Community Structure in Times of Stress and Change: Communal Dining in the Northern Southwest

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The study of community connections becomes ever more important as our current society faces challenges brought on by advancements in technology, unprecedented health crises, and a changing global climate. By studying community events in the past, we can begin to examine the impact of community structure during times of stress and change. This paper presents the results of an examination of community structure via analysis of past communal dining events (or feasting) in the Mesa Verde region of the northern American Southwest. Specifically, I ask how communal events changed as populations reorganized during the period between early Pueblo aggregated villages (Pueblo I) and great house communities (Pueblo II). Patterns in ceramic and faunal remains associated with the use of kivas and pit structures from sites of both periods are used to assess the social functions of community events. These patterns are compared on a site-by-site basis for each time period, and the overall patterns for the two periods are contrasted to show changes in communal events over time. The results of this analysis, when considered alongside the known settlement histories of the sites involved in this study, can indicate how community events both reflect and impact a community’s structure.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33535