MATRILOCALITY, CORPORATE STRATEGY,AND THE ORGANIZATION OF PRODUCTION IN THE CHACOAN WORLD Peter N. Peregrine Kinship is central to an understandingof sociopolitical organization and the organization of production in Chaco Canyon. Between A.D. 700 and 900, lifeways in the Chacoan wor7ldunderwent a transformationthat reflects the evolution of matrilo- cal residence. Matrilocal groups became the foundation of a polity based on a corporate political strategy.Matrilocality pro- vided the peoples of the Chaco region a social structure in which women were able to form stable agricultural communities while men werefreed to take part in long-distance resourceprocurement and trade. Leaders mobilized goods from across the polity for corporate-affir-mingactivities, such as construction of great houses. This corporate strategy is evident in an exami- nation of turquoiseproduction. The production of turquoise ornaments was diffuse and uncontrolled, but the consumption of turquoise,at least in Chaco Canyon, was highly centralized. This is what we would expect to see in a polity operating within a corporate strategy. Elparentesco es centralpara entenderla organizaci6nsocio-politico y la organizaci6nde produci6n en Cafi6n Chaco. Entred.C. 700 y 900 la manera de vida en el mundo Chaquefiose cambi6 reflejandola evoluci6n de la residencia matrilocal. Los grupos matrilocales convenieronla fundaci6n de una regi6n politica basada en una estrategiapolitica corporativa.La matrilocalidad suministr6a la gente Chaquefiasuna estructurasocial en que las mujeresfueroncapaz aformar comunidadesagriculturales esta- bles mientraslos hombresfueronlibres a conseguir recursosy hacer neg6cios de larga-distancia.Los lider-esmobilizar-on recur- sos al trave'sde la regi6n politica para actividades corportiva-afirmando,como la construci6n de las Casas Granzdes.Esta estrategia es evidente en una investigaci6nde la produci6n turquesa.Los ornamentosturquesos fuei-on fabricados por familias quien especializaronen la produci6nartistica pero la produci6nfue difusay incontrolada.Sin embai-gola consunci6nde turquesa fue altamenteespecializada, al menos entre Can6n Chaco. Eso es precisamenteque espe7rar-iamosver en una region politica fun- cionando entre una estrategia corporativa. A mong the most striking monuments of the evolution of matrilocal residence and, more ancient North America are the Chacoan specifically,of a polityrooted in the possibilitiesand greathouses. Generations of archaeologists constraintssuch residentialgroups create. I suggest have marveledat theirscale and craftsmanshipand emergentleaders in the Chacoanpolity used matrilo- wonderedwhy they were built, what purposesthey cal groupsas the foundationof a corporatepolitical served,what kind of society fosteredthe construc- strategy.As my colleagues and I have explainedin tion of such impressivestructures. These questions a series of recentarticles (Blanton 1998; Blantonet are made only more enigmaticwith knowledge of al. 1996; Feinman 2000), leaders following a cor- the archaeologicalrecord for the erapreceding great porate political strategy attemptto build a power house construction.BetweenA.D. 700 andA.D. 900 base by developing and promoting activities that lifeways in the Chacoanworld underwenta trans- reinforcethe corporatebonds that tie members of formation.Single-family pit structures,a basic res- the polity together.A commoncorporate strategy is, identialform since as early as 200 B.C., were given for example,to mobilize goods from across a polity up for multifamilypueblos. What accountsfor this for large public ritualsor constructionprojects that transition?What does it meanfor ourunderstanding bring membersof the polity togetherin corporate- of the organizationof productionin the Chacoan affirmingactivities (activities that seem reflectedin world? the Chacoan great houses and pre-Chacoangreat I suggestthe developmentof pueblosmay reflect kivas). Peter N. Peregrine * Departmentof Anthropology,Lawrence University, 515 E. College Ave., Appleton, WI 54911 AmericanAntiquity, 66(1), 2001, pp. 36-46 Copyright( 2001 by the Society for AmericanArchaeology 36 MATRILOCALITY,CORPORATE STRATEGY, AND ORGANIZATION 37 My colleagues and I have arguedthat corporate or status,receive no tributeor compensationfor their strategyshould be seen as one end of a continuum work, and are powerlessin termsof judicialauthor- of politicalstrategy with the oppositeend being what ity. Yet Leach (1954:206) argues that in terms of we have called an exclusionaryor "network"strat- politicalauthority, "in practice a gumlao 'headman' egy. Leadersfollowing a networkstrategy attempt maybe hardlydistinguishable from a gumsa'chief."' to build a power base by controllingaccess to net- How do such gumlao leaders gain authority?The worksof exchangeand alliance both within and out- answerLeach (1954:263, 275) gives is thatthey do side the polity (Blantonet al. 1996:4-5; Peregrine so by appealingto corporateideology and support- 1992).Thus a networkstrategy is one in which lead- ive myths andprinciples of behavior.It is important ers attemptto monopolize sources of power,while to note thatpolities with a gumlaoorientation are not a corporatestrategy is one in which leadersattempt hinderedin what they can accomplish-they build to sharepower across differentgroups and sectors andmaintain agricultural terraces, defend themselves of a polity. against enemies, engage in trade with other poli- It is importantto note thatcorporate and network ties-and yet they do so within a frameworkthat strategies lie on a continuum and are not "pure" downplaysstatus differences and individual aggran- strategiesin any given case. Rather,leaders tend to dizement(Leach 1954:231-238). promotemore corporate-oriented strategies or more While the idea of corporatepolitical strategy was network-orientedones, but it is unlikely any leader initiallyput forwardas partof a theoryfor the evo- will promotea "purely"corporate or networkstrat- lution of complex societies in Mesoamerica(Blan- egy. It is also importantto make clear that these ton et al. 1996), severalof the papersin this issue of strategiesare used in societies with varyingdegrees AmericanAntiquity use it as a model of political of political centralization,scale, and technological behavior to provide insight into the structureand complexity.They do not define societal "types"nor operationof the ancient Chacoanpolity. Timothy do they define a unilinealevolutionary trend. Earle,for example,explains that the focus of polit- While archaeologistshave tendedto ignore cor- ical strategyin the Chacoanpolity appearsto be "sta- poratelyoriented polities in favorof the often more ple finance"-the mobilization of goods for colorfulnetwork-oriented ones, severalgood exam- corporateactivities. Similarly,Colin Renfrew sug- ples do exist, perhaps the most prominentbeing gests thatgreat houses were used for largepublic rit- Teotihuacanand the Induscivilization. In bothcases uals,rituals coordinated and funded by leaderswhose we find few of the typical indicatorsof powerful activitiesmaintained the corporateorientation of the rulers-there are no royal tombs, few or no repre- polity.While not directlyemploying the ideaof a cor- sentationsof rulers, and where writing is present porate-orientedpolity, he suggests thatthese rituals rulers are rarely mentioned-such polities seem also servedto legitimatethe authorityof the leaders "faceless"(Blanton 1998:149). And yet these "face- who hosted them,just as the mobilizationof mate- less" polities were able to constructcities, conquer rials used in them did.Thus both Earle and Renfrew largeregions, and integrate tens of thousandsof peo- suggestthat a basic politicalstrategy in the Chacoan ple. SimilarlyColin Renfrew (1974) describedwhat world was the coordinationof corporaterituals. he called "group-oriented"chiefdoms in thirdmil- Whateffects might a corporateorientation have lenniumB.C. Europethat were capableof organiz- on the organizationof production?We would expect ing laborto producelarge public works suitablefoi productionin corporate-orientedpolities to be dif- communal ritual within an apparentlyegalitarian fuse, with no clear centersof control,and to be dis- frameworkwhere political authoritywas "faceless persed across the polity. This is what we appearto and anonymous"(1974:79). see in the Chacoan world. We would also expect The ethnographicliterature provides another pic- productionto be directedtoward group rather than ture of such "faceless" polities. Leach (1954) individual consumption. Again, this is what we describesgumlao chiefdoms organized around egal- appear to see in the Chacoan world. We would itarian principles among the Kachin of highland expect consumption, on the other hand, to be Burma.Leaders in gumlaopolities (who Leach terms focused at points of grouparticulation. In the Cha- "headmen"to distinguish them from the gumst coan worldthose points of articulationappear to be chiefs of otherKachin polities) have no specialrights greathouses andgreat house middens.Thus the idea 38 AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 66, No. 1, 2001 that the Chacoan polity was corporatelyoriented -xample,the dataon small sites presentedby Peter seems both a reasonableand useful one. It appears M\1cKenna(1986) suggest that during the period to fit the patternof the materialrecord and provides betweenA.D. 500 and 700, pit structuresaveraged useful insights into how productionmay have been about15 squaremeters in floor area,and this aver- organized. age size remained fairly constant in the period