Dissertation Research: Household Ritual, Ceramic Figurines, and Gender in the Hohokam Regional System

在芭芭拉米尔斯博士的指导下，苏珊·斯丁森女士将为她关于美国大西南部霍霍坎考古地区的博士论文收集数据。 她的研究通过确定陶瓷雕像的功能和随后的丢弃实践来解决史前家庭中的仪式。 从公元前300年到公元700年，这些小雕像被用在Hohokam的房子里，当被丢弃时，它们经常被放在家庭垃圾中。 作为该项目的一部分，博物馆收藏的大约1300件小雕像将被分析，其中大部分是从亚利桑那州南部的斯内克敦和格雷维两个大型遗址中恢复的。 霍霍坎的研究人员此前曾假设，这些小雕像被用于社区范围内与球场相关的仪式活动，类似于中美洲的球场。 斯丁森将通过测试三种不同的假设来确定这些小雕像是否是家庭仪式的一部分用途：（1）它们用于治疗和治疗仪式，（2）它们用于旨在促进与已故亲属（祖先）联系的仪式，或者（3）它们被用作儿童玩具。 为了确定雕像的功能，将分析建筑材料、形式、磨损或损坏的模式，以及处理的位置和方式。除了这些分析之外，斯丁森女士还将通过检查这些雕像被烧制前留在湿粘土表面的指纹来确定这些雕像的制作者是谁。 这些指纹分析提供了小雕像的制作与家庭中性别角色之间的直接联系。 脊计数将用于区分儿童和成人，男性和女性。 纹脊数是对指纹图案大小的客观、定量测量，并且通过计算在某个指定区域内的摩擦纹脊的数量来记录。 斯丁森女士已经在考古陶瓷和一套来自菲律宾一个大家庭的现代版画上测试了这种技术。 这种指纹技术对考古学研究来说是新的，有可能彻底改变史前时期性别角色的分配方式。 该项目还有助于对家庭、小雕像以及家庭中的仪式和性别问题进行研究。 它测试了关于美国西南部考古地区雕像功能的假设，这些假设一直存在，但从未经过科学验证。 该项目还协助培训一名有前途的青年科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Barbara Mills, Ms. Susan Stinson will collect data for her doctoral dissertation on the Hohokam archaeological region of the Greater Southwest USA. Her research addresses ritual within prehistoric households by determining the function and subsequent discard practices for ceramic figurines. These small figurines were used in Hohokam houses from 300 BC to AD 700 and they often were placed in household trash when discarded. Approximately 1300 figurines in museum collections will be analyzed as part of this project, and most of these were recovered from the two large sites of Snaketown and Grewe in southern Arizona. Hohokam researchers have previously assumed that these figurines were used in community-wide ceremonial activities associated with ballcourts that are similar to those in Mesoamerica. Ms. Stinson will determine whether the figurines were instead part of domestic ritual by testing three different hypotheses for their use: (1) they were used in healing and curing ritual, (2) they were used in ritual designed to promote a connection to deceased relatives (ancestors), or (3) they were used as children's toys. In order to determine figurine function, patterns of construction material, form, wear or damage, and the location and manner of disposal will be analyzed. In addition to these analyses, Ms. Stinson will determine who the producers of these figurines were by examining fingerprint impressions left on the wet clay surface of the figures before they were fired. These fingerprint analyses provide a direct link between the manufacture of figurines and gendered roles within the household. Ridge counting will be used to distinguish between children and adults, and males and females. A ridge count is an objective, quantitative measure of the size of the fingerprint pattern, and it is recorded by counting the number of friction ridges within a certain specified area. Ms. Stinson has already tested this technique on both archaeological ceramics and a set of modern prints from an extended family in the Philippines. This fingerprint technique is new to archaeological research and has the potential to revolutionize how gender roles are assigned in prehistory. This project also contributes to research on households, figurines, and ritual and gender in the household. It tests hypotheses about figurine function in an archaeological region of the American Southwest that have been assumed, but never scientifically tested. The project also assists in training a promising young scientist.