Prophets of the Ancient Southwest

Summary

How do prophecy and new religious movements impact life histories of artifacts and architecture? Ethnographic evidence indicates that prophets realize their visions, in part, by transforming relationships between people and material objects. They shun, embrace, or reorient technologies, artifacts, and architecture. Not surprisingly, in cultures where spiritual forces already animate artifacts and architecture, such reorganizations can produce dramatic changes in material culture. Much of the revitalization and crisis cult literature has logically focused on the role that colonialism played in creating new religious movements. Prehistoric contexts, however, exhibit a broader range of underexplored contexts such as environmental stress, disease, and war. The ethnographic and historical records of the American Southwest suggest revitalization movements extend far into the past. We argue that widespread changes in material culture associated with significant inflection points in southwestern prehistory (circa A.D. 700s, 1000s, and 1300s) document the work of ancient prophets.

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): 20438