Thesis
Zooarchaeology of the Largo Gap site, New Mexico
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2014
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/102523
Abstract
Reconstructing the social structure associated with the unprecedented developments within the great house communities of Chaco Canyon has been a focus of archaeological research for the last century. Although still poorly understood, the spread of Chacoan culture in the northern Southwest has usually been explained by focusing on the importance of ritual activities in Chaco, including feasting. This study utilizes zooarchaeological data to explore ritual feasting and social power within Largo Gap, a southern Chaco-style great house community occupied A.D. 1050-1130. These results are then compared with data from the surrounding great house communities of Cox Ranch Pueblo and Cerro Pomo to see if the same zooarchaeological patterns persist throughout the Cibola region. The faunal record from Largo Gap suggests that great house inhabitants may have been hosting minimally empowering feasts that also served to enhance their own social status while also fostering communal solidarity. In addition, the faunal evidence from Largo Gap reveals different patterns of social power than that of the nearby sites of Cerro Pomo and Cox Ranch Pueblo, suggesting that leaders within the southern Cibola region may have articulated with the larger Chaco Phenomenon in different ways.
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Details
- Title
- Zooarchaeology of the Largo Gap site, New Mexico
- Creators
- Aletheia Bouknight
- Contributors
- Andrew Duff (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525291301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis