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。她将对从新墨西哥州北方格兰德河地区出土的陶瓷材料进行风格分析，这些材料可追溯到公元13世纪末和14世纪初。此外，将对选定的岩块进行薄切片，并进行岩相分析，以确定原材料来源。在国家科学基金会的支持下，鲁斯卡瓦奇-巴兹女士将参观圣达菲、图森和洛杉矶的藏品。 在世纪后期之前，北方格兰德河地区的人口密度很低，人们居住在分散的小定居点。然而，在这一时期即将结束时，情况迅速发生了变化，当时人数众多的群体聚集在多房间的普韦布洛社区中，这种社区今天仍然存在于该地区。虽然考古学家不确定原因，但许多人认为移民是人口迅速增长的原因。Ruscavage-Barz女士希望解决的基本问题涉及社会组织形式和融合进程。当个人和群体发现自己被纳入新的更大和更复杂的社会单位时，他们会采用什么机制？ 它们在多大程度上制定了新的规则并要求遵守以促进统一？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活力的情况下采取行动，以强调他们的个性。 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独特的方式装饰陶器，可以查看当代陶器并确定其起源。复杂的装饰也同样画在史前陶瓷上，鲁斯卡瓦奇-巴茨女士将分析从格兰德河的一些遗址中挖掘出来的材料。通过这种方式，她将能够跟踪设计变化，从早期的较小的通过随后的较大的聚合社区，并确定在何种程度上的变化是强调或消失。 很可能，在这个领域中注意到的模式同样会反映在其他行为领域中。 这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它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。它将为文化变革的机制提供新的启示，并有助于培养有前途的青年科学家。

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.