Accumulations research in the Southwest United States: middle-range theory for big-picture problems

Abstract

Accumulations research examines three variables fundamental to understanding the archaeological record: time, population size, and the accumulation of artifacts. This type of research has been conducted for over a century, and remains productive because it addresses both basic archaeological problems and questions of broad anthropological interest. This paper illustrates the principles and benefits of accumulations research by analyzing the accumulation of cooking potsherds at ancestral Pueblo archaeological sites in south-western Colorado. Evidence is summarized to demonstrate that cooking potsherds are an especially good artifact category for accumulations research. Then, an annual accumulation rate for broken cooking potsherds is developed and used to analyze the occupation spans of nineteen small habitation sites. Finally, the relationship between midden accumulations and occupation span is used to analyze the occupational history of a large village. Throughout, accumulations research is used to tie together historical patterns in site structure, agricultural intensification, household residential mobility, land tenure, village formation, and political development.

Keywords:

• Middle-range research
• site formation processes
• pottery use and discard
• site occupation span

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center and the Colorado Historical Society for their financial support of this research. We are grateful to Michael Shott for asking us to submit this article for review, and for his editorial comments on the first draft of this manuscript. Finally, we thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Notes

Mark D. Varien is the director of research at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center where he contributes to the Center's mission to conduct archaeological research and public education and to promote Native American involvement in these research and education programs. He received a BA in archaeological studies (1976) and an MA in anthropology (1984) from the University of Texas, Austin; he got his PhD in anthropology from Arizona State University in 1997. Among his publications are the book Sedentism and Mobility in a Social Landscape: Mesa Verde and Beyond and the edited volume Seeking the Center Place: Archaeology and Ancient Communities in the Mesa Verde Region. His professional interests include the archaeology of the south-western United States, site formation processes, household and community organization, patterns of sedentism and mobility, settlement patterns and the formation of cultural landscapes, human impact on the environment, social theory, public education programs about archaeology, and Native American involvement in archaeology.

Scott G. Ortman is director of the research laboratory and database manager at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. He has degrees in anthropology from Stanford (BA 1994) and Arizona State universities (MA 1998). His professional interests include south-western archaeology, quantitative methods, relational databases, internet publication of archaeological data, material culture analysis, evolutionary culture theory, cognitive archaeology, and relationships between archaeology and language. His publications include articles in American Antiquity and Kiva, several book-length reports on the artifacts of specific sites in southwest Colorado, and chapters in a number of edited volumes.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mark D Varien

Mark D. Varien is the director of research at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center where he contributes to the Center's mission to conduct archaeological research and public education and to promote Native American involvement in these research and education programs. He received a BA in archaeological studies (1976) and an MA in anthropology (1984) from the University of Texas, Austin; he got his PhD in anthropology from Arizona State University in 1997. Among his publications are the book Sedentism and Mobility in a Social Landscape: Mesa Verde and Beyond and the edited volume Seeking the Center Place: Archaeology and Ancient Communities in the Mesa Verde Region. His professional interests include the archaeology of the south-western United States, site formation processes, household and community organization, patterns of sedentism and mobility, settlement patterns and the formation of cultural landscapes, human impact on the environment, social theory, public education programs about archaeology, and Native American involvement in archaeology. Scott G. Ortman is director of the research laboratory and database manager at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. He has degrees in anthropology from Stanford (BA 1994) and Arizona State universities (MA 1998). His professional interests include south-western archaeology, quantitative methods, relational databases, internet publication of archaeological data, material culture analysis, evolutionary culture theory, cognitive archaeology, and relationships between archaeology and language. His publications include articles in American Antiquity and Kiva, several book-length reports on the artifacts of specific sites in southwest Colorado, and chapters in a number of edited volumes.