The Architectural Analogue to Hopi Social Organization and Room Use, and Implications for Prehistoric Northern Southwestern Culture

Abstract

A living Hopi village is used to develop architectural analogues to room use and social organization in the Pueblo Southwest. These models are then tested against prehistoric sites. For interpretation of room use, factors such as room size, room location, and number and location of doors are shown to be significant. Room size criteria are found to segregate room use in prehistoric sites dating at least as early as A.D. 860. The boundaries of households and lineages are determined by room use and presence or absence of doors between rooms. This model is limited to large, multiple-story pueblos and was tested on Hawikuh, a seventeenth-century Zuni town. The advantages and limitations of using architectural data for such behavioral models are discussed.