With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Adam Watson and an interdisciplinary team of researchers will complete a three-year investigation of the social and economic organization of Ancestral Pueblo society in the Chaco Canyon region of present-day northwestern New Mexico. The team includes specialists in archaeology and mechanical engineering to explore the relationship between trends in craft production, manufacturing techniques, and microscopic wear-traces artifacts employed in different production processes.
The coalescence and transformation of many dispersed farming communities in and around Chaco Canyon during the Bonito phase (850-1140 CE) is one of the most widely cited examples of the emergence of politically complex society in pre-Columbian North America. The development of social stratification, the regional propagation of Chacoan ideology, great house construction, and thriving long-distance trade networks are among the principal changes associated with the Bonito phase. Despite more than a century of archaeological research in the canyon, however, the extent to which these social, political, and economic developments entailed corresponding shifts in the economic organization of the society remains unclear. Although previous studies have shown that large quantities of ceramics and raw materials flowed into the canyon from outlying regions, until recently there was little indication of what may have been produced locally and provided in exchange. Though largely invisible archaeologically, perishable craft industries such as basketry, textiles, and hide-working represented a major sector of the Chacoan economy.
This project investigates changes in the spatial organization and scale of craft production through the study of the previously unanalyzed collection of bone artifacts from Pueblo Bonito, an assemblage remarkable for both its size and diversity. Overall trends in tool manufacture and use can be assessed in terms of raw material choice and the relative intensity of basketry, textile, and hide manufacturing in which these tools were utilized. The study of bone artifacts using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), for example, permits the exploration of microwear patterns that can then be used to differentiate the types of crafts being manufactured. The introduction of texture analysis techniques originally developed for applications in mechanical engineering allows the identification of quantifiable parameters of variation in use-wear. On the basis of these data, the study will evaluate the hypothesis that the sociopolitical changes evident in Chacoan societal development was paralleled by increasing economic complexity in the form of craft specialization.
The implications of this study are far-reaching and extend beyond the ongoing regional debates with the potential to advance studies of political economy, hierarchy, craft specialization, prehistoric bone industries, and microwear analysis. Drawing upon recent advances in the fields of surface metrology and mechanical engineering this research applies new scientific methods to address longstanding archaeological questions. The creation of a web-based database that documents variation in microwear is a critical step for reducing inter-observer error, improving repeatability, and resolving key debates in the analysis of use-wear. Through the American Museum of Natural History Science Research Mentoring Program and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, high school, undergraduate, and graduate students will participate in data collection and laboratory analysis.
