Award Date
12-1-2014
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Anthropology
First Committee Member
Karen G. Harry
Second Committee Member
Alan Simmons
Third Committee Member
Barbara Roth
Fourth Committee Member
Elizabeth Hausrath
Fifth Committee Member
Kathryn H. Korgan
Number of Pages
100
Abstract
Archaeologists have always wondered about the extent of vessel movement in the American Southwest. Identifying vessel movement allows for the study of social interactions across a region and the role of ceramics in the adaptive processes of agriculturalists living in marginal, highly variable environments. In many instances, exchange may act as a way to reduce the risk of resource shortfalls by creating social ties in other areas. This research investigated the changing risk reduction strategies of households in the lowland Virgin region of southern Nevada by using geochemical methods to trace the exchange of locally produced pottery. It was hypothesized that households in southern Nevada traded with households in the St. George Basin in an effort to stymie the loss of diverse trade networks. Results showed that households were not trading with households in the St. George Basin suggesting that prehistoric peoples are not always economically rational.
Keywords
Ancestral Pueblo culture; Commerce; Prehistoric; Neutron Activation Analysis; Risk; Nevada; United States – Virgin River Valley; Utah – Saint George Basin; Virgin Anasazi
Disciplines
Archaeological Anthropology | Chemistry
File Format
Degree Grantor
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Language
English
Repository Citation
Ferguson, Timothy Joshua, "Keeping in Touch: Exchange as an Adaptive Strategy in Southern Nevada" (2014). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 2258.
http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/7048577
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/