Explore the vast range of titles available.

This dissertation uses multiple lines of ceramic evidence to examine continuity in the economic organization of Eastern Pueblo communities along the Rio Grande from the late pre-contact period (ca. A.D. 1300-1598) into the early period of Spanish colonialism (A.D. 1598-1680). One of the major decorated ceramic traditions of the Eastern Pueblo region, Rio Grande Glaze Ware, was in constant production from the early 14th century well into the Spanish Colonial Period. Production only ceased sometime after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The production and consumption of Rio Grande Glaze Ware vessels was heavily embedded in a regional network of relationships among Pueblo villages. As such, continuity in the production of Rio Grande Glaze Ware vessels under Spanish colonial rule suggests that the network of relationships in which glaze ware production was embedded likely also persisted. Using a combination of typological and archaeometric data, I employed social network analysis to both evaluate the development of a regional network of interaction surrounding Rio Grande Glaze Ware production and consumption and to evaluate the degree to which the structure of that network persisted into the early Spanish Colonial Period. The techniques of single layer network analysis were applied to evaluate change over time in the structure of regional interactions in the greater Southwest and northern Mexico, as revealed by patterns of ceramic consumption. From this analysis we identify the development of distinct regional patterns of interaction in the Western and Eastern Pueblo regions over the course of the 15th century. The results of new archaeometric testing—both petrographic analysis of rock temper and isotopic analysis of lead glaze paint—are also presented, helping to further refine existing understanding of material diversity within the broad category of Rio Grande Glaze Ware vessels. These results are particularly relevant in identifying a distinct pattern of lead ore use by potters at villages in the Lower Rio Grande region. Finally, I present a case-study evaluating the utility of multilayer network techniques in better understanding of the complexity of regional interaction in the project area and study period. Multilayer network techniques allow for a synthesis of typological data with the two different lines of archaeometric data collected for this project. Results of the multilayer analysis indicate that the structure of interaction among Pueblo villages remained largely unchanged from the 15th century into the early Spanish Colonial Period. Results indicate that Pueblo people found a way to maintain a regional system of interaction despite the impact of Spanish colonial appropriation of Pueblo labor.

Migration was a key social process contributing to the creation of the ‘Chaco World’ between AD 800 and 1200. Dynamic social network analysis allows for evaluation of several migration scenarios, and demonstrates that Chaco’s earliest ninth-century networks show interaction with areas to the west and south, rather than migration to the Canyon from the Northern San Juan. By the late eleventh century, Chaco Canyon was tied strongly to the Middle and Northern San Juan, while a twelfth-century retraction of networks separated the Northern and Southern San Juan areas prior to regional depopulation. Understanding Chaco migration is important for comprehending both its uniqueness in U.S. Southwest archaeology and for comparison with other case studies worldwide.

Archaeologists have pointed to certain architectural or decorative designs as representing “elite styles” that mark status distinctions. We look at one such style—Dogoszhi—that was applied to several pottery wares across the Chaco World of the northern Southwest. Using a large database of ceramics, we test whether this style comprised an elite style or whether it signaled participation in a broader Chaco social network. We compare the distribution of Dogoszhi style to measures of settlement importance, including site size and network centrality, and we investigate whether this style occurs differentially at Chacoan great houses as opposed to small houses, or by subregion. We also compare its spatial distribution to an earlier style, called Black Mesa style, similarly applied to a number of different wares. Our results indicate that both styles were consistently distributed within Chaco communities (whether great houses or small houses) but variably distributed across subareas and most measures of settlement importance. We conclude that Dogoszhi style was used to mark membership in social networks that cross-cut great house communities, a pattern more typical of heterarchical rather than hierarchical social structures. Such variation questions the uniform category of “elites” and points to the ways that representational diversity may be used to interpret different regional histories and alliances.

Using high-cadence observations from the Zwicky Transient Facility at low Galactic latitudes, we have discovered a new class of pulsating, hot, compact stars. We have found four candidates, exhibiting blue colors (\\(g-r\\leq-0.1\\) mag), pulsation amplitudes of \\(>5\\%\\), and pulsation periods of \\(200 - 475\\) sec. Fourier transforms of the lightcurves show only one dominant frequency. Phase-resolved spectroscopy for three objects reveals significant radial velocity, T\\(_{\\rm eff}\\) and log(g) variations over the pulsation cycle, consistent with large amplitude radial oscillations. The mean T\\(_{\\rm eff}\\) and log(g) for these stars are consistent with hot subdwarf B (sdB) effective temperatures and surface gravities. We calculate evolutionary tracks using MESA and adiabatic pulsations using GYRE for low-mass helium-core pre-white dwarfs and low mass helium-burning stars. Comparison of low-order radial oscillation mode periods with the observed pulsation periods show better agreement with the pre-white dwarf models. Therefore, we suggest that these new pulsators and Blue Large-Amplitude Pulsators (BLAPs) could be members of the same class of pulsators, composed of young \\(\\approx0.25-0.35\\) M\\(_\\odot\\) helium-core pre-white dwarfs.