Chaco and Hopewell: Rethinking "Interaction Spheres" Through Multiscalar Network Analyses

Chaco and Hopewell are two of the most well studied archaeological regions in North America. Although Chaco is often compared to Cahokia, comparison to Hopewell brings out important ways in which extensive regional connectivities were formed through the intersection of religious, political, and economic networks. Both societies show evidence of periodic, eventful monumental construction; spatial connectivity through roads/causeways; long-distance procurement of materials; production and deposition of large quantities of inalienable objects; spatially distinctive collective burials; and the replication of architectural units and spatial communities across large areas. Although they differ in many ways, the term "interaction sphere" has been applied to both regions but this term is amorphous and sidesteps the ways in which materials and practices were embedded within multiple kinds of networks and their historical relationships. Current relational approaches in archaeology, including formal network analyses, offer alternative ways of looking at social and spatial connectivities, especially when combined with theoretical approaches that foreground how religious ritual, ideology, territoriality, social diversity, and inequality intersect. The participants in this session address these connections to provide multiscalar interpretations of the Chaco and Hopewell worlds, their origins, and their transformations.