Thesis (doctoral)--University College London, 2000. / BLDSC reference no.: DX215576.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-233). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

<p> This study uses Social Network Analysis to examine the changing social networks of the Mogollon Highlands during the pithouse-to-pueblo transition. Social Network Analysis is a set of formal methods used to define and examine ties, or relationships between actors, or in the case of this study, archaeological sites. The pithouse-to-pueblo transition in the Mogollon Highlands occurred around A.D. 1000 and is characterized by the construction of above ground masonry architecture and a prevalence of Cibola White Wares. Prior to the transition to pueblo architecture, populations in the Mogollon Highlands lived in pithouses and Mimbres White Wares dominated the decorated ceramic assemblages of sites throughout the region. By defining and creating ties between archaeological sites based upon proportions of decorated wares, Social Network Analysis allows for the hypothesized networks of the Mogollon Highlands to be represented graphically and examined further statistically. </p><p> The Social Network Analysis is conducted for 50 year intervals for the period of A.D. 700-1150 in order to examine changes in the networks over time. The graphic representations of the social networks are then georeferenced in order to compare social and spatial relationships. Measurements of centrality are calculated in order to examine and identify the central nodes, or sites, within the networks. The social networks can then be contextualized through an understanding of substantive and formalist economics, and ceramic production and exchange in order to draw conclusions regarding the changing networks and their relationship to the transition to above ground pueblo architecture. </p>

<p> Kinlock is a freshwater mussel shell ring site located in Sunflower County in the Mississippi Delta. Little work has been done at freshwater mussel shell rings, and therefore little is known about them. This thesis uses four different data collection methods to answer questions of chronology, site layout, etc. These four methods are controlled surface collection, excavation, coring, and magnetometry. Based on the results of these methods, Kinlock was found to be a Woodland period mussel shell ring with a later Mississippian period component built on top of the shell. This later component consisted of five mounds situated around a plaza. It was also found that the plaza was planned and maintained from the Woodland period through the Mississippian period, until the site was abandoned.</p>

<p> The Harris site (A.D. 500-1000) is an unusual Mimbres site because it has a Late Pithouse period component with no overlying Classic period pueblo. The excavations by the University of Las Vegas-Nevada (UNLV) were conducted at this site between 2007 and 2013. Shell artifacts, and their role in the Mimbres area, have not been extensively studied. I analyzed shell data from the UNLV field school, combined with Haury's excavated shell assemblage from his work at the site in the 1930's to interpret the role of shell at the Harris site. More specifically, I look at the role shell may have played in the ritual life of Mimbres society. Using context, artifact form, and co-occurring assemblage materials illuminates how shell was used in ritual practice. </p><p> My methodology includes recording specific information about the shell, including, but not limited to: context, condition (i.e., burnt vs. unburnt), description, measurements, artifact form, genus, and species if the shell is identifiable to that degree. Using this methodology allows me to observe patterns and infer whether specific artifact forms and/or genera correlate with certain contexts. Observing these patterns, I seek to observe the ritual practices in which shell was incorporated. </p><p> I use Bell (1992, 1997) and Bradley&rsquo;s (2010) framework on ritual, which posits that ritual-like behavior has marked characteristics and occurs in a variety of quotidian and sacred contexts, which suggests a continuum rather than a dichotomy in the use of these spaces. To further understand the use of shell in ritual practices, looking at spatial and diachronic data is imperative. Therefore, five other sites along the Mimbres River have been chosen for comparison. These sites include Pithouse and Classic period components. This comparison allows me to investigate how shell use changed over time in the Mimbres region. The comparative sites include: NAN Ranch (A.D. 600/650-1150), Mattocks Ruin (A.D. 750/800-1130), Galaz Ruin (A.D. 550-1130), Swarts (A.D. 950-1150), and the Old Town site (A.D. 750-1150).</p>

<p> A major increase in the local production of red ware and polychrome vessels in the Cibola region of the American Southwest occurred during the Pueblo III to Pueblo IV transition. The transition is characterized by a dramatic increase in the diversity of ceramic decorative styles. In this thesis, I review evidence for shifts in settlement patterns and community organization, including collective actions and social identity, as part of an intensive 10 week internship. I do so by addressing ceramic variation of design elements on the exterior portion of White Mountain Red Ware bowls, specifically during the reorganization in the Cibola region from A.D. 1200 &ndash; 1540. Through analysis of design motifs in the ceramic assemblages from the Sandstone Hill Pueblo Ruin (NA11, 233) and the Zuni Airport Project (NM:12:L3:141), I examine the interaction between potters residing at local sites and potters in the broader region. </p><p> Archaeologists investigate the social organization of the Cibola region with the aid of ceramic analysis. Examining the stylistic choices of potters in the archaeological record illuminates changes in the social system of past societies. Decorated ceramic styles are indicative of communities of practice. When coupled with the Style Information-Exchange theory, communities of practice provide a greater understanding of the ancestral Zuni culture. As this case study shows, analysis of cultural resource management (CRM) collections and repository collections has the potential to contribute greatly to an expanded understanding of prehistoric societies. The concluding suggestions for future research will provide guidance and ideas for future preservation of collections and the value to the public.</p>

<p> This research furthers our understanding of colonial-Native relations by identifying and analyzing artifacts that indicate interaction between Native Americans and English settlers in Plymouth Colony archaeological collections. This project explores the nature of these interactions, exposing material culture's role in both social and economic exchanges. Selected 17^th-century collections were excavated in modern Plymouth, Massachusetts, and nearby Marshfield and Kingston. My examination includes identifying materials exchanged between the Wampanoag and English settler groups in archaeological collections through scholarly literature and comparative 17^th-century sites. This project draws on the documentary resources to provide contextualized insights on the relationships formed by and around these interactions. My aim is to extract the nature of exchange in the negotiation of complex colonial contexts through material culture. This research is intended to further decolonize our interpretations of the past, emphasizing the need for the reevaluation of old collections in search of previously silenced Native presence.</p>

<p> Discerning and explaining social and economic differences is a fundamental task of archaeology, but a fine-tuned measure of household wealth is often obfuscated by the inability to account for time or demographics in the archaeological record. This project tests the ways that Iceland, settled by Norse populations between A.D. 870 and 930, provides a temporally-sensitive mode of measuring household income through average rates of deposition of architectural material and fuel refuse while also providing a context for studying the emergence of inequality in a previously uninhabited landscape. In 2014, a deep-coring survey of 11 occupational sites was conducted in the region of Langholt in Skagafj&ouml;r&eth;ur, Northern Iceland to supplement shallow-coring data previously collected by the Skagafj&ouml;r&eth;ur Archaeologcial Settlement Survey. Volumetric estimates of sites were generated in ArcGIS. Site occupation duration before A.D. 1104 was used to calculate average accumulation rates. I argue that average accumulation rates can be used as a proxy for household income and thus wealth over time. There is a strong logarithmic relationship between the average accumulation rates and occupation duration of sites, suggesting that the settlement order impacted wealth advantages. I argue that the concept of precedence, or the correlation of settlement order and wealth advantages over time, can be used to help understand the long-term dynamics of inequality in Langholt as both an economic and social process.</p>

<p> The time between A. D. 1050 &ndash; 1400 is a period of dynamic cultural change in the Western Great Lakes region. During this time period in eastern Wisconsin three distinct and contemporary cultural groups are present: Oneota, Middle Mississippian, and Late Woodland. Many studies have focused on the origins, presence and interaction between these groups. Six Oneota pottery assemblages from three geospatially distinct localities in eastern Wisconsin are examined: Koshkonong, Grand River, and Waupaca localities. Pottery assemblages from two sites in each locality were selected for comparison to determine interlocality social, political, and economic interaction. Ceramic attribute and compositional analyses were conducted and the results utilized to identify and characterize the amount of variation between the ceramic assemblages. Compositional analyses consisted of portable energy dispersive X-ray flourcesnce (ED-XRF) and ceramic petrography. </p><p> Three theoretical interaction models, World-Systems Analysis, Peer Polity Interaction, and Tribalization, are discussed and evaluated as possible models for Oneota interaction. These interaction models examine the roles and level of economic, political, and social interaction through trade, coersive force (military), and transmission of social and ideological information between groups. </p><p> The results of the analysis indicate both the creation of identity markers within localities and interaction between localities. The data indicates that some groups interacted more than others. Grooved paddle surface treatment in the Koshkonong locality, crimping of the lip of vessels in the Waupaca and Grand River localities, and variations in decorative motifs demonstrate that the localities used these markers for group identity. The ceramic petrographic analysis indicates that the groups shared knowledge of pottery manufacturing with similar percentages of matrix, sand, and temper in the recipe. The ED-XRF analysis indicates that pottery from the Bornick site is more similar to pottery from sites in the Waupaca locality, while the pottery from the Walker- Hooper site is more similar to pottery from sites in the Koshkonong locality. </p><p> During this time, the Oneota groups in eastern Wisconsin practiced patrilocal post-marital residence patterns suggesting that women moved from their family&rsquo;s to their husband's residence, bringing their knowledge of pottery making with them. Social and political alliances through interlocality marriages took place based on the presence of group identity markers on pottery from one locality seen on vessels in another. Kinship (fictive and real) relationships between localities were created from these alliances that assisted in maintaining territorial boundaries and leadership positions to generate socialsurplus to gain prestige and provided means of assistance in times of scarcity. Materials supporting the research and referenced in the text of the dissertation are included in appendices found in the table of contents. The appendices are contained within four supplementary files. The first supplementary file contains Appendices A and B. The second supplementary file is Appendix C. The third supplementary file is Appendix D. The fourth supplementary file contains Appendices E-K.</p>

Thesis (PH.D.) -- Syracuse University, 2007. / "Publication number AAT 3266314"