The influence of self-interested behavior on sociopolitical change: the evolution of the Chaco Anasazi in the prehistoric American Southwest (original) (raw)

Social Change and the Evolution of Ceramic Production and Distribution in a Maya Community (Table of Contents and Introduction)

2008

How and why do ceramics and their production change through time? Social Change and the Evolution of Ceramic Production and Distribution in a Maya Community is a unique ethno- archaeological study that attempts to answer these questions by tracing social change among potters and changes in the production and distribution of their pottery in a single Mexican community between 1965 and 1997. Dean E. Arnold made ten visits to Ticul, Yucatan, Mexico, witnessing the changes in transportation infrastructure, the use of piped water, and the development of tourist resorts. Even in this context of social change and changes in the demand for pottery, most of the potters in 1997 came from the families that had made pottery in 1965. This book traces changes and continuities in that population of potters, in the demand and distribution of pottery, and in the procurement of clay and temper, paste composition, forming, and firing. In this volume, Arnold bridges the gap between archaeology and ethnography, using his analysis of contemporary ceramic production and distribution to generate new theoretical explanations for archaeologists working with pottery from antiquity. When the descriptions and explanations of Arnold's findings in Ticul are placed in the context of the literature on craft specialization, a number of insights can be applied to the archaeological record that confirm, contradict, and nuance generalizations concerning the evolution of ceramic specialization. This book will be of special interest to anthropologists, archaeologists, ethnoarchaeologists, ethnographers, and those scholars interested in social change and ceramic production. Although addressing the theme of how production and distribution changes through a period of 32 years, the work is placed in the context of the parameters of craft production and specialization by Costin addressing its strengths and weaknesses. Several chapters are organized as critiques of current theories of technological choice that potters can make any vessel using any technique (van der Leeuw) and whether elite control of ceramic raw materials results in a standardized paste (Rice). One of the more interesting conclusions from the book is that in spite of massive social changes during the last third of the twentieth century, pottery production is still largely organized by households, and the learning and residence of potters still largely conforms to a kin-based model, although such patterns are highly nuanced. The work also shows that different aspects of ceramic production changes at different rates, and one of the consequences of change is the break-up of ceramic production into specialized tasks over time. Throughout the book, the implications of the work for the study of ancient ceramic production is discussed. This is a unique book that chronicles long-term change in ceramic production, and distribution thrugh the last third of the twentieth century, and shows the implication of these data to the study of ceramic production and cultural change in antiquity. (The Table of Contents and the Introduction to the book can be accessed from the publisher's website for the book. Interested parties should click on the link (upcolorado.com) above, and then click on "TOC and sample chapter" at the bottom ("Download Attachments") of the ad the book.)

(2007) Toward an evolutionary model of gradual development of social complexity among the Neolithic pottery communities in ....

iianthropology.org

Toward an evolutionary model of gradual development of social complexity among the Neolithic pottery communities in the Balkans (cultural-chronological and cultural-anthropological problems). Based on the recent data on the earlier Neolithic material culture, we distinguish five general stages of development in social complexity during the Neolithic in the Balkans, from the emergence of sedentary pottery-making communities to the culmination of the Neolithic cultures' development in the latest Neolithic, including the introduction of metallurgy. In this approach we will discuss cultural-chronological and cultural-anthropological problems mainly of the first stage of Neolithic development in the Balkans, using in some cases a prospective analysis, from the later chronological periods. Of primary importance for the chronological conclusions are the radiocarbon dates, while the social models are based on the general theories in cultural and social anthropology, sociology and especially the anthropology of everydayness. This approach has also proposed that our understanding of the problems of the earliest pottery-making complex societies in the Balkans would benefit from further intensification of micro-regional interdisciplinary investigations from the point of view of the anthropology of everydayness, by constructing micro-and medium-social models of social reproduction.

Ceramic distribution and exchange: Jeddito Yellow Ware and implications for social complexity

Journal of Field Archaeology, 1993

The scale of late prehistoric sociopolitical complexity on the ColoracWPlateau has been widely debated in the American Southwest. Proponents of an alliance model useJeddito Yellow Ware) manufactured at Hopi Mesa villages) as one offtur index wares. This distributional study ofJeddito Yellow Ware challenges aspects of the alliance model by using a data set that contains over 430 yellow ware sites throughout areas of NE Arizona. This pottery is found on the full range of site types and sizes) rather than simply at the large sites (i.e.) >50 rooms) that the alliance model assumes. Within the coreproduction area) Jeddito Yellow Ware is not characterized by restricted accessto such pottery: most (89%) yellow ware sites have two rooms or less. We argue that the distribution ofJeddito Yellow Ware in our study area can be understood in the context of inter-community exchange and communitybased craft specialization) rather than through elite-controlled ceramic exchange networks.

Ceramic Technology and Social Boundaries

This study examines cultural sources of variation in ceramic compositional patterning in two pottery-making villages of the highland Philippines. In Dalupa, many potters are part-time specialists whereas in Dangtalan, women make pottery less frequently. Previous studies show that both pottery form and decoration correspond well with Kalinga social boundaries, but how do morphological and decorative patterning relate to compositional variability? Although researchers have made substantial advances in our understanding of natural and postdepositional sources of compositional variability, little is known about behavioral factors that affect chemical and mineralogical compositional patterning. This study examines cultural practices of clay selection and use in an ethnographic setting, and undertakes technical analyses to assess the relationship between behavior and material culture patterning. Our study identified paste differences between the clays and fired ceramics from Dangtalan and those from Dalupa. Findings from our compositional research thus parallel earlier morphological and stylistic studies, and illustrate multivariate differences in ceramics from these two Kalinga communities. This ethnoarchaeological and analytical project contributes, therefore, to understanding objective parameters within a behavioral context. It also provides an example of how a combined characterization approach, using chemical and petrographic techniques, can yield insights on intraregional variation at a finer scale of resolution than is often attempted.

Social Boundaries and Technical Choices in Tonto Basin Prehistory (1998)

In The Archaeology of Social Boundaries, edited by M.T. Stark, pp. 208-231. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., 1998

The identification of distinct social groups has been a long-standing concern throughout the history of Southwest U.S. archaeology. Boundaries in material culture patterning have commonly been described at scales that range from the "culture area" and "province" levels to those of regional "alliances" and "macrosystems." The culture areas known as Mogollon, Anasazi, and Hohokam, for example, are familiar to any archaeologist who has spent even a little time studying Southwest prehistory. Archaeologists have generally identified boundaries for these areas by trait distributions of key artifact types, selected behavioral practices, environmental adaptations, and architectural traditions. Cross-cultural research has made it increasingly clear that many (if not most) of these archaeological social boundaries exceed the scale of social boundaries in traditional small-scale societies. Reliance on particular types of data in Southwestern research, particularly on decorated ceramics and monumental architecture, has limited the range of social scales that are observable in the archaeological record. A conceptual paradigm, beginning in the earliest days of Southwestern research, emphasizing homogeneity and stressing the similarities within large, environmentally defined areas, has further influenced the nature of investigation. A critical -- if often overlooked scale of analysis -- lies at the local level. As used in this study, "local systems" refers to well-bounded, small-scale systems whose participants engaged in regular face-to-face interaction. Previous archaeologists have observed spatial discontinuities in ceramic patterning at subregional scales in the Southwest. However, few conceptual and methodological tools are available for examining social boundaries within this smaller framework. The idea of local traditions -- as these are manifested in technological variability -- is not unfamiliar to archaeologists. We concentrate our research on the Tonto Basin in east-central Arizona, using architectural and ceramic data from the Roosevelt Community Development Study to examine technical choices made by the prehistoric inhabitants. What our study provides are a conceptual framework and analytical methods for examining this type of material culture patterning. This conceptual framework emphasizes how differences in a wide range of technical choices made during the production process effect the final appearance of the manufactured goods. We attempt, following Lemonnier (1986:180), to view goods as the result of these choices and to place them into broader technical systems in which they participated in the prehistoric past. We examine changes in social boundaries at two critical points in the developmental sequence of a small local system located in the eastern portion of the Tonto Basin. The first is the Colonial period (beginning ca. A.D. 750), in which a technological approach illustrates processes of population movement into the study region. The second is the early Classic period (beginning ca. A.D. 1250) where technological attributes reflect patterns of co-residence between groups with different enculturative backgrounds that participated in the same local system. Use of this technological framework for the Colonial period confirms a previous model based on stylistic variation. Yet this same focus on technological variation in the Classic period also identifies previously undetected dimensions of social interaction.