Graphically Modeling the Prehistory of Regional Interactions in the Moquegua Valley, Southern Peru

The Cross-Cultural Interaction Model was first developed specifically to help model the cultural interactions taking place in the Moquegua Valley of Southern Peru during the culturally dynamic early Middle Horizon. This chapter highlights the flexibility of the Cross-Cultural Interaction Model by using it to illustrate how regional interactions changed throughout the prehistoric sequence of this region. The Moquegua drainage is the easiest route from the highlands of the Southern Titicaca altiplano to the Pacific Ocean; in addition the middle Moquegua Valley is ideal for large-scale maize agriculture. As a result, regional interactions have been an integral element in this region’s cultural evolution. Starting with the Archaic Period and continuing through the Late Intermediate Period this chapter graphically explores the nature of the regional interactions that took place in each time period and how these interactions shaped the cultural landscape of the Moquegua Valley over time

Reconfiguring Regional Interactions in the Face of Cahokian Decline

The early Mississippian Period in the midwestern United States was a time of great religious, social, economic, and political change. Several models and theories have been proposed for understanding changes in regional interactions associated with the rise of Cahokia, the largest Mississippian city. However, the later dissolution of Cahokia and other Mississippian centers during the twelfth through fourteenth centuries and their impacts on regional interactions are poorly understood. This chapter assesses the utility of the Cross-Cultural Interaction Model for Mississippian Period during the late twelfth through fourteenth centuries in the Midwest. Additionally, this chapter proposes the addition of a third dimension to the model in order to account for indigenous ontological perspectives with regard to entanglements between political reorganization and cosmological realms. Particular attention is given to the Common Field site, a political and religious center located in a region that had been sparsely populated prior to AD 1200.

A Porous Line

This chapter introduces the Cross-Cultural Interaction Model (CCIM), which was designed to more clearly expose the processes that occur in the multicultural contexts of colonization, frontiers, and ancient borderlands. The model can visually represent simultaneous interactions by numerous participants and explores the various ways in which people interact and what motivates their participation in cultural exchanges. This chapter reviews the theoretical origins of the CCIM, describes how it works, and how it has changed since its inception. Second, the chapter briefly introduces each of the case studies in this volume which serve to showcase the versatility of the CCIM.

Conspicuous Consumption in Ancient Costa Rica and Panama

This chapter considers the mechanisms by which sumptuary art was deposited in mortuary contexts across southern Central America. Rather than indicating elite dominance, it is argued that the production and procurement of mortuary art promoted a factionalized political landscape. The burial of staggering quantities of goods may be interpreted as deflationary attempts to limit the capital available to rivals. Such practices may have promoted a zeitgeist of conspicuous consumption that frustrated attempts at further political consolidation in the Isthmus.

Modeling Differential Cultural Interaction in Late Bronze Age Thessaly

On the northern border of Mycenaean civilization and encompassing several ecological zones, the province of Thessaly represents an opportunity to test the Cross-Cultural Interaction Model involving processes such as acculturation and ethnogenesis in a border/frontier zone. In the Late Bronze Age (c. 1600–1100 BC) southeastern Thessaly, with a climate and topography similar to the Mycenaean core zone of southern and central Greece, was in direct contact with the centers of Mycenaean civilization and evolved in a similar manner, while in the inner plains further north, a transition zone between the Mediterranean environment of the coast and the Continental environment of southeastern Europe, local elites selectively adopted some aspects of Mycenaean culture, and in the mountainous zone further to the north and west nomadic pastoral tribes had little contact with the Mycenaean world and were even more selective borrowing cultural elements.

Conclusion

The primary goal of this volume was to test the effectiveness Cross-Cultural Interaction Model (CCIM) in various cultural contexts and time periods. Each of the volume’s case studies successfully adapted the model to their data demonstrating the flexible nature of the CCIM. Some scholars applied the model to their data as it was originally designed, while others made substantial changes in order to adapt the model to the idiosyncrasies of their cultural context. This chapter succinctly reviews the results of each individual case study and the contributions they made to strengthen CCIM for future application. One of the most important conclusions to come from the testing of the CCIM is that this process demonstrated the analytical power of a graphic model of cultural interaction which can trigger new perspectives or the identification of overlooked aspects of a thoroughly studied cultural interaction.

Cross-Cultural Interaction in the Ancient Egyptian and Nubian Borderland

Ancient Egypt and Nubia have a long history of interaction that led to both cultural and biological entanglements. Cultural and political boundaries shifted over time, with Egypt absorbing parts of its southern neighbor into an eventually far-reaching empire but also with independent Nubian kingdoms dominating Egypt at different periods, at one point with its kings ruling as Pharaohs. This chapter examines the influences that flowed back and forth between Egyptian colonizers and indigenous Nubians, mapping the flows and intensity of cultural and biological exchanges diachronically through the Cross-Cultural Interaction Model, with the addition of side-by-side comparisons that link to the circular diagrams. This model can allow us to take into account the complex nature of interactions between Egyptians and Nubians and the multifaceted role that individual agency played in creating complex outcomes that simultaneously reflect multiple groups with varied interests.

Modeling Complex Cultural Encounters in Contact and Colonial Greenland, 1690–1900

In the wake of European whaling and the presence of Danish colonists and missionaries, the Greenlandic Inuit were facing not only foreign people but also a new material culture in the form of European commodities between 1690 and 1900. Trade was the main motivation for these cultural encounters, but the nature and duration of local encounters affected Inuit use and reception of foreign things. This cultural exchange cannot be reduced to the simple dichotomy of Inuit and Europeans. Many groups were involved on both sides, and foreign commodities were accompanied by Europeans in some areas, whereas Inuit groups acted as middlemen in others. This chapter discusses the applicability of the Cross-Cultural Interaction Model to complex Contact and Colonial encounters based on the cultural biographies of glass beads, barrel hoops, and iron objects transformed into ulos (women’s knives) in the Historic Thule Culture.

Cross-Frontier Interactions in Roman Europe, AD 100–350

Following the Roman conquests in Europe west of the Rhine River in the 50s BC and south of the Danube in 15 BC, a frontier zone was established that was to endure for 500 years. Written sources yield limited information about interaction through merchant ventures and diplomatic missions. But archaeological evidence provides a vast amount of data about the geography, character, scale, and chronology of interactions between individuals and communities on the two sides of the border. Using the Cross-Cultural Interaction Model, this paper explores the evidence for interaction in four identifiable zones ranging from Roman bases on the edge of the empire through a frontier region and an outer rim to new centers established far beyond the imperial boundaries.