Dissertation Research: Archaeology of Northern Rio Grande, New Mexico

在蒂莫西·科勒博士的指导下，萨曼莎·鲁斯卡瓦奇-巴兹女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将对新墨西哥州格兰德河北部地区出土的陶瓷材料进行风格分析，这些材料可以追溯到公元13世纪末和14世纪初。此外，选定的块将进行薄片和岩相分析，以确定原材料来源。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Rusavage-Barz女士将参观圣达菲、图森和洛杉矶的藏品。在13世纪末之前，格兰德河北部地区的人口密度很低，人们居住在分散的小定居点中。然而，在这一时期接近尾声时，情况迅速发生了变化，更多的群体聚集在今天仍然存在于该区域的多房间普韦布洛社区中。尽管考古学家不确定原因，但许多人认为移民是导致人口快速增长的原因。Rusavage-Barz女士希望解决的基本问题涉及社会组织的形式和融合进程。当个人和团体发现自己被纳入新的、更大的、更复杂的社会单位时，他们会采用什么机制？他们在多大程度上制定了新的规则，并要求遵守以促进一致性？一些理论认为，恰恰相反的情况发生了，以前独立的实体在这种变化和经常充满压力的情况下采取行动强调自己的个性。在许多情况下，“风格”是群体和个人身份的标志。不同的西南美洲原住民群体以不同的方式装饰陶器，因此有可能观察当代陶器并确定其原产地。史前陶器上同样绘制了复杂的装饰，Rusavage-Barz女士将分析在控制良好的环境中从许多里奥格兰德遗址挖掘出来的材料。通过这种方式，她将能够跟踪从早期较小的社区到随后的较大聚合社区的设计更改，并确定强调或消失差异的程度。在这个领域中注意到的模式很可能会同样反映在其他行为领域中。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。这将有助于开发一种分析技术，考古学家可能会在世界许多地区使用这种技术。它将为文化变革背后的机制提供新的线索，并有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Timothy Kohler, MS Samantha Ruscavage-Barz will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct stylistic analysis of ceramic materials excavated from sites in the northern Rio Grande region of New Mexico and which date to the late 13th and early 14th centuries AD. In addition, selected pieces will be thin sectioned and subjected to petrographic analysis to determine raw material sources. With National Science Foundation support MS Ruscavage-Barz will visit collections housed in Santa Fe, Tucson and Los Angeles. Prior to the late 13th century population density in the northern Rio Grande region was low and people lived in small widely dispersed settlements. The picture rapidly changed however towards the end of this period when significantly larger groups aggregated in the type of multiroom Pueblo communities which still exist in the region today. Although archaeologists are uncertain of the cause, many believe that immigration is responsible for this rapid population rise. The basic question which MS Ruscavage-Barz wishes to address concerns forms of social organization and integration processes. What mechanisms do individuals and groups employ when they find themselves incorporated into new large and more complex social units? To what extent to they develop new sets of rules and demand compliance to promote uniformity? Some theories suggest that exactly the opposite occurs and previously independent entities act to emphasize their individuality in such changed and often charged circumstances. `Style` serves, in many instances, as a marker of group and individual identity. Different Southwest Native American groups decorated pottery in distinctive ways and it is possible to look at contemporary pottery and determine its point of origin. Complex decorations were likewise painted on prehistoric ceramics and MS Ruscavage-Barz will analyze materials excavated in well controlled contexts from a number of Rio Grande sites. In this way she will be able to trace design changes from the early smaller through the succeeding larger aggregated communities and determine to extent to which variation is either emphasized or disappears. It is likely that patterns noted in this realm would be reflected equally in other behavioral realms. This research is important for several reasons. It will help to develop an analytic technique which archaeologists may potentially employ in many regions of the world. It will shed new light on mechanisms which underlie culture change and assist in training a promising young scientist.