Stephen Plog


Stephen Plog Commonwealth Professor Ph.D. University of Michigan 1977
My research focuses on culture change in the prehistoric American Southwest, particularly the changing nature of ritual and social organization from approximately A.D. 900 to the present. Answering questions about such issues requires emphasis on several related topics and on general anthropological theory, as well as attention to geographic areas beyond the Southwest. I find the most provocative and productive model of culture change to be ones that incorporate methodological rigor and testable propositions with a holistic perspective on the interrelationship of ritual, social and political organization, and economy. Some of my recent research has explored the application of "house theory" to efforts to understand change and organization in the Southwest. My recent focus has been on the Chaco Canyon region of northwestern New Mexico, perhaps the most important center of the Pueblo world in the 11th and 12th centuries. In a cooperative effort with several other scholars and with the financial support of the Andrew Mellon Foundation and UVa's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, we are creating an online digital archive (www.chacoarchive.org) for several of the key excavated sites in the Chaco region. Our general goal is to increase access to much of the unpublished excavation data from such settlements as Pueblo Bonito, particularly the important early fieldwork of the Hyde Exploring Expedition (1896-1900) and the National Geographic Society Expedition (1920-1927). A more specific target is the creation of an analytical database that scholars can use to answer questions about culture change and organization in the Chaco region. My specific research on Chaco addresses what I believe are key aspects of organization, ritual and cosmology. Specializations Social and ritual change, digital research archives, ceramic and stylistic analysis, demography, exchange. Courses Southwestern archaeology, Analytical Methods in Archaeology, The Emergence of Social Inequality, Chiefs and Chiefdoms, Pueblo social organization Selected Publications 2005 (with Carolyn C. Heitman) Kinship and the dynamics of the house: Rediscovering dualism in the Pueblo past. In Vision, Impact, and Conceptual Integration in Anthropological Archaeology: Essays in Honor of Douglas Schwartz, edited by Vernon Scarborough, pp. 69-100. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe. 2003 Social conflict, social structure and processes of culture change. American Antiquity 68(1):182-186. 2003 Exploring the ubiquitous through the unusual: color symbolism in Pueblo black-on-white pottery. American Antiquity 68(4): 665-695. 2002 Gender, society and the state of Southwestern archaeology. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 12(2):262-265. 1997 - Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest. Thames and Hudson, London. 1997 (with Julie Solometo) The ever changing and the never changing: the evolution of western pueblo ritual. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 7(2):161-182. 1996 (with Michelle Hegmon) Regional social interaction in the northern southwest. In Interpreting Southwestern Diversity: Underlying Principles and Overarching Patterns, edited by P. R. Fish and J. J. Reid, pp. 23-34. Arizona State University Anthropological Papers No. 48. - 1995 Paradigms and pottery: the analysis of production and exchange in the American Southwest. In The Organization of Ceramic Production in the American Southwest, edited by Barbara J. Mills and Patricia L. Crown, pp. 268-280. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. - 1995 Equality and hierarchy: holistic approaches to understanding social dynamics in the Pueblo Southwest. In The Foundations of Social Inequality, edited by T. Douglas Price and Gary M. Feinman, pp. 189-206. Plenum, New York. - 1995 Approaches to the study of style: complements and contrasts. In Style, Society, and Person, edited by Christopher Carr and Jill Neitzel, pp. 369-87. Plenum, New York. - 1993 (with Michelle Hegmon) The sample size-richness relation: The relevance of research questions, sampling strategies, and behavioral variation. American Antiquity 58:489-496. - 1991 Chronology construction and the study of prehistoric culture change. Journal of Field Archaeology. 17:439-456. 1990 - Agriculture, Sedentism and Environment in the Evolution of Political Systems. In The Evolution of Political Systems. Steadman Upham, ed. pp. 177- 199. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Commonwealth Professor
Ph.D. University of Michigan 1977

My research focuses on culture change in the prehistoric American Southwest, particularly the changing nature of ritual and social organization from approximately A.D. 900 to the present. Answering questions about such issues requires emphasis on several related topics and on general anthropological theory, as well as attention to geographic areas beyond the Southwest. I find the most provocative and productive model of culture change to be ones that incorporate methodological rigor and testable propositions with a holistic perspective on the interrelationship of ritual, social and political organization, and economy. Some of my recent research has explored the application of "house theory" to efforts to understand change and organization in the Southwest.

My recent focus has been on the Chaco Canyon region of northwestern New Mexico, perhaps the most important center of the Pueblo world in the 11th and 12th centuries. In a cooperative effort with several other scholars and with the financial support of the Andrew Mellon Foundation and UVa's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, we are creating an online digital archive (www.chacoarchive.org) for several of the key excavated sites in the Chaco region. Our general goal is to increase access to much of the unpublished excavation data from such settlements as Pueblo Bonito, particularly the important early fieldwork of the Hyde Exploring Expedition (1896-1900) and the National Geographic Society Expedition (1920-1927). A more specific target is the creation of an analytical database that scholars can use to answer questions about culture change and organization in the Chaco region. My specific research on Chaco addresses what I believe are key aspects of organization, ritual and cosmology.

Specializations

Social and ritual change, digital research archives, ceramic and stylistic analysis, demography, exchange.

Courses

Southwestern archaeology, Analytical Methods in Archaeology, The Emergence of Social Inequality, Chiefs and Chiefdoms, Pueblo social organization

Selected Publications

2005 (with Carolyn C. Heitman) Kinship and the dynamics of the house: Rediscovering dualism in the Pueblo past. In Vision, Impact, and Conceptual Integration in Anthropological Archaeology: Essays in Honor of Douglas Schwartz, edited by Vernon Scarborough, pp. 69-100. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.
2003 Social conflict, social structure and processes of culture change. American Antiquity 68(1):182-186.
2003 Exploring the ubiquitous through the unusual: color symbolism in Pueblo black-on-white pottery. American Antiquity 68(4): 665-695.
2002 Gender, society and the state of Southwestern archaeology. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 12(2):262-265.
1997 - Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest. Thames and Hudson, London.
1997 (with Julie Solometo) The ever changing and the never changing: the evolution of western pueblo ritual. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 7(2):161-182.
1996 (with Michelle Hegmon) Regional social interaction in the northern southwest. In Interpreting Southwestern Diversity: Underlying Principles and Overarching Patterns, edited by P. R. Fish and J. J. Reid, pp. 23-34. Arizona State University Anthropological Papers No. 48.
- 1995 Paradigms and pottery: the analysis of production and exchange in the American Southwest. In The Organization of Ceramic Production in the American Southwest, edited by Barbara J. Mills and Patricia L. Crown, pp. 268-280. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
- 1995 Equality and hierarchy: holistic approaches to understanding social dynamics in the Pueblo Southwest. In The Foundations of Social Inequality, edited by T. Douglas Price and Gary M. Feinman, pp. 189-206. Plenum, New York.
- 1995 Approaches to the study of style: complements and contrasts. In Style, Society, and Person, edited by Christopher Carr and Jill Neitzel, pp. 369-87. Plenum, New York.
- 1993 (with Michelle Hegmon) The sample size-richness relation: The relevance of research questions, sampling strategies, and behavioral variation. American Antiquity 58:489-496.
- 1991 Chronology construction and the study of prehistoric culture change. Journal of Field Archaeology. 17:439-456.
1990 - Agriculture, Sedentism and Environment in the Evolution of Political Systems. In The Evolution of Political Systems. Steadman Upham, ed. pp. 177- 199. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.