Pettit Site Masonry: A Study in Intrasite Social Integration

The location, description, and interpretation of intrasite social groups is essential to a better understanding of prehistoric Southwest social organization. Through the use of cluster 'analyses of various characteristics of masonry walls at the Pettit and Six Rocks Sites, it was possible to isolate clusters of walls indicative of groups labeled masonry construction task groups. An abutment study used in conjunction with a ceramic analysis made it possible to locate the various construction units and determine their temporal relationships. The results showed that all the construction task groups were approximate contemporaries, but their composition was not consistent with the households which occupied the construction units. With the aid of ethnographic data. it appears that the groups responsible for building the individual walls were the male members of the mason's lineage. In rooms where more than one cluster is represented , the male members of his clan and/or household worked cooperatively, but in separate groups, to build a room. Thus, at these two sites, the lineages functioned as economic units to integrate relatives other than household members in a time of population growth and social change. The masonry construction task group served as one means by which fourteenth century Pueblo society maintained intrasite social integration.