Network Structure and Market Transformations in the U.S. Southwest and Northern Mexico, A.D. 1200–1700

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Multiscale Data and the History of Human Development in the US Southwest" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

We apply social network analysis to the cyberSW database to help understand structural differences in the Eastern and Western Pueblo modes of social and economic organization. The distinct social organization of Pueblo communities in each region has been a perennial topic in Southwestern archaeology and ethnology, and we bring to bear a large-scale dataset to address the topic anew. Using ceramic data from cyberSW we evaluate network cohesion across 50-year intervals over the period between A.D. 1200 to 1700, showing how major demographic changes in the 15th century coincide with major changes to network structure. We also demonstrate that Western and Eastern Pueblo modes of participation in regional interaction diverge suddenly and dramatically in this same period. We argue that the structures observed in each region are consistent with the development of a market system among the Eastern Pueblos and intensification of local production alongside greater investment in short-distance relationships among the Western Pueblos, providing a more robust interpretation of the results of the social network analysis and contributing more broadly to understanding the evolution of market systems in pre-modern contexts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Multiscale Data and the History of Human Development in the US Southwest

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51301