September 29, 2023
Matt Pailes along with current and recent OU graduate students Andrew Krug, Dakota Larrick, and Robin Singleton just published an article in the Journal of Field Archaeology.
Carpenter, John Philip, Guadalupe Sánchez, Rommel Tapia-Carrasco, Andrew R. Krug, Edson Cupa, Dakota Larrick, Carlos Eduardo Hernández, Robin R. Singleton, and Matthew C. Pailes. 2023. "In Search of a Borderland: Material Culture Patterns on the Southern Limits of the North American Southwest." Journal of Field Archaeology 48(8):1-17.
Abstract:
Recent research conducted in southern Sonora, Mexico provides an opportunity to revisit debates about interaction between Mesoamerica and the North American Southwest (NAS). In the borderland between these traditions, communities show few signs of cultural amalgamation, instead exhibiting either an avoidance of overt identity markers or an emphasis on more local connections. This pattern contrasts with most discussions of Mesoamerican influence on the NAS that focus on regionally atypical centers of foreign goods consumption or evidence of foreign religious traditions in distant localities. By recentering on local contexts where cultural amalgamation is expected but minimal, we raise important questions about why more distant groups found Mesoamerican societies to be worthy of emulation. The results suggest researchers should devote equal attention to cases in which distinct identities are erased or suppressed as they do to cases in which social boundaries are maintained or created anew.
