Documenting prehistoric communication networks: A case study in the Paquime polity

Hilltop features reported around the site of Paquime, the political center of a prehistoric complex polity in northwest Chihuahua, Mexico, have been interpreted as a fire-signaling network by archaeologists. If these hilltop platform features functioned as such a communication system, it provides im...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican antiquity Vol. 68; no. 4; p. 753
Main Author Swanson, Steve
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington Cambridge University Press 01.10.2003
Subjects
Archaeology
Communication
Cultural anthropology
Politics
Prehistoric era
Chihuahua Mexico
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Summary:Hilltop features reported around the site of Paquime, the political center of a prehistoric complex polity in northwest Chihuahua, Mexico, have been interpreted as a fire-signaling network by archaeologists. If these hilltop platform features functioned as such a communication system, it provides important information for our interpretation of regional integration and interaction for the Paquime polity. This paper reports the results of a survey of hilltops in the area and a subsequent GIS-based intervisibility analysis, which determined that a series of hilltop platforms in the region were ideally situated for fire-signaling purposes. I discuss the need for implementing tests for intervisibility and tests for determining the significance of that intervisibility, and then consider some implications of the Paquime fire-signaling system on sociopolitical organization and integration. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0002-7316
2325-5064
DOI:10.2307/3557071