Settlement Patterns, Scheduling Conflicts, and Climate Variability: An Explanation for the Collapse of the Shivwits Ware Distribution Network
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-21-2019
Publication Title
KIVA: Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History
Volume
85
Issue
4
First page number:
331
Last page number:
344
Abstract
During the middle Pueblo II period, a thriving ceramic distribution network linked the upland areas of northwestern Arizona with the lowland areas of southern Nevada. One kind of pottery transported through this network was Shivwits Ware, made on the southern end of the Shivwits Plateau, Arizona. Despite being located some 115 kilometers (70 mi) from the latter area, middle Pueblo II inhabitants of the Moapa Valley, Nevada, regularly acquired and used Shivwits Ware jars. By the late Pueblo II period, however, this ceramic distribution network had collapsed. This paper explores possible causes of the collapse by investigating changes in settlement patterns and landscape usage on the Shivwits Plateau. These data suggest that the collapse of the ceramic distribution network coincided with a shift in subsistence strategies triggered by climatic changes.
Keywords
Virgin Branch Puebloan culture; Exchange networks; Settlement patterns; Shivwits Ware; Subsistence strategies; Adaptation to risk; GIS; Archaeology of the Grand Canyon
Disciplines
Anthropology | Archaeological Anthropology | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Language
English
Subtitles
true
Subtitle Language
Spanish
Repository Citation
Willis, W. M.,
Harry, K. G.
(2019).
Settlement Patterns, Scheduling Conflicts, and Climate Variability: An Explanation for the Collapse of the Shivwits Ware Distribution Network.
KIVA: Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History, 85(4),
331-344.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00231940.2019.1689657