Ancestors and Elites

Gordon Rakita gives us an important addition to the literature dealing with Chihuahuan prehistory. Starting from a cultural evolutionary position, he uses anthropological theory and specific case studies to examine the role of ritual behavior in the development of the Casas Grandes region, focusing on the site of Paquimé and using the eight volumes of the Joint Casas Grandes Expedition as his primary data base. Rakita argues that ceremonialism and ritual behavior are separable strands that contributed both to communal solidarity and to the emergence of the authority and power needed by decision-making structures in aggregated communities. He thus firmly places ritual behavior on a par with economic and other factors in the cauldron of emerging complexity.