A reappraisal of interaction spheres

Abstract

Migration and diffusion are universal phenomena that fell out of favor in American archaeology during the processulist turn. David Anthony’s 1990 defense spurred renewed interest in migration as a structured behavior worthy of serious analysis; yet we continue to dismiss diffusion as a nonexplanatory cultural force that is both difficult to identify in the material record and overemphasizes the roles that internal invention and external stimuli play in the process of culture change. The interaction sphere concept offers us an established theoretical means of rehabilitating diffusion and integrating the other microsocial theories, frameworks, and perspectives that have since proliferated. This article outlines seven key tenets: four drawn from the formative Eastern Woodlands literature, two illustrated in an indigenous North American map making tradition, and a final tenet observed in the application of the concept to the complex issue of Plaquemine cultural emergence in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Without acknowledging the vital role that intellectual and material exchange plays in the process of continuity, innovation, and change, we continue to ignore the many ways in which interaction shaped history. I advocate for a return to the concept of interaction spheres for the same reasons originally promoted by Joseph Caldwell: it contributes a new understanding of the archaeology, it facilitates comparisons between different networks of extra-regional exchange, and it correlates well with various other theoretical models.