal and Subatlantic Phases was observed as delivery of minerogenic material to the peat bog basin and formation of a mineral horizon and an illuvial level within the peat. The particularly intensive delivery of allochthonous material to the peat bog took place at the beginning of the Subboreal Phase and was the result of both significant humid climate and increased human impact (colonization of the Funnel Beaker Culture) in the landslide area. Similar influence of younger colonisations of landslide area (Przeworsk Culture and, later, Valachian colonisation) was also recorded within the deposits of peat bog (illuvial and mineral horizons) in the early Subatlantic Phase. Rejuvenation of the landslide zone and formation of the younger landslide were connected with the increase in climate humidity at the beginning of the Subboreal Phase. The peat bog deposits situated within this younger landslide, which are ca. 1.8 m thick, are significantly contaminated with mineral material.     

Sceattas in Anglo-Saxon Graves

ANGLO-SAXON SILVER PENNIES (sceattas) are rare as gravegoods, but their provision was a regular element of burial practice in a small minority of later 7th-century-furnished inhumations and later burials. Although the number both of coins and burials is very small, they show patterns of deposition and treatment that have both a cultural and a broader chronological significance. This sample provides a window on social and symbolic attitudes to the coinages as elements of the broader material culture of contemporary society, and constitutes important corroborating evidence that the Primary Phase issues embodied a new degree of monetisation in 7th-century England.