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·斯廷森女士将为她的博士论文收集有关美国大西南部霍霍坎考古地区的数据。她的研究通过确定陶瓷小雕像的功能和随后的丢弃做法来解决史前家庭中的仪式问题。从公元前300年到公元700年，这些小雕像被用在霍霍坎的房子里，当它们被丢弃时，它们经常被放在家庭垃圾里。作为这个项目的一部分，博物馆收藏的大约1300个小雕像将被分析，其中大部分是从亚利桑那州南部的蛇镇和格鲁两处大型遗址中找到的。霍霍坎大学的研究人员此前曾假设，这些小雕像是在社区范围内与球场有关的仪式活动中使用的，类似于中美洲的球场。斯廷森女士将通过测试三种不同的假设来确定这些小雕像是否只是家庭仪式的一部分：(1)它们被用于治疗和治愈仪式，(2)它们被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，以及处置的位置和方式。除了这些分析之外，斯廷森女士还将通过检查这些雕像在烧制前留在湿粘土表面的指纹印，来确定这些雕像的制造者是谁。这些指纹分析提供了小雕像制造与家庭性别角色之间的直接联系。脊计数将用于区分儿童和成人，以及男性和女性。脊数是一种客观的、定量的测量指纹图案大小的方法，它是通过计算某一特定区域内的摩擦脊数来记录的。斯廷森已经在考古陶瓷和一组来自菲律宾一个大家庭的现代版画上测试了这种技术。这种指纹技术是考古研究的新技术，有可能彻底改变史前性别角色的分配方式。该项目还有助于对家庭、雕像、家庭中的仪式和性别的研究。它测试了关于美国西南部考古地区雕像功能的假设，这些假设一直被假设，但从未经过科学验证。该项目还有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

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.