Evan Giomi – Eastern and Western Pueblo Divergence: A Study of Network Structure and Social Transformations

ALL AAHS LECTURES ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC BUT YOU MUST PREREGISTER. TO REGISTER CLICK HERE.

Archaeologists and ethnographers have long noted the many differences in the social organization of the Western and Eastern Pueblos. Describing these differences and understanding their history and origins has been a perennial topic in Southwest Archaeology. In recent years, the greater availability of big data has opened new avenues for examining this topic, and this lecture will present one such approach. I will explain how we have made use of social network analysis to understand the historical question of when and how Eastern and Western Pueblo societies began to diverge from each other in the period between A.D.1200-1700. I will also explain how our results fit into the larger picture, of the many major social transformations that swept the Southwest during this time period.   

Biography

Evan is an archaeology Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arizona. His research focuses on better understanding the early Spanish colonial period in New Mexico through understanding Pueblo history in the centuries immediately prior to Spanish conquest in 1598. Evan incorporates big datasets and ceramic studies into his research, and often uses the method of social network analysis to answer questions about the large-scale organization of Pueblo economies. 

Suggested Readings

Social Networks in the Distance Past. Archaeology Southwest Magazine 27-2. Spring 2013. https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/product/asw27-2/

Whiteley, Peter. (2018). From Keresan Bridge to Tewa Flyover: New Clues About Pueblo Social Formations. In Puebloan Societies: Homology and Heterogeneity in Time and Space, edited by Peter M. Whiteley, pp.103–132. School for Advanced Research Advanced Seminar Series. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM.