Development of Social Complexity in a Broad Scale Context

A scientific team is undertaking archaeological research to better understand how variation in patterns of household interaction, activities, social roles, and relationships within and between communities lead to the emergence of regionally-integrated socially complex societies with different developmental dynamics. The organizing principles of some complex societies have their roots in strongly developed social, economic, and/or other kinds of differences between households.

Archaeology is ideally suited to provide information about the relative contributions of differences in household wealth, prestige, ritual or religious activities, and productive pursuits in shaping patterns of interaction and interdependence through the many centuries it may take for complex societies to emerge. Determining what kinds and degrees of differentiation combined to form ancient complex societies with particular developmental profiles clarifies the processes responsible for patterns of organization seen in modern societies.

This research will contribute to fuller understandings of cross-cultural variability in early complex society development, by increasing the sample of well-studied examples that can be laid alongside cases that arose in multiple regions for detailed comparison of their social dynamics. Regional-scale settlement survey determines how large and populous one early historic community was, and if other settlements were drawn toward it to facilitate interaction of their inhabitants.

Field mapping and excavation of domestic features and artifact assemblages elucidate aspects of its organization, and the organization of outlying settlements, as well as provide characterizations of any variation in standards of living, prestige, ritual and productive activities between the households that comprised them.

The project fosters scholarly collaboration, and provides training for university students and cultural heritage authorities, including those from historically underrepresented groups. Analyses of data generated by the project appear in students' theses and dissertations, as well as inform cultural heritage conservation and mitigation policies. The project disseminates its findings to multiple stakeholders through established scientific channels and community outreach programs.

Partnerships with visual artists and videographers document the project's process of fieldwork and laboratory analysis from which alternative forms of archaeological storytelling will be developed to further public engagement with open science.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.