Matching Items (3)
Description
Exchange is fundamental to human society, and anthropologists have long documented the large size and complexity of exchange systems in a range of societies. Recent work on the banking system of today's world suggests that complex exchange systems may become systemically fragile and in some types of complex exchange systems that involve feedbacks there exists a fundamental trade-off between robustness (stability) and systemic fragility. These properties may be observable in the archaeological record as well. In southern Arizona, the Hohokam system involved market-based exchange of large quantities of goods (including corn, pottery, stone, and shell) across southern Arizona and beyond, but after a few generations of expansion it collapsed rapidly around A.D. 1070. In this case, increasing the scale of a pre-existing system (i.e., expanding beyond the Hohokam region) may have reduced the efficacy of established robustness-fragility trade-offs, which, in turn, amplified the fragility of the system, increasing its risk of collapse. My research examines (1) the structural and organizational properties of a transregional system of shell exchange between the Hohokam region and California, and (2) the effect of the presence and loss of a very large freshwater lake (Lake Cahuilla) in southeastern California on the stability of the Hohokam system. I address these issues with analysis of ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and archaeological data, and with mathematical modeling. My study (1) produced a simple network model of a transregional system of interaction that links the Hohokam region and California during the centuries from A.D. 700 to 1100; (2) uses network and statistical analysis of the network model and archaeological data to strongly suggest that the transregional exchange system existed and was directional and structured; (3) uses network and other analysis to identify robustness-fragility properties of the transregional system and to show that trade between Lake Cahuilla fishers and the Hohokam system should be included in a mathematical model of this system; and (4) develops and analyzes a mathematical model of renewable resource use and trade that provides important insights into the robustness and systemic fragility of the Hohokam system (A.D. 900-1100).
ContributorsMerrill, Michael (Author) / Hegmon, Michelle (Thesis advisor) / Anderies, John M (Thesis advisor) / Brandt, Elizabeth, (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This study evaluates five different hypotheses potentially accounting for the prehistoric movement of vesicular basalt during the Hohokam occupation of the Salt-Gila Basin (ca. A.D. 700-1450): 1) direct procurement; 2) direct exchange; 3) down-the-line exchange; 4) market exchange; and 5) elite-controlled exchange. The plausibility of each hypothesis is assessed by examining the relative frequency of different vesicular basalt source types at sites as related to the geographic distance from their source; intra-site variance in vesicular basalt source type diversity; inter-site variance in vesicular basalt source type diversity; and temporal specificity and continuity in source preference. The study sample is comprised of 484 vesicular basalt artifacts recovered from nine Hohokam sites: Casa Grande, Gila Crossing, the Hospital Site, La Plaza, Las Colinas, Los Hornos, Lower Santan, Pueblo Grande, and Upper Santan. Geographic provenance data for artifacts are generated by comparing their chemical composition to a geochemical reference database composed of more than 700 vesicular basalt raw material samples from 17 different source areas in the Salt-Gila Basin. Geochemical data for both artifact and raw material samples were collected using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer and a newly developed sampling procedure that provides an efficient, reliable, and nondestructive means of analysis.
The results of the hypothesis testing found that direct procurement is a possible material provisioning practice for perhaps only a small number of households in the Salt-Gila Basin; specifically those located less than 10 km from a vesicular basalt outcrop. Direct exchange is also an unlikely explanation, though it cannot be rejected outright. The other exchange hypotheses, down-the-line, market, and elite-controlled exchange, as defined in this study, are all rejected as possible explanations. From these results, a new model of Hohokam vesicular basalt provisioning practices is developed for future testing. This model posits that vesicular basalt groundstone tools were produced by specialists in a handful of locations during both the Preclassic and Classic periods, and that finished tools were acquired through workshop procurement or local distributers. The implications of these findings for understanding the organization of Hohokam domestic and political economies are also discussed.
The results of the hypothesis testing found that direct procurement is a possible material provisioning practice for perhaps only a small number of households in the Salt-Gila Basin; specifically those located less than 10 km from a vesicular basalt outcrop. Direct exchange is also an unlikely explanation, though it cannot be rejected outright. The other exchange hypotheses, down-the-line, market, and elite-controlled exchange, as defined in this study, are all rejected as possible explanations. From these results, a new model of Hohokam vesicular basalt provisioning practices is developed for future testing. This model posits that vesicular basalt groundstone tools were produced by specialists in a handful of locations during both the Preclassic and Classic periods, and that finished tools were acquired through workshop procurement or local distributers. The implications of these findings for understanding the organization of Hohokam domestic and political economies are also discussed.
ContributorsFertelmes, Craig M (Author) / Abbott, David R. (Thesis advisor) / Simon, Arleyn W (Thesis advisor) / Darling, J Andrew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Patterns of social conflict and cooperation among irrigation communities in southern Arizona from the Classic Hohokam through the Historic period (c. 1150 to c. 1900 CE) are analyzed. Archaeological survey of the Gila River Indian Community has yielded data that allow study of populations within the Hohokam core area (the lower Salt and middle Gila valleys). An etic design approach is adopted that analyzes tasks artifacts were intended to perform. This research is predicated on three hypotheses. It is suggested that (1) projectile point mass and performance exhibit directional change over time, and weight can therefore be used as a proxy for relative age within types, (2) stone points were designed differently for hunting and warfare, and (3) obsidian data can be employed to analyze socioeconomic interactions. This research identifies variation in the distribution of points that provides evidence for aspects of warfare, hunting, and the social mechanisms involved in procuring raw materials. Ethnographic observations and archaeological data suggest that flaked-stone points were designed (1) for hunting ungulates, or (2) for use against people. The distribution of points through time and space consequently provides evidence for conflict, and those aspects of subsistence in which they played a role. Points were commonly made from obsidian, a volcanic glass with properties that allow sources to be identified with precision. Patterns in obsidian procurement can therefore be employed to address socioeconomic interactions. By the 18th century, horticulturalists were present in only a few southern Arizona locations. Irrigation communities were more widely distributed during the Classic Period; the causes of the collapse of these communities and relationships between prehistoric and historic indigenes have been debated for centuries. Data presented here suggest that while changes in material culture occurred, multiple lines of evidence for cultural continuity from the prehistoric to Historic periods are present. The O'Odham creation story suggests that the population fluctuated over time, and archaeological evidence supports this observation. It appears that alterations in cultural practices and migrations occurred during intervals of low population density, and these fluctuations forced changes in political, economic, and social relationships along the middle Gila River
ContributorsLoendorf, Christopher R. (Author) / Simon, Arleyn (Thesis advisor) / Clark, Geoffrey (Thesis advisor) / Barton, Michael (Committee member) / Ravesloot, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010