Interaction Spheres or Networks of Participation? Organizing Institutional Complexity in Adena-Hopewell societies of Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region

Summary

Since the 1960’s Joseph Caldwell’s notion of the interaction sphere has endured as a global framework through which archaeologists interpret regional systems of trade and exchange. However, a tension exists in this framework between the homogeneous and heterogeneous nature of exchanges within overlapping territories. Implied in the Interaction Sphere approach is that, through their interactions, autonomous social groups engage in homogeneous religious, economic, and sociopolitical institutional profiles. More recently, archaeologists working in areas of the world where the Interaction Sphere concept has been applied are discovering that societies are often organized in a multitude of non-uniform ways. I employ recent studies of institutions from archaeology, sociocultural anthropology, and sociology to explore a notion of Participation as an alternative to Interaction Spheres. Understanding the heterogeneous ways in which humans coordinate institutional participation allows us to consider the nuances of regional trade and exchange relationships, elucidating shared and divergent principles in the organization of society. I draw upon new data from excavations at several Adena-Hopewell ditch-and-embankment enclosures in Central Kentucky to assess how collective labor events help delineate the creation of, and involvement in, networks of participation in Middle Woodland institutions across the Eastern Woodlands of North America.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Chaco and Hopewell: Rethinking "Interaction Spheres" Through Multiscalar Network Analyses

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