Social Interaction and Networks at the Intersection of Central Mesa Verde and Chaco/Cibola Culture Areas in the Middle San Juan River Valley

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Social Interaction and Networks at the Intersection of Central Mesa Verde and Chaco/Cibola Culture Areas in the Middle San Juan River Valley," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Archaeology of the Totah Middle San Juan region of the Northern Southwest can be explored and analyzed using an temporal based exploration and analysis of intersections of Cibola, Chacoan and Central Mesa Verde cultures in the proximity of the San Juan River drainage system. Independent and academic researchers have investigated the interaction of Cibola, Chacoan, and Central Mesa Verde cultural regions through exploration and analysis of settlement patterns, ceramic artifacts, lithic artifacts, osteology artifacts, perishable artifacts, and architecture. Researchers have identified attributes that explore determinations of the nature of occupation as Chacoan or local origin for great houses or outliers, of site architectural components, and a variety of material culture in the Middle San Juan River drainage region. These analyses provide evidence that the Middle San Juan region has experienced extensive migration and colonization through its occupation history and that the Chacoan era occupation consists of emulation of Great House Attributes by local residents. A bottom-up approach methodology was explored to explore the competing hypotheses of a diasporic community model and migration/colonization model of the Totah Middle San Juan River Drainage occupation settlement patterns.