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Evaluating Chaco migration scenarios using dynamic social network analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2018

Barbara J. Mills*
Affiliation:
School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210030, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Matthew A. Peeples
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, 900 Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA
Leslie D. Aragon
Affiliation:
School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210030, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA Archaeology Southwest, 300 N Ash Alley, Tucson, AZ 85701, USA
Benjamin A. Bellorado
Affiliation:
School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210030, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Jeffery J. Clark
Affiliation:
Archaeology Southwest, 300 N Ash Alley, Tucson, AZ 85701, USA
Evan Giomi
Affiliation:
School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210030, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Thomas C. Windes
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, MSC01-1040, 1University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: bmills@email.arizona.edu)
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Abstract

Migration was a key social process contributing to the creation of the ‘Chaco World’ between AD 800 and 1200. Dynamic social network analysis allows for evaluation of several migration scenarios, and demonstrates that Chaco’s earliest ninth-century networks show interaction with areas to the west and south, rather than migration to the Canyon from the Northern San Juan. By the late eleventh century, Chaco Canyon was tied strongly to the Middle and Northern San Juan, while a twelfth-century retraction of networks separated the Northern and Southern San Juan areas prior to regional depopulation. Understanding Chaco migration is important for comprehending both its uniqueness in U.S. Southwest archaeology and for comparison with other case studies worldwide.

Information

Type
Research
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncnd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2018
Figure 0

Figure 1 Locations of Chaco and post-Chaco-era great houses and great kivas within the Chaco World (figure by Catherine Gilman).

Figure 1

Figure 2 Location of great houses and great kivas in Chaco Canyon (figure by Matthew Peeples).

Figure 2

Figure 3 Chaco great house and great kiva networks. Left: AD 800–850; right: AD 850–900. For all network figures: the intensity of blue indicates greater distance of ties, and the size of nodes is based on eigenvector similarity (non-binarised, weighted ties); node colours differentiate groups identified through community-detection analysis; and Chaco roads are shown in yellow for reference (figure by Matthew Peeples).

Figure 3

Figure 4 Chaco great house and great kiva networks. Left: AD 900–950; Right: AD 950–1000 (figure by Matthew Peeples).

Figure 4

Figure 5 Left: percentages of Woodruff Smudged in Chaco great house and great kiva assemblages between AD 800–1000; right: percentages of all smudged brown and red ware at Chaco great houses and great kivas (all time periods) (figure by Matthew Peeples).

Figure 5

Figure 6 Reserve Corrugated Smudged oblong bowl, Pueblo Bonito, Room 32 (fill), c. AD 1050–1250 (AMNH H/3647) (photograph by Barbara Mills, courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History).

Figure 6

Figure 7 Chaco great house and great kiva networks. Left: AD 1000–1050; right: AD 1050–1100 (figure by Matthew Peeples).

Figure 7

Figure 8 Chaco great house and great kiva networks. Left: AD 1100–1150; right: AD 1150–1200 (figure by Matthew Peeples).

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