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Resource Variability, Risk, and the Structure of Social Networks: An Example from the Prehistoric Southwest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alison E. Rautman
Alison E. Rautman*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
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Abstract

Social interactions within a region may reduce the risk of resource stress by facilitating access to resources in other areas. Archaeological implications of this view of social networks are considered for the part-agricultural inhabitants of central New Mexico during the Pithouse period (ca. A.D. 900—1250). Spatial patterning of climatic variables suggests that social networks at least 50 km in extent and oriented in an east-southeastern direction from the focal site toward the Sierra Blanca region could have provided access to extralocal resources during years of poor local productivity. Similarity of ceramic assemblages (measured by Brainerd—Robinson coefficients) between the focal site and sites in the proposed alternative resource area confirms some degree of social contact during the Pithouse period; dissimilar ceramic assemblages from comparably distant sites to the west (in the Socorro area) indicate that geographic distance alone is not a good predictor of social interactions in this region.

Resumen

Resumen

Las interacciones sociales dentro de una región pueden reducir el riesgo de crises ambientales puesto que facilitan el acceso a recursos en otras áreas. Las implicaciones arqueológicas de esta perspectiva sobre redes sociales se examinan para las poblaciones semi-agrícolas del centro de Nuevo México durante el período Pithouse (ca. 900—1250 D.C.). El patrón espacial de variables climáticas sugiere que redes sociales que se extendieron por lo menos 50 km y se orientaron en dirección este—sudeste desde el sitio focal hacia la región de Sierra Blanca pudieron proveer acceso a recursos extralocales durante los años de baja producción local. La similitud de los conjuntos cerámicos (medida con coeficientes Brainerd—Robinson) entre el sitio focal y sitios en el área de recursos propuesta como alternativa confirma que hubo cierto grado de contacto social durante el período Pithouse; diferencias en los conjuntos cerámicos de sitios localizados a distancias comparables hacia el oeste (en el área de Socorro) indican que la distancia geográfica considerada individualmente no es una variable adecuada para predecir interacciones sociales en esta región

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , July 1993 , pp. 403 - 424
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1993

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