Mobility and Sedentism at Southwestern Pit Structure Sites

帕特里夏·吉尔曼博士将在亚利桑那州东南部的圣西蒙排水系统进行为期一季的考古发掘。她将专注于大约公元500-1050年的坑结构时期，并挖掘出一系列大小不一的居住结构。整个构筑物以及邻近地区将完全开放，以提供聚落格局的全景。将对各种回收的材料进行分析，以确定年代、生存做法和流动程度。还将尝试确定每个地点被占用的季节。该项目的目标是重建坑屋时期的居住和流动模式。几十年来，考古学家一直在研究大型坑房结构，这就是这个时期的名字。这些半埋在地下的房子被解释为“永久”结构，并被认为是一种固定的生活方式。然而，吉尔曼博士指出，在世界其他地区，类似的建筑在季节性的基础上被使用，她假设同样的情况也可能适用于美国西南部。这一观点得到以下观察的支持，即在该区域也发现了同一时期的较小地点，这些地点可能代表季节性回合的不同部分。计划中的挖掘和分析就是为了测试这种可能性。在美国西南部，考古学家追踪到了史前群体从小规模的狩猎和聚集社会转变为常年有定居点和中央集权的政治组织的大政体。然而，导致这一变化的过程还没有被很好地理解。日益增长的世俗主义可能起到了一定作用，但究竟起到了什么作用还不确定。这项研究应该有助于解决这个问题。它还将产生许多考古学家感兴趣的数据。

Dr. Patricia Gilman will conduct one season of archaeological excavation in the San Simon drainage, located in Southeastern Arizona. She will focus on the Pit Structure period which dates from ca. AD 500-1050 and excavate a series of habitation structures of varying size. Entire structures as well as immediate surrounding areas will be completely opened to provide a full picture of settlement pattern. A wide range of recovered materials will be analyzed to determine chronology, subsistence practices and degree of mobility. An attempt will also be made to determine the season when each site was occupied. The goal of this project is to reconstruct the settlement and mobility pattern during the Pit House period. For decades archaeologists have studied the large pit house structures which give this period its name. These semi-buried houses have been interpreted as "permanent" structures and taken to imply a settled way of life. Dr. Gilman, however, has noted that in other regions of the world similar structures are used on a seasonal basis and she hypothesizes that the same may hold true in the U.S. Southwest. This position is supported by the observation that smaller sites from the same time period are also found in the region and these may represent a different part of a seasonal round. The planned excavations and analyses are designed to test this possibility. In the Southwestern United States archaeologists have traced the transformation of prehistoric groups from small scale hunting and gathering societies to large polities with year round settlements and centralized political organization. However, the process which lead to this change is not well understood. Increasing sedentism probably played a role, but just what is uncertain. This research should help to resolve this question. It will also produce data of interest to many archaeologists.