Multilayer Networks and Relational Plurality: The Scales and Sources of Social Capital across Southern Appalachia, A.D. 1150–1350

Summary

The scale and structure of the relationships through which social capital is generated, amassed, and controlled must be understood if we are to evaluate the emergence and evolution of organizationally complex social, political, and economic institutions. At any one point in time however, actors or entities are undoubtedly embedded and engaged in a number of distinct, yet overlapping, relational fields. In this paper I interrogate three networks, representing three separate sets of relationships, situated at local, regional, and continental scales, to investigate the emergence of Etowah as a major sociopolitical center in the Southern Appalachian region of the southeastern United States. It is often posited that processes of Mississippianization are tied to shifts in political strategies towards those that emphasize exclusive relationships and the emergence of elite networks. While these extant narratives often focus on the actions of individual leaders or the characteristics of particular communities, this paper quantifies the actual scale and organization of these emerging relational structures and the effects of these structures on the distribution of social capital across Southern Appalachia. Using data on ceramic production and regional signaling behaviors I evaluate the plurality of network strategies through which different kinds of social capital were accessed.

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): 20272