Dissertation
A complex adaptive systems (CAS) approach to social complexity
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005080
Abstract
This dissertation consists of three case studies utilizing a bottom-up approach derived from complex adaptive systems (CAS) to explore larger scale trends in social organization. The first chapter introduces CAS and how it can be used as a theoretical approach. The second chapter presents the first case study, which utilizes global-scale social complexity data to examine the variables influencing the development of hierarchy for small-, middle-, and large- scale societies. This study confirmed previous ideas proposed by Gregory Johnson regarding increases in hierarchy with increases in scale. Additionally, this study provided additional details regarding which developments in information processing (e.g., texts) that enabled societies to further increase in scale. The second case study, examined in Chapter Three, utilizes household floor area data to make inferences about the level of wealth-based inequality within ancestral Pueblo society and contextualizes them with data from the Hopi village of Orayvi (c. 1900). Wealth disparities fluctuated prehistorically, particularly in the Chaco Canyon and Chuska Valley, surpassing those observed at Orayvi prior to the 1906 split. The third case study combines household area with faunal data to explore whether there were any differences in meat-based subsistence based on relative wealth as approximated by household area. Several patterns emerge indicating that the Pueblo I period emphasized equality through leveling mechanisms such as feasting, followed by behaviors in the Pueblo II period emphasizing competition in the context of increasing wealth disparities and violence. The final chapter (Chapter 5) draws conclusions from these studies that inform how CAS approaches can benefit archaeological studies of social organization.
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Details
- Title
- A complex adaptive systems (CAS) approach to social complexity
- Creators
- Laura Jean Ellyson
- Contributors
- Timothy A. Kohler (Advisor)Erin Thornton (Committee Member)Andrew Duff (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 130
- Identifiers
- 99901019637801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation