The Interpretation of Prehistoric Political Complexity in the Central and Northern Southwest: Toward a Mending of the Models

Abstract

Archaeologists from two major research projects in central Arizona, the Grasshopper Project and the Chavez Pass Project, have investigated the processes of growth and abandonment of large masonry pueblos dating to the late periods of prehistory (ca. 1270 to 1425 A.C.). Results of this research have produced conflicting interpretations of prehistoric political development, in spite of the fact that many similar cultural processes have been identified. This paper summarizes the results of this research and compares data and analyses used to explain the processes of agricultural intensification, differentiation in mortuary treatment, and regional exchange. The present analysis is intended to show that differences in the interpretation of prehistoric political complexity are a result of differences in the scale and complexity of the systems under investigation, errors in analysis, and the use of divergent theoretical models.