Book

Polities and power: an economic and political history of the western Pueblo

Academic Press • New York • Published In 1982 • Pages: xvi, 225

By: Upham, Steadman.

Abstract

Upham examines the reasons for the historical continuity and development of the Western Pueblo Groups. He shows that Hopi, Zuni, and Acoma are hereditary oligarchies in which a core group of related individuals has dominated the leadership positions by controlling access to ritual and ceremonial knowledge. Upham evaluates the contact period population data to suggest higher population levels than previously recognized. He believes the population was a composed of Pueblo and Querecho groups. The Querechos were indigenous Puebloan groups that were dislocated following the collapse of the fourteenth-century regional system. Prior to Spanish contact the Western Pueblo area was composed of competing centers that were regionally linked by exchange of prestige goods and knowledge between the highest levels. Upham examined the data from Nuvaqueotaka and the Anderson Mesa area to see if it might have been a port-of-trade. The three settlement clusters that survived into the contact period-Hopi, Zuni, and Acoma- may have survived because they were spatially peripheral to the fourteenth century regional system and could withstand the collapse of the other centers. (pages 199-202).

HRAF PubDate

2012

Region

North America

Sub Region

Southwest and Basin

Document Type

Book

Evaluation

Creator Type

Archaeologist

Document Rating

4: Excellent Secondary Data

5: Excellent Primary Data

Analyst

Sarah Berry; 2011

Field Date

1978-1980

Coverage Date

700-450 BP (AD 1300-1550)

Coverage Place

eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, United States

Notes

Steadman Upham

Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-221) and index

LCCN

82001637

LCSH

Pueblo Indians--History

Pueblo Indians--Economic conditions

Indians of North America--Southwest, New--Economic conditions