Stephen Plog

Hierarchy and social inequality in the American Southwest, A.D. 800–1200

Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico has been the focus of much recent archaeological research on Pueblo groups who lived during the 9th through 12th centuries in the American Southwest. Here, we examine variation in mortuary patterns in the canyon, focusing in particular on one mortuary crypt, to address questions of social differentiation and the chronology of important sociopolitical processes. Based on new radiocarbon dates as well as reanalysis of the stratigraphy and spatial distribution of materials in the mortuary crypt, we conclude that significant social differentiation began in Chaco ca. 150–200 y earlier than suggested by previous research. We argue that social inequality was sanctified and legitimized by linking people to founders, ancestors, and cosmological forces.

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

Significance New accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) 14C dates of scarlet macaw (Ara macao) skeletons from Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico reveal the earliest (A.D. 900–975) direct evidence for procurement of this Neotropical species by Pueblo people from Mesoamerica. By directly dating the macaws, we demonstrate the existence of long-distance acquisition networks throughout much (A.D. 900–1150) of Chaco’s history. In contrast to models of societal evolution that attribute procurement of macaws to the 11th-century peak of Chacoan influence and architectural expansion, most 14C dates significantly predate this period. We propose that access to and control of these important status markers from Mesoamerica before A.D. 1040 was thus linked to the early formalization of social hierarchy in Chaco. 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.

Archaeogenomic evidence reveals prehistoric matrilineal dynasty

For societies with writing systems, hereditary leadership is documented as one of the hallmarks of early political complexity and governance. In contrast, it is unknown whether hereditary succession played a role in the early formation of prehistoric complex societies that lacked writing. Here we use an archaeogenomic approach to identify an elite matriline that persisted between 800 and 1130 CE in Chaco Canyon, the centre of an expansive prehistoric complex society in the Southwestern United States. We show that nine individuals buried in an elite crypt at Pueblo Bonito, the largest structure in the canyon, have identical mitochondrial genomes. Analyses of nuclear genome data from six samples with the highest DNA preservation demonstrate mother–daughter and grandmother–grandson relationships, evidence for a multigenerational matrilineal descent group. Together, these results demonstrate the persistence of an elite matriline in Chaco for ∼330 years.

The Relationship of Stylistic Similarity to Patterns of Material Exchange

Publisher Summary Indirect evidence has often been used to identify exchange items, particularly in studies of ceramics. The nestability and form of ceramic vessels, the presence of decoration on pottery, and the relative frequency of certain materials at sites are examples of such indirect indices. This chapter discusses the problems associated with inferring exchange on the basis of stylistic similarity. The chapter presents an analysis of stylistic and technological attributes of southwestern ceramics, and explains how a simple correlation does not exist between stylistic distributions and patterns of material exchange. The functional, information-exchange model provides a partial framework for explaining style distributions that are not explained by commodity exchange alone. However, the sharing of information is a complex social mechanism that is closely interrelated with several other aspects of regional demographic, social, and political organization. The chapter also explains the changing patterns of regional stylistic distributions long observed by southwestern archaeologists, and focuses on the complexity of factors that can create and affect those distributions.

Chronology Construction and the Study of Prehistoric Culture Change

AbstractIssues in the measurement and interpretation of temporal processes are discussed, focusing in particular on the relationship between method and theory. Typical methods of chronology construction are examined and general problems identified. The importance of finding solutions to those problems is illustrated with reference to a specific, longstanding research issue: the relationship between environmental and cultural change in the Pueblo region of the American Southwest. An alternative method of chronology construction is proposed that allows more fine-grained assessments of correlations between environmental change and patterns of change in population and exchange.

Exploring the ubiquitous through the unusual: Color symbolism in pueblo black-on-white pottery

One of the common design characteristics on black-on-white pottery from the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the northern American Southwest is the use of thin, parallel lines (hachure) to fill the interior of bands, triangles, or other forms. This essay explores a proposal offered by Jerry Brody that hachure was a symbol for the color blue-green. Brodys proposal is examined by exploring colors and color patterns used to decorate nonceramic material from the Chaco Canyon region of northwestern New Mexico. His proposal is supported and the implications of this conclusion for Chaco Canyon and for future studies of this nature are discussed.

The Never-Changing and the Ever-Changing: the Evolution of Western Pueblo Ritual

The evolution of Western Pueblo ritual has long been a focus of ethnographic and archaeological research in the American Southwest. Most of these studies emphasize the continuities between the late prehistoric period and the early historic era and highlight the role of katsina ritual in promoting social harmony or controlling weather and fertility. We suggest that a more complete understanding of ritual change during this time span requires a closer examination of the highly dynamic social landscape of the the thirteenth through eighteenth centuries. In particular, we suggest that the increasing evidence for raiding, conflict, and social opposition must be incorporated into new models of social and ritual change.

The Chaco Pilgrimage Model: Evaluating the Evidence From Pueblo Alto

Abstract Most recent attempts to understand the complex nature of the prehispanic occupation of Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico often have postulated that the canyon was a center for pilgrimage fairs and ceremonies that attracted hundreds if not thousands of individuals from the surrounding region who may have resided in the canyon for significant periods of time. Scholars first proposed this model in the 1980s based on what they perceived as the unusual nature of Pueblo Alto, a Chacoan great house. In particular, they suggested that normal household activity and refuse disposal could not explain the deposition patterns in the Alto trash mound, the unusual number of ceramic vessels, and characteristics of the fauna recovered from the settlement. We evaluate this argument focusing primarily on the ceramic and faunal evidence and conclude that neither the ceramic nor the faunal data support the occurrence of periodic fairs, festivals, dances or pilgrimages of the scale that have been postulated.

Equality and Hierarchy

The issue of social differentiation in the prehistoric American Southwest is not one that has stimulated a long history of research. Most studies conducted prior to the late 1970s simply ignored the topic (particularly in the Pueblo area), making it exceedingly difficult to cite more than a handful of efforts that raise the question explicitly (and even these are comparatively recent [e.g. Grebinger 1973]). In the last two decades, however, more scholars have raised questions about the nature and degree of social differentiation and some have advanced the view that there was a significant degree of social inequality during at least some time periods (e.g., Upham 1982). The subsequent debate over the latter proposal has become one of the more contentious discussions in the Southwestern literature.

Some Issues in the Archaeology of “Tribal” Social Systems

Saittas (1983) comments on a model of the evolution of tribal social networks (Braun and Plog 1982) are discussed. Aspects of the model are clarified and problems with Saittas interpretations are noted. In particular, we focus on questions concerning the relationship between stylistic variation and social networks and several issues concerning tribal social organization. We also address weaknesses in the alternative approach that Saitta describes.