Hohokam Ceramics and Social Organization During the Sedentary Period

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，大卫·阿博特博士将对亚利桑那州凤凰盆地霍霍坎遗址收集的陶瓷进行分析。他将专注于霍霍坎发展的早期定居时期，并分析从许多遗址中精心挖掘出来的陶器碎片。这些陶器所处的地质区域非常多样化，制陶工人使用的砂和粘土的成分在不同的分区之间差别很大。雅培之前的工作已经证明，有可能检查碎片矩阵和确定原料的来源。通过这种显微镜和电子探针分析，他将确定数千个样本碎片的起源点。在此基础上，就有可能重建定居时期的陶瓷交换系统，从而深入了解社会组织。霍霍卡姆人是生活在恶劣的半干旱环境中的农民，他们依靠庞大而复杂的灌溉系统来生产作物。雅培博士对随后的经典时期的陶瓷交换进行了类似的分析，结果表明交换主要发生在单个灌溉子系统中。这表明社会组织与灌溉的控制和管理是紧密联系在一起的。久坐期间的工作将揭示这个系统是如何发展的。虽然运河在定居时期就已经存在，但初步结果表明，交换可能没有遵循经典模式，也没有与灌溉渠密切相关。如果这个结论是正确的，那么它将与广泛持有的考古学假设相矛盾。考古学家希望了解复杂社会是如何产生的。这一过程经常发生在半干旱的环境中，研究人员认为发展和维持灌溉系统的需要发挥了核心作用。阿博特博士的研究直接回答了这个问题。它还揭示了技术水平简单的人如何能够在恶劣的环境条件下生存。它将为许多考古学家提供感兴趣的数据，并为美国的过去提供新的线索。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. David Abbott will conduct an analysis of ceramics collected from Hohokam sites located in Arizona's Phoenix Basin. He will focus on the early Sedentary period of Hohokam development and analyze potsherds carefully excavated from a number of sites. The geological region in which these are located is extremely diverse and the composition of sands and clays which potters employed varied significantly from subarea to subarea. Abbott's prior work has demonstrated that it is possible to examine sherd matrix and determine the source of the raw material. Through such microscopic and electron probe analysis he will determine the points of origin for thousands of sampled sherds. On this basis it is then possible to reconstruct sedentary period ceramic exchange systems and thus gain insight into social organization. Hohocam peoples were agriculturists who lived in a harsh semi-arid environment and who depended on large and complex irrigation systems to produce crops. Dr. Abbott has completed a similar analysis of ceramic exchange during the following Classic period and the results indicated that exchange occurred primarily within individual irrigation subsystems. This indicates that social organization and the control and management of irrigation were tied closely together. The Sedentary period work will shed light on how this system developed. Although canals were present during the Sedentary period, preliminary results indicate that exchange may not have followed the Classic pattern and were not closely tied to irrigation canals. It correct, this conclusion would contradict widely held archaeological assumptions. Archaeologists wish to understand how complex societies arose. This process often occurred in semi-arid environments and researchers have postulated that the need to develop and maintain irrigation systems played a central role. Dr. Abbott's research speaks directly to this question. It also sheds light on how people at a simple level of technology were able to subsist in harsh environmental conditions. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and shed new light on America's past.