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Explaining Socially Determined Ceramic Distributions in the Prehistoric Plateau Southwest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Steadman Upham ,
Kent G. Lightfoot  and
Gary M. Feinman
Steadman Upham
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281
Kent G. Lightfoot
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281
Gary M. Feinman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281
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Abstract

We examine the process of political development in relation to selected social and economic variables in the plateau region of the American Southwest. We argue that political development was closely associated with strategies of agricultural intensification, surplus production, changes in the organization and management of labor, and expanding regional exchange. We draw supporting data from several settlement systems and attempt to demonstrate that both exotic and labor-intensive commodities were restricted to political and economic centers. We then examine the distribution of one category of these materials, ceramics, through application of the "production step" measure. Our analysis suggests that access to highly decorated ceramic items was restricted to individuals residing at the largest centers. Traditional interpretations of the political organization of plateau region prehistoric groups stress their egalitarian qualities. We suggest that such interpretations be re-examined in the light of data and arguments presented here.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , October 1981 , pp. 822 - 833
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1981

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