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Studying Variability in the Archaeological Record: An Ethnoarchaeological Model for Distinguishing Mobility Patterns

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Susan Kent
Susan Kent*
Affiliation:
Anthropology Program, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529
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Abstract

The identification of mobility patterns is important to issues of demography and sociopolitical organization. The ethnoarchaeological model of mobility discussed here attempts to provide relevant indicators of mobility strategies applicable to prehistoric data. The model provides an understanding of site variability at different scales or levels of mobility. It is possible to infer anticipated and actual mobility patterns by applying knowledge of a combination of site size, presence and number of formal storage facilities or their absence, artifact inventories, and diameter of huts. The model is used to distinguish short seasonal occupations from contemporaneous year-round sedentary occupations among fivevar Mesa Verde Pueblo II sites located in the American Southwest. The ethnoarchaeological model provides an alternative approach for examining regional intersite variability.

Resumen

Resumen

La identificatión de patrones de movilidad es importante para estudios de demografía y organización sociopolítica. El modelo etnoarqueológico de movilidad que se discute en este artículo intenta ofrecer indicadores relevantes de las estrategias de movilidad que puedan ser aplicados a datos prehistóricos. El modelo permite comprender variabilidad en sitios a diferentes escalas o niveles de movilidad. Es posible inferir patrones de movilidad anticipada y real mediante la aplicación de conocimientos sobre el tamaño de los sitios, la presencia y cantidad de estructuras formales de almacenaje, inventarios de artefactos y el diámetro de las viviendas. El modelo es utilizado para distinguir ocupaciones estacionales breves de ocupaciones sedentarias de tiempo completo contemporáneas en cinco sitios Pueblo II de Mesa Verde, en el suroeste de los Estados Unidos. El modelo etnoarqueológico ofrece un enfoque alternativo para analizar la variabilidad regional entre sitios

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 57 , Issue 4 , October 1992 , pp. 635 - 660
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1992

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References

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