For societies with writing systems, hereditary leadership is documented as one of the hallmarks of early political complexity and governance. In contrast, it is unknown whether hereditary succession played a role in the early formation of prehistoric complex societies that lacked writing. Here we use an archaeogenomic approach to identify an elite matriline that persisted between 800 and 1130 CE in Chaco Canyon, the centre of an expansive prehistoric complex society in the Southwestern United States. We show that nine individuals buried in an elite crypt at Pueblo Bonito, the largest structure in the canyon, have identical mitochondrial genomes. Analyses of nuclear genome data from six samples with the highest DNA preservation demonstrate mother–daughter and grandmother–grandson relationships, evidence for a multigenerational matrilineal descent group. Together, these results demonstrate the persistence of an elite matriline in Chaco for ∼330 years. In ancient cultures without a writing system, it is difficult to infer the basis of status and rank. Here the authors analyse ancient DNA from nine presumed elite individuals buried successively over a 300-year period at Chaco Canyon, and show evidence of matrilineal relationships.

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Archaeogenomic evidence reveals prehistoric matrilineal dynasty

Centers of control: Revealing elites among the Ancestral Pueblo during the “Chaco Phenomenon”

Archaeologists working in the Ancestral Pueblo region of the American Southwest have documented variability in sociopolitical and economic complexity, landscape use, community organization, mobility, and violence at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales from AD 500–1700. Recent studies have a strong synthetic orientation, employ methods that track material culture, mobility, and social networks at macroregional scales, and benefit from a renewed engagement with indigenous peoples. Much of this research relies on integrating vast amounts of data from numerous academic and cultural resource management projects and demonstrates the promise of an archaeology that relies on the cumulative acquisition and sharing of data. Given the scale and depth of this research, Ancestral Pueblo archaeology is an exceptional comparative case for archaeologists considering similar processes, especially at fine temporal and wide geographical scales, in ancient farming societies across the globe.

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Ancestral Pueblo Archaeology: The Value of Synthesis

In 1997, Alison Wylie outlined an epistemic and ontological critique of archaeological inquiry to advance feminist science studies. Wylie’s work, I argue, remains relevant and potentially transformative for analysis of the cultural florescence that took place in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, during the ninth through twelfth centuries A.D. Archival, archaeological, and ethnographic data presented here suggest that women had important and undertheorized roles to play in the social transformations that defined emergent Chacoan society. Legacy data made available through the Chaco Research Archive provide evidence in support of Lamphere’s (2000) ritual power model interpretation of the Chacoan florescence. The advent of such open-access resources allows for a critical analysis of gender ideologies and praxis through aggregated legacy sources that augment analyses based on surviving, institutionally curated artifact collections and published sources.

/pdf/a-mother-for-all-the-people-feminist-science-and-chacoan-3qgs5ss8z1.pdf

“A Mother for All the People”: Feminist Science and Chacoan Archaeology

Drinking vessels provide information on changes in drinking practices, crafting, exchange patterns, rituals, and the creation of status differences in Chacoan society. They reveal a gradual sequence of change in vessel forms, followed by dramatic intensification of drinking activity in the AD 1000s that provided opportunities for differentiation among Chaco residents, particularly at Pueblo Bonito. Termination of the most iconic drinking vessel form, the cylinder vessel, and the rituals surrounding it around AD 1100 was followed by the introduction of a northern drinking vessel form. Careful reconstruction of the production, consumption, and discard practices associated with drinking vessels provides the means for understanding broader processes in the Chaco world.

/pdf/drinking-performance-and-politics-in-pueblo-bonito-chaco-5dmrp72vyy.pdf

Drinking performance and politics in pueblo bonito, chaco canyon

Taphonomy, paleopathology and mortuary variability in Chaco Canyon: Using bioarchaeological and forensic methods to understand ancient cultural practices

Kerriann Marden

Papers

Taphonomy, paleopathology and mortuary variability in Chaco Canyon: Using bioarchaeological and forensic methods to understand ancient cultural practices