The Scope of Post-Chacoan Community Organization in the Lower Zuni River Region

This chapter addresses the scope of post-Chacoan community organization in the lower Zuni River region, and suggests a methodology for examining community organization elsewhere. The chapter is divided into several sections. The first discusses the problem and the archaeological context. The second outlines a methodology for exploring household interaction by tracing ceramic exchange among room blocks. This is followed by detailed presentation of an extensive oxidation and chemical element analysis of ceramics designed to resolve questions about the scope of post-Chacoan communities in the lower Zuni River area. The analysis indicates that intra-regional exchange can be effectively monitored, which permits testing of different community models and highlights aspects of local ceramic production. Results suggest that the scope of post-Chacoan communities in the Zuni area was broad-based, with activity focused on post-Chacoan great house settlements. A critical evaluation summarizes what was, and what was not, addressed in this study, and possible directions for additional action are outlined. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the need for incorporating dispersed room blocks into models of aggregation, and an assessment of implications for community organization and post-Chacoan settlement studies in other regions of the Southwest.Duff, Andrew I. (1994) The Scope of Post-Chacoan Community Organization in the Lower Zuni River Region. In Exploring Social, Political, and Economic Organization in the Zuni Region, edited by Todd Howell and Tammy Stone, pp. 25-45. Anthropological Research Papers, No. 46. Arizona State University, Tempe