article

Ancestral Pueblo population aggregation and abandonment in the North American Southwest

Journal of world prehistory • 10 (3) • Published In 1996 • Pages: 375-438

By: Adler, Michael A., VanPool, Todd L., Leonard, Robert D..

Abstract
Adler et al. discuss how using different hypotheses to explain the archaeological data concerning aggregation and abandonment will emphasize either the factors 'pushing' a population or community or 'pulling' a population or community to change. 'Our point is that pull models, generally dependent upon relatively synchronic events, and push models, which tend to focus on diachronic processes of change, are necessarily complementary in explaining the pan-regional patterns of aggregation and abandonment that characterize the occupation of the northern Southwest. Depending on one's temporal and spatial frames of reference, push and pull models will have different explanatory potential in explaining how the Pueblo world and its many regional parts came to be. This complementarity will expand, rather than restrict, our explanatory potential.' (page 423). Adler et al. also point out that there were several hundred years when aggregation was adopted and then abandoned as a settlement strategy before it became the permanent pattern after AD 1400. This way of transitioning to village life occurred in a similar way in the southern Levant where it took about 1000 years to become the dominant pattern. Only the data that pertain to the Early Anasazi period of 1300-700 BP (AD 700-1300) were marked for OCM (Outline of Cultural Materials) codes.
Subjects
Sociocultural trends
Theoretical orientation in research and its results
Settlement patterns
Community structure
tradition
Early Anasazi
HRAF PubDate
2012
Region
North America
Sub Region
Southwest and Basin
Document Type
article
Evaluation
Creator Type
Archaeologist
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Sarah Berry; 2011
Field Date
no date
Coverage Date
1300-500 BP (AD 700-1540)
Coverage Place
Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, United States
Notes
Michael A. Adler, Todd van Pool, and Robert D. Leonard
Includes bibliographical references (p. 429-438)
LCCN
87655790
LCSH
Indians of North America--Antiquities