Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Evaluating the Development of Social Differentiation in the Pueblo World: Identity and Inequality in Salinas, New Mexico in the A.D. 1200s

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Katherine Spielmann, Matthew Chamberlin will analyze data collected during his archaeological survey in the Salinas Pueblo District of New Mexico. The Salinas region is of great interest because large, nucleated Pueblo settlements exhibiting socio-religious hierarchies and social identities defined at multiple scales-including both the village and the village cluster-appeared in the A.D. 1300s and persisted until abandonment in the late A.D. 1600s, over a century after Spanish contact. However, two phases of settlement prior to nucleation in Salinas, a dispersed phase in the A.D. 1100s and an initial aggregated phase in the A.D. 1200s, remain virtually unknown. The transition from dispersed to aggregated settlement is of great concern to anthropologists studying the development of social inequality and identity in small-scale societies. This project provides a unique opportunity to evaluate whether social inequality and multiple levels of social identity in Salinas are present in dispersed settlements, appear after aggregation, or are limited to the nucleated social environment of the A.D. 1300s. Mr. Chamberlin's survey has gathered ceramic and landscape data associated with specific activities in the past-trade, ritual, and ceramic production-that will be used to evaluate the nature of identity and inequality among both dispersed and aggregated settlements. Specific analyses will include (1) chemical sourcing of decorated ceramics obtained in long- and short-distance trade to determine whether settlements differ in the diversity of sources and the intensity of trade relationships, (2) comparative and quantitative analyses of the physical characteristics and spatial relationships of ritual features and settlements to determine whether settlements differ in the scale and elaboration of ritual, and (3) analysis of local ceramic production to determine whether settlements possess different socially-learned technological styles. Through these analyses, it will be possible to outline the development of social identities and inequalities through time and across space and trace their relationship to the process of aggregation. In addition to these scientific research questions, this project will contribute broadly to the public understanding of archaeology and history. The project has built close relationships with State Historic Preservation officials and National Park Service archaeologists at the nearby Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. By providing new information on the history of the occupants of the major pueblos in the Monument, this project will aid these organizations in their evaluation and public interpretation of Salinas cultural resources. Furthermore, a website detailing the goals and initial findings of the project is on line and will increase the public visibility of the project. Publication of project results in professional journals and presentations will communicate these results to the scientific community. This project also contributes to the preservation of a valuable public resource. Looting of ancestral Pueblo sites is a major problem in the project area. This survey has gathered information critical to understanding this disappearing part of Pueblo history, and vital to preservation officials endeavoring to inventory the region's cultural resources. To this end, this project provides the first detailed, site-level record of the extensive cultural resources in one part of Salinas. Lastly, this project continues to build relationships with students and faculty from multiple universities. A number of undergraduate and graduate student volunteers, including the author, will receive hands-on training in a range of scientific methods used in the course of the project.