With National Science Foundation support Dr. William Doelle from the Center for Desert Archaeology will examine the question of what slows or halts the spread of a popular ideology. Previous Center for Desert Archaeology (CDA) research has focused on detecting and assessing the impact of Kayenta migration from the northern to the southern Southwest in the period just prior to the arrival of Europeans in the New World. Kayenta immigrants were a powerful minority with a strong identity and contagious ideology, yet there were limits to the spread of this ideology and the new identity that archaeologists label "Salado." Previous CDA studies have successfully identified local groups who adopted these new ideas, but now the question is: Why did some local groups say no to Salado?
Although the focus is on a single archaeological phenomenon the research is important because this case study has the potential to provide insight into culture contact situations from many time periods in many parts of the world. Because of the chronological depth provided such archaeological examples allow researchers to follow processes over considerable periods of time.
By tapping anthropological literature on resistance to external influence by traditional and/or indigenous groups, this research explores two possible answers: 1) Local groups may be sufficiently isolated or marginal that they have limited contact with the purveyors of the new ideology; 2) Local groups may resist at varying degrees of intensity the incursion of new ideologies that might conflict with their own. This research derives insights and models from case studies from modern state societies while carefully considering differences of scale as well as qualitative differences. It sides with those who argue that anthropology must be broadly comparative and generalizing.
This project examines local groups outside the southern margin of the Salado core. At least some of them continued to practice older traditions and were less affected by the dramatic social changes of the early 14th century that led to the formation of the Salado. The research team will measure the intensity of exposure and resistance along three research transects in southern Arizona that traverse this boundary. It is predicted that moving outward along these transects will reveal more resistance and/or less exposure to Salado ideology. Local groups perceived Kayenta immigrants and their ideology variably as a threat and resisted cultural hybridization in different ways. This variability along each transect will be explored using existing museum collections and samples obtained from limited excavation. Research collaboration with an experienced team of cultural specialists from the Tohono O'odham Nation provides a unique opportunity to move beyond archaeological methods to examine the process of cultural hybridization.
The proposed research makes advances on both theoretical and substantive grounds as it promotes a broadly comparative anthropological discipline. For example, the concept of the Other, is highly relevant in today's globalized world. This research also addresses the history of modern Native American communities and sheds light on the dramatic pre-contact population decline in the southern Southwest.
CDA research efforts are always designed to benefit and be shared with multiple audiences. This project has a substantial educational impact, is tied to a program of archaeological site protection, and reaches out to local communities. Descendant community collaborators at the Tohono O'odham Museum are enthusiastic about this project as indicated in this statement: "While the Museum is expected to carry the Nation's legacy, we hope that this project will help rekindle a discussion on current religious integrity versus ancestral practices among elders, storytellers, historians, and activists."
