Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Evaluating Political Competition Between Chacoan- Style Great Houses in the Southern Cibola Region, West-Central New Mexico

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

Abstract

Under the direction of Dr. Andrew Duff, and with support from the National Science Foundation, Kristin Safi's doctoral research at Washington State University will examine the degree to which localized political competition organized migrants into cooperative multi-ethnic settlements in west-central New Mexico, a unique cultural setting at the interface of two ancestral cultural traditions, the Pueblo and Mogollon. This research focuses on the A.D. 1050-1150 period, when migrants from both ancestral traditions formed multi-ethnic communities in this area centered around Chacoan-style great houses. These great houses represent scaled-down emulations of the monumental architecture found at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Chaco Canyon and the smaller great houses found throughout the Four Corners area has been argued to be a socially and/or politically integrated system of unparalleled scale in the ancient American Southwest. However, little research has investigated how great houses articulated with Chaco Canyon or the role great houses played within their local communities. This research aims to do so by evaluating how political competition between great house communities on the margins of the "Chacoan regional system" mitigated the social stresses caused by rapid population increase by groups from distinct ethnic traditions. Research on migrant integration and community organization will better frame studies of identity expression within multi-ethnic communities and will further knowledge of the interplay between group affiliation and cooperation within multi-ethnic groups, questions relevant to studying migrant integration and community identity in contemporary heterogeneous populations worldwide. This study focuses on the Largo Gap great house and its associated community. The study aims to: (1) characterize the construction and chronology of use at the Largo Gap great house; (2) characterize the Largo Gap support community, and the role of the great house within this community; (3) compare the settlement pattern around, and use of the Largo Gap great house to its two nearest neighbors, Cox Ranch Pueblo and Cerro Pomo; and (4) to explore the articulation between great houses in this region with contemporaneous great house communities across the Four Corners, which will help clarify the nature of the "Chacoan regional system." Systematic survey of lands surrounding Largo Gap and limited testing of the Largo Gap great house and associated community sites will provide the data needed to address these questions. These data, when combined with that collected by Duff at the Cox Ranch and Cerro Pomo great house communities, will permit Safi to evaluate models of political competition, multi-ethnic community integration, and great house function at local and regional scales. This research promotes a wider appreciation for archaeological science and the preservation our national heritage. It also advances increased participation of women in science by training women at all educational levels to conduct archaeological research in the field and laboratory. This project promotes engagement between academia and descendent communities through consultation and research presentations, and engages local residents through community outreach to promote increased understanding of Native American history, the conservation of heritage resources, and to foster relationships between researchers, the descendants of these ancient communities, and the region's current residents.