Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Intraregional Interaction in the Mesa Verde Region, A.D. 1150-1300: Placing Emigration in its Social Context

一个世纪的研究集中于了解公元1300年美国西南部的梅萨维德地区被完全放弃的原因。为重建普遍的环境条件和了解梅萨维德人的去向作出了巨大努力。然而，要充分理解这种戏剧性的废弃，就需要了解该地区人口减少之前和期间村庄之间的关系。现有数据不足以评估这些相互作用。在这个关键时期(公元1150-1300年)，这个项目使用经济合作的证据来调查村庄之间的社会互动，通过村庄之间交换陶器以及象征合作和冲突的公共和防御性建筑的位置来表明这一点。陶瓷交换数据与公共和防御性建筑的分布相结合，为理解这一原本有充分记录的废弃过程中的社会过程提供了强大的手段。美国国家科学基金会的资金将允许使用仪器中子活化分析对来自9个地点的额外490个陶瓷和粘土样本进行化学成分分析。有了这些样品，就有可能利用一个区域数据库重建陶瓷生产和交换的模式，该数据库包括来自18个地点的1,041个陶瓷和60个粘土样品。这笔赠款还将用于编制一个区域数据库，记录社区和防御性建筑的地理分布，以评估村庄之间的合作和冲突程度。这两个数据库都将提供关键数据，这些数据将为未来的研究提供可访问的数据，并可以通过这些数据进行扩展，以进一步测试关于社会动力学的人类学论点。这项研究由Donna Glowacki女士在Keith Kintigh博士的监督下进行，将有助于理解干旱和暴力等压力对大规模移民前和移民期间社会关系的影响。

A century of research has focused on understanding the complete abandonment of the Mesa Verde region of the American Southwest by A.D. 1300. Enormous efforts have been devoted to reconstructing the prevailing environmental conditions and to understanding where the Mesa Verde people went. However, a full understanding of this dramatic abandonment requires knowledge of the relationships among villages prior to and during the depopulation of this region. Existing data are inadequate to assess these interactions. For this critical period (A.D. 1150-1300), this project investigates social interaction among villages using evidence for economic cooperation, indicated by the exchange of pottery among villages and the locations of communal and defensive buildings signifying cooperation and conflict. The combination of ceramic exchange data and the distribution of communal and defensive architecture provides a powerful means for understanding the social processes at work during this otherwise well-documented abandonment.NSF funding will permit the chemical composition analysis of an additional 490 ceramic and clay samples from nine sites using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis. With these samples, it will be possible to reconstruct patterns of ceramic production and exchange using a regional database comprising 1,041 ceramic and 60 clay samples from 18 sites. The grant would also fund the compilation of a regional database documenting the geographic distribution of communal and defensive architecture necessary for the assessment of the degree of cooperation and conflict among villages. Both of these databases will provide critical data that will be made accessible for and can be expanded by future research to further test anthropological arguments about social dynamics. This study, conducted by Ms. Donna Glowacki under the supervision of Dr. Keith Kintigh, will contribute to understanding the effects of stress, such as drought and violence, on social relationships prior to and during periods of large-scale emigration.