Feasting and the Ritual Mode of Production in the Mesa Verde Region of the American Southwest

Summary

In the Southwest, feasting is understood as one of the primary mechanisms whereby small-scale agriculturalists of the past increased the social, demographic, and political scale of their societies. This study examines both artifact assemblages and communal architecture from a number of prehistoric sites in the Mesa Verde area. Consistent increases in the number and elaborateness of decorated serving bowls and the size of communal spaces suggest an increase in the frequency, intensity, and scale of ceremonial feasting from AD 600 to 1300. This trend tracks many of the expectations of Spielmann’s Ritual Mode of Production model, wherein ceremonial feasting creates the demand that underwrites and sustains economic intensification in small-scale societies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Prehistoric Economies in Middle-range Societies: Papers in Honor of Katherine Spielmann

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14457