Using both archaeological data from the Mesa Verde region and a Human Relations Area Files random sample of 25 worldwide societies, and another 10 from the American Southwest, the author looked to examine the relationship between changes in community size and settlements, agriculture intensification, and rules governing resource access. In particular the researcher wanted to examine the size of the group that controls the primary access to the main resource. After studying this global sample, the author takes an ethnographic look specifically at the Northern Anasazi in southewestern Colorado.

The author sampled 28 nonhierarchical, sedentary (at least partially), and demographically documented societies to examine the presence, size, and use of socially integrative facilities. Examing the ethnographic record from the Human Relations Area Files, the author looked to test the assumption that kivas were intended for communal ritual activity.

The dissertation in its entirety is an archaeological investigation of population aggregation among the Mesa Verde region Anasazi A.D. 900-1300. Chapters four and five of Adlers larger work focus on cross-cultural perspectives to inform discussion around resource access and community strength. Multiple different hypotheses were tested with different data sets, but the HRAF database and Standard Cross Cultural Sample were used throughout.

This survey chapter discusses the use of ash and other fire-generated materials in Ancestral Pueblo settlements in the northern Rio Grande region. The author begins by surveying ethnographic reports of ash use among indigenous groups in the Southwest and Great Basin regions to understand the potential reasons for ash use in prehistoric contexts beyond just cooking. He then turns to archaeological data to explore the extensive use of fire, ash, and other pyrotechnic products across indigenous communities in the region, focusing on excavated architectural and mortuary contexts from the northern Rio Grande, especially the Taos and Picuris areas. The author argues that these fire-related actions and products show that ash plays two major roles -- it is used as a part of major transition ceremonies and as an instrument for healing. The author concludes that these ethnographic observations inform and illuminate archaeological contexts that contain ash, charcoal, and fire.