| Literature DB >> 30496250 |
Michelle Hegmon1, Matthew A Peeples1,2.
Abstract
Archaeologists and other scholars have long studied the causes of collapse and other major social transformations and debated how they can be understood. This article instead focuses on the human experience of living through those transformations, analyzing 18 transformation cases from the US Southwest and the North Atlantic. The transformations, including changes in human securities, were coded based on expert knowledge and data analyzed using Qualitative Comparative Analysis techniques. Results point to the following conclusions: Major transformations, including collapses, generally have a strong and negative impact on human security; flexible strategies that facilitate smaller scale changes may ameliorate those difficulties. Community security is strongly implicated in these changes; strong community security may minimize other negative changes. The relationships among the variables are complex and multi-causal; while social transformation may lead to declines in human securities, declining conditions of life can also push people to transform their societies in negative ways. Results show that some societies are better able to deal with difficulties than others. One important policy implication is that community security and local conditions can be instrumental both in helping people to cope with difficulties and in staving off some of those difficulties. A multi-scalar approach is essential as we face the increasing problems of climate change in the decades ahead.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2018 PMID: 30496250 PMCID: PMC6264852 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208060
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
The transformations cases analyzed in this study.
| Transformation | Date CE | Periods |
|---|---|---|
| Greenland (GE1) | 980–1000 | |
| Establish unique settlement-subsistence system: pastoralism and seals for domestic use, walrus for market and trade. | ||
| Greenland (GE2) | 1250–1300 | Recession |
| Beginning of decline in pastoralism and increased dependence on seal. | ||
| Greenland (GE3) | 1400-1450/70 | End of Norse Settlements |
| Contacts with Europe lost, remaining population dies or leaves. End of Norse occupation. | ||
| Iceland (I1) | 870–890 | |
| Rapid settlement. | ||
| Iceland (I2) | 950–1000 | Consolidation |
| System of law and order is established. Formation of Icelandic identity. Christianization. | ||
| Iceland (I3) | 1250–1300 | Economic and Political Threshold |
| Economic changes and administrative reorganization. | ||
| Faroes (F1) | 800–850 | |
| Norse/Celtic settlement, establish domestic economies. | ||
| Faroes (F2) | 1250–1300 | Sociopolitical reorganization. |
| Sociopolitical reorganization including changes in land use and settlement institutionalized with the Sheep Letter. | ||
| Zuni (Z1) | 1250–1290 | Pueblo III–Pueblo IV |
| Movement from dispersed settlements to formal, plaza-centered nucleated towns through region. | ||
| Zuni (Z2) | 1375–1400 | Pueblo IV–Protohistoric |
| In-migration and movement of entire population to a few towns in the Zuni river valley. | ||
| Salinas (S1) | 1275–1325 | Jacal–Masonry |
| Consolidation of loosely clustered jacal communities into single, possibly defensible, masonry structures. | ||
| Salinas (S2) | 1400–1425 | Late Pueblo |
| Consolidation of communities into a small number of large pueblos in new (off mesa) locations. | ||
| Hohokam (H1) | 1070–1100 | Sedentary–Classic |
| End of the regional system, Balkanization. Concentration of population in the Phoenix Basin. | ||
| Hohokam (H2) | 1375–1450 | End of Classic |
| Slow decline at end of Classic, end of massive irrigation system, depopulation. | ||
| Mimbres (M1) | 950–1000 | Pithouse–Classic |
| Deliberate burning of great kivas, shift to above ground pueblos with smaller ritual structures, elaborate pottery. | ||
| Mimbres (M2) | 1130–1150+ | Classic–Reorganization |
| Depopulation of large villages, some move to smaller hamlets; end of pottery tradition, more outside connections. | ||
| Mesa Verde (MV1) | 880–920 | End of Pueblo I |
| Simplification and then depopulation of large Pueblo I villages; big population decline across region. | ||
| Mesa Verde (MV2) | 1240–1290 | Pueblo III depopulation |
| Period of violence and probably subsistence stress culminating in large scale abandonment of region. | ||
Variables assessed for each transformation.
| Was the transformation characterized by a breakdown of institutions that would have been part of societal complexity? |
| Was the transformation characterized by regional scale depopulation or a high degree of population loss? |
| Was the transformation associated with evidence for the immigration of new individuals or groups into the region? |
| Was the transformation associated with changes in material cultural diversity (more or less) potentially marking new or shifting networks of regional scale interaction and identity? |
| Was the transformation associated with increasing outside influence in the study area? |
| Was the transformation associated with substantial changes in household scale social organization? |
| Was the transformation associated with substantial changes in community scale social organization? |
| Was there a change in interregional trade that would have made it more difficult to get important goods? |
| Is there evidence of a decline in the availability of food, for at least some sector of society? |
| Was there a decline in environmental security? |
| Was there a change in interregional trade that would have made it more difficult to get important goods? |
| Was there a change that increasingly alienated people from their means of production (e.g., land, boats, tools, irrigation networks)? |
| Did communities disintegrate or disappear? |
| Was there an increase in violence? |
| Was there a decrease in health from causes other than nutritional deficiencies (e.g., epidemics, the plague)? |
| Was there an increase in power differentials, such that some people increasingly have power over others and the “others’” experience a loss of autonomy? |
Coded QCA variables for all cases.
| Key Variables | Nature of Change Variables | Human Security Variables | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transformation | Dates (A.D.) | |||||||||||||||
| GE1 | 980–1000 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .25 | .75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .25 | 0 | 0 |
| GE2 | 1250–1310 | 0 | .25 | 0 | 0 | .25 | .25 | .25 | .25 | .75 | .25 | .25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .25 |
| GE3 | 1400-1450/70 | 1 | 1 | .25 | 0 | 0 | .25 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| I1 | 870–890 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .25 | .75 | 1 | .75 | 0 | .75 | 0 | 0 | .25 | 0 | .75 |
| I2 | 950–1000 | 0 | .25 | .25 | 1 | .75 | .25 | .25 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .25 | 0 | 0 | .25 |
| I3 | 1250–1300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .25 | .25 | .25 | 0 | 0 | .75 | 1 | 0 | .25 | 0 | 0 | .25 |
| F1 | 800–850 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .25 | 0 | .75 | .75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .25 | 0 | 0 |
| F2 | 1250–1300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .25 | 1 | .25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .75 |
| Z1 | 1250–1290 | 0 | 0 | .25 | 0 | 0 | .25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .75 | .75 | .25 | 0 |
| Z2 | 1350–1400 | 0 | 0 | .75 | .75 | .25 | .25 | .75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .75 | 0 | .25 | 0 |
| S1 | 1275–1325 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .25 | .25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .25 | 0 | .25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .25 |
| S2 | 1400–1425 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .75 | .75 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .75 | .25 | 0 | .25 | 0 | .25 | .25 |
| H1 | 1070–1100 | .75 | .25 | .25 | .25 | 0 | .75 | .75 | 1 | .25 | .25 | .75 | .75 | .25 | .25 | 1 |
| H2 | 1375–1450 | 1 | 1 | .25 | 0 | .25 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .75 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .25 | 1 |
| M1 | 900–1000 | .25 | 0 | .75 | 0 | 0 | .75 | .75 | .75 | 0 | 0 | .25 | .25 | 0 | .25 | .25 |
| M2 | 1130–1150+ | 1 | .75 | .25 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .25 | .75 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MV1 | 880–920 | .75 | .75 | .25 | 0 | 0 | .25 | .25 | .25 | .25 | .25 | .25 | .75 | .75 | 0 | .25 |
| MV2 | 1240–1290 | 1 | 1 | .75 | .75 | 0 | 0.25 | 1 | .75 | .75 | .75 | .75 | 1 | 1 | .25 | .75 |
Fig 1Correspondence analysis of all variables and transformation cases.
Transformation cases, listed in Table 1, are in blue. Variables (in CAPS) and their inverse (lower case) are in red here and listed in Table 2.
Transformation cases sorted by the two key variables depopulation and institutional breakdown.
| 0 | 0.25 | 0.75 | 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GE1 I1 I3 F1F2 Z1 Z2 S1 S2 | GE2 I2 | |||
| M1 | H1 | |||
| MV1 | ||||
| M2 | GE3 H2MV2 | |||
Fig 2Correspondence analysis of all nature of change variables and the transformation cases.
Transformation cases are color-coded by their loading on institutional breakdown.
Fig 3Correspondence analysis of all human securities variables and the transformation cases.
Transformation cases are latter color-coded by their loading on institutional breakdown.
Fig 4Correspondence analysis of all nature of change variables and the transformation cases.
Transformation cases are color-coded by their loading on depopulation.
Fig 5Correspondence analysis of all human securities variables and the transformation cases.
Transformation cases are color-coded by their loading on depopulation.
Fig 6Box and dot plots summarizing the four analyses.
These illustrate differences between institutional change and depopulation.
Human security variable scores for all transformation cases.
| Human Security Variables | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transformation | Key sum | FDshort | ENVSEC | PROD | COMM | VIO | HEAL | POWD | ||
| GE1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | ||
| F1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Z2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.75 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | ||
| I3 | 0 | .75 | 1 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | 0.25 | ||
| F2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.75 | ||
| Z1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 0.25 | 0 | ||
| S1 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.25 | ||
| S2 | 0 | 0.75 | 0.25 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 0.25 | 0.25 | ||
| I1 | 0 | 0 | 0.75 | 0 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 0.75 | ||
| GE2 | 0.25 | 0.75 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.25 | ||
| MV1 | 1.5 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 0 | 0.25 | ||
| I2 | 0.25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | 0.25 | ||
| M1 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0 | 0.25 | 0.25 | ||
| H1 | 1 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 1 | ||
| M2 | 1.75 | 0.25 | 0.75 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| GE3 | 2 | 1 | 0.25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| H2 | 2 | 1 | 0.75 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.25 | 1 | ||
| MV2 | 2 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 1 | 1 | 0.25 | 0.75 | ||
Cases in Table 5 are ordered and color-coded by their score on the two key variables (depopulation and institutional breakdown) summed.