Ancient Southwest social networks

[Michael Ruggeri]

Listeros,

Researchers have studied thousands of artifacts to learn about the rise
and fall of the late ancient Southwest cultures. 800,000 painted ceramic
and 4,800 obsidian artifacts were studied dating from 1200-1450 CE. This
was an era of large scale demographic changes, long distance migration
and coalescence. In the southern area, social networks grew large and
then collapsed. In the northern area, there was fragmentation, but
persistence in survival. The researchers found that people living as far
as 250 kilometers apart were using similar painted pottery styles
despite the fact the only means of transportation was walking. The
researchers have shown that formal social network analysis can prove
that people in the Southwest had a very close social network over large
areas despite the distances involved and the lack of beasts of burden.
This kind of analysis can determine how social networks were changed
over time by way of migration and coalescence of new groups into these
areas. This new approach of social network analysis can be combined with
spatial analysis and artifact analysis to broaden our understanding of
societal changes. The research is published in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences; Transformation of social networks in the
late pre-Hispanic US Southwest. PNAS, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1219966110

Science Daily has the story here;
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130325184018.htm?utm_source=
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Mike Ruggeri

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