Regional Identities and Demographic Change in the Ancient Cibola World
Project Overview
This project investigates how social groups and identities form, change, and persist in the ancient Southwest. Using archaeological data from west-central New Mexico, it explores how patterns of interaction and public expressions of identity shape communities during periods of social and demographic change.
Matthew Peeples
Arizona State University
Gregson Schachner
University of California, Los Anageles
Paul Reed
Archaeology Southwest
Project Details
People belong to many different social groups, from families and neighborhoods to ethnic, political, and religious communities. Understanding how these groups form, persist, and change is a central question in the social sciences. This project investigates these processes through archaeological research in west-central New Mexico, focusing on a period between A.D. 1050 and 1350 marked by migration, population growth, and significant social transformation. By examining patterns in architecture, material culture, and interaction across communities, the project explores how social identities are created, maintained, and negotiated over time.
The research combines archaeological evidence with theories and methods from sociology, anthropology, and network science to examine the relationship between everyday social interactions and public expressions of identity. By comparing patterns of social connection with visible markers of group affiliation, the project investigates how social diversity persists and how communities respond to demographic and political change. In addition to advancing archaeological understandings of the ancient Southwest, the project contributes to broader discussions about identity, integration, and social resilience in human societies.
Research Team
- Matthew Peeples, Arizona State University
- Gregson Schachner, UCLA
- Paul Reed, Archaeology Southwest
- Kellam Throgmorton, Northern Arizona University
- Sarah Oas, Archaeology Southwest
Project Funding
2016 National Science Foundation, Archaeology Program – Interaction Among Regional Identity, Social Diversity And Demographic Change
2009 National Science Foundation, DDRG Archaeology Program – Social Transformations and Regional Scales of Identity in the Cibola World: AD 1150-1325
Outcomes
2022 Peeples, Matthew A. and Gregson Schachner. Building Pueblo Communities from Scratch. In A Gift for Passion and Detail: Linda Cordell, Archaeology, and Beyond, edited by Maxine McBrinn and Deborah L. Huntley, pp. 65-74., Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe.
2021 Peeples, Matthew A., Wesley Bernardini, Lyle Balenquah, and Kellam Throgmorton. Connections and Boundaries. In Becoming Hopi: A History, edited by Wesley Bernardini, Stewart B. Koyiyumptewa, Gregson Schachner, and Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
2020 Strawhacker, Colleen, Grant Snitker, Matthew A. Peeples, Ann P. Kinzig, Keith W. Kintigh, Kyle Bocinsky, Brad Butterfield, Jacob Freeman, Sarah Oas, Margaret C. Nelson, Jonathan A. Sandor, and Katherine A. Spielmann. A Landscape Perspective on Climate-Driven Risks to Food Security: Exploring the Relationship between Climate and Social Transformations in the Prehispanic U.S. Southwest. American Antiquity 85(3):427-451.
2020 Kintigh, Keith W. and Matthew A. Peeples. Estimating Population Growth Rates and Instantaneous Population from Periodized Settlement Data. Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology 3(1):197-209.
2018 Peeples, Matthew A. Connected Communities: Networks, Identity, and Social Change in the Ancient Cibola World. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
2018 Katherine A. Dungan and Matthew A. Peeples. Public Architecture as Performance Space in the Prehispanic Central Southwest. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 50:12-26.
2017 Peeples, Matthew A., Gregson Schachner, and Keith W. Kintigh. The Cibola/Zuni Region. In The Oxford Handbook of Southwest Archaeology, edited by Barbara J. Mills and Severin Fowles, pp. 445-460. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
2016 Spielmann, Katherine, Matthew A. Peeples, Donna M. Glowacki, and Andrew Dugmore. Early Warning Signals of Social Transformation: A Case Study from the US Southwest. PLoS One 11(10):e0163685.
2016 Hegmon, Michelle, Jacob Freeman, Keith W. Kintigh, Margaret C. Nelson, Sarah Oas, Matthew A. Peeples, and Andrea Torvinen. Marking and Making Difference: Representational Diversity in the U.S. Southwest. American Antiquity 81(2):253-272.
2012 Peeples, Matthew A., and Gregson Schachner. Refining Correspondence Analysis-Based Ceramic Seriation of Regional Data Sets. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(8):2818-2827.