Jill Neitzel

Associate Professor                                                                            

Undergraduate Advisor

Ph.D. Arizona State University 1984

 

 

I am an anthropological archaeologist whose primary research interest is the development of sociopolitical complexity. Anthropological archaeologists study the artifacts, structures, and other kinds of material remains from prehistoric archaeological sites to learn how the occupants of those sites lived and why their societies changed through time. The ultimate goal of anthropological archaeology is to compare conclusions about different prehistoric groups in order to develop general explanations for how human societies operated and changed in the past.

 

 My particular interest is middle range societies, those which anthropologists have traditionally labeled as tribes and chiefdoms and which have moderately developed sociopolitical hierarchies – they are neither egalitarian nor as stratified as states. Throughout my career, my research on these societies has addressed three inter-related topics: 1) how they were organized in the past, 2) their patterns of regional interaction, and 3) their material culture. My work on these topics has focused primarily on two cases from the U.S. Southwest: 1) the Hohokam of the Phoenix Basin in south-central Arizona and, 2) the Chacoans of the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico. I have also emphasized comparative research, documenting similarities and differences among the Hohokam, Chacoans, and other groups in the Southwest and elsewhere in order to expand archaeological knowledge of middle range societies in general.

Specializations

Culture change, development of complex societies, chiefdoms, regional analysis, material culture and art, U.S. American Southwest

 

UD Undergraduate Courses

Anthropology and Human Nature; Anthropology of Clothes; Anthropology of Death; Anthropology of Food; Anthropology of Sports; Archaeological Interpretation; Globalization in Everyday Life; Interpreting the Past; Introduction to Biological Anthropology; Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology; Introduction to Prehistoric Archaeology; Peoples of the World; Prehistoric Human Ecology; Prehistory of North America; Pyramids, Priests, and Palaces;  Solving Archaeological Mysteries; Tutorial in Archaeology

UD Graduate Courses

Impacts of European Contact on Native Americans; Interpreting the Past; Pyramids, Priests, and Palaces; The Cultures of Women and Men: Anthropological Studies of Gender; The Social Dimensions of the Material World; Time across Disciplines

Selected Publications

  • 2012 - The Magician: An Ancestral Hopi Leader. In The Bioarchaeology of Individuals, edited by A. Stodder and A. Palkovich, pp. 11-25. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.
  • 2011 - Mixed Messages: Art and Leadership in the Late Prehistoric Southwest: In Comparative Archaeologies: Prehistoric Ibera (3000-1500BC) and the American Southwest (AD 900-1600), edited by K. Lillios, pp. 229-256. Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK.
  • 2011 – Comparing Art for the American Southwest and Iberia. In Comparative Archaeologies: Prehistoric Iberia (3000-1500BC) and the American Southwest (AD 900-1600), edited by K. Lillios, pp. 221-228. Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK. (with S. Fairen Jimenez)
  • 2010 – Landscapes of Complexity in Middle Range Societies: Peer Polities and the Hohokam and Chacoans in the U.S. Southwest. In Ancient Complexities: New Perspectives in Pre-Columbian North America, edited by S. Alt, pp. 153-176. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
  • 2009 – Pueblo Bonito. In Archaeology in America: An Encyclopedia (Vol. 3, Southwest and Great Basin/Plateau), edited by F.P. McManamon, pp. 75-78. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT.
  • 2007 – Architectural Studies of Pueblo Bonito: The Past, the Present, and the Future. In Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, edited by S.H. Lekson, pp. 127-154. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
  • 2006 – Modeling Site Occupation Span and Developmental History: An Effort to Merge Survey and Excavation Data in the U.S. Southwest. In Managing Archaeological Data: Essays in Honor of Sylvia W. Gaines, edited by J. Hantman and R Most, pp. 71-84. Arziona State Univeristy Anthropological Research Papers No. 57. Tempe. (with J. Hantman)
  • 2006 – Regional Population Dynamics in the Northern Southwest. In Managing Archaeological Data: Essays in Honor of Sylvia W. Gaines, edited by J. Hantman and R. Most, pp. 85-104. Arizona State University Anthropological  Research Papers Not. 57. Tempe. (with J. Hantman)

 Selected Presentations

  • 2012 – How the Southwest Was Complex. Invited paper presented in the symposium “Leaving Lewis Henry Morgan: New Studies of Societal Variation and Change” at the 77th Annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Memphis.
  • 2011 – Facing Identity and Interaction: Human Depictions on Prehistoric Southwest Pottery. Contributed paper presented in the general session “Ceramics Analysis in the United States” at the 76th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Sacramento.
  • 2010 – Hohokam-Chacoan Connections in the Late Prehistoric Southwest. Contributed paper presented in the general session “Identity and Interaction in the Desert Southwest” at the 75th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, St. Louis.
  • 2009 – Identity and Macro-regional Interaction in the U.S. Southwest. Invited paper presented in the symposium “A Big View of Identity and Interaction: Macro-regional Cultural Variation in the U.S. Southwest” at the 74th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Atlanta.
  • 2008 – Maker’s Marks on Pueblo Bonito’s Pottery. Contributed paper presented in the general session “Craft Production and Craftsmanship in Southwestern Archaeology” at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver.
  • 2008 – Discussant Comments. Invited paper presented in the symposium “The Chaco Stratigraphy Project: Ongoing Research and Preliminary Results” at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver.
  • 2007 – The Magician and Yoffee’s Rule: Studying Complexity in the Prehispanic Southwest. Invited paper presented in the symposium ‘Confounding Categories and Conceptualizing Complexities” at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin.
  • 2007 – The Magician: Collaborative Studies of an Ancestral Hopi Leader. Invited poster presented in the session “Personal Guides to Life in Antiquity: The Bioarchaeology of Individuals” at the 76th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Philadelphia.
  • 2006 – Art and Power in the Prehispanic U.S. Southwest. Invited paper presented in the advanced seminar “Comparative Archaeologies: The American Southwest (A.D. 900-1600) and the Iberian Peninsula (3000-1500B.C.)” at the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, The University of Iowa, Iowa City.
  • 2006 – Still Too Many Types: A Comparison of Chiefdoms in the U.S. Southwest and Southeast. Invited paper present in the symposium “Case Studies in Comparative Archaeology” at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Juan.