The Risks and Rewards of Network Position in the Chaco World

Summary

In a previous study Peeples and Haas (2013) compared brokerage (intermediate) positions in networks of ceramic similarity to measures of settlement growth and longevity for the late pre-Hispanic western U.S. Southwest (A.D. 1200-1500). Counter to expectations from many contemporary network studies where brokerage positions are associated with long-term advantage, this work instead suggested that broker settlements tended to be small, short-lived, and that brokerage was temporary. This example suggests that the outcomes associated with network position are not strictly determined but that culturally and historically contingent factors can influence how the risks and rewards of network position play out. In this study we take this investigation further by exploring the changing outcomes associated with brokerage positions across a major cultural/historical transition in the northern Southwest. Specifically, we track the relationship between brokerage and settlement trajectories across the rise and fall of the Chaco World (A.D. 800-1250). Initial results suggest that brokerage positions may have conferred advantage that did result in settlement growth and longevity during the height of the Chaco system, but not before or after. In light of this finding, we explore the role that political organizational complexity may play in how network ties are valued.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20960