This research examines approximately 500 Middle Woodland (~150 B.C. – A.D. 400) pottery samples from 56 habitation and burial mound sites in west Michigan and northwest Indiana to identify the different types of mechanisms that were associated with the introduction and persistence of Havana-Hopewellian information and ceramic technology in the study region. It achieves this by fusing stylistic pottery analyses with compositional (i.e., ceramic petrography) analyses to define the social boundaries of different types of communities on multiple spatial scales. The results have provided insight into the complex and dynamic types of cultural interactions and mobility patterns operating within the study region, the distinct behavioral patterns unique to each individual community, and the assortment of mechanisms responsible for the spread and maintenance of Havana-Hopewell. Mechanisms identified in this research include diffusion, fission, migration, family visitation, the likely frequent intermarriage between communities, the seasonal use or scheduling of resource use within buffer zones, territorial expansion, pilgrimage, potential community merger, down-the-line exchange, the likely exchange of food and other material goods, and a shared multi-community mortuary program. The results ultimately suggest that social boundaries on both local and regional spatial scales were open, fluid, and probably unbounded.
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