Pottery Production and Ballcourt Ceremonialism: Remarkably Sophisticated Economics Among the Hohokam

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，大卫R.阿博特和他的同事将进行为期21个月的考古研究，重点是古代霍霍坎人异常复杂的经济和地区礼仪网络。霍霍卡姆人是沙漠农民和工匠，他们居住在亚利桑那州南部和中部数百个村庄，人口超过200人。公元300年至公元1450年。在以前的NSF资助的研究中，研究表明，几乎所有在久坐期间使用的陶瓷容器（约。公元900-1100年）由少数人制作，并广泛分发给广大领土的家庭。一个有效和可靠的供应机制显然是现存的，但在随后的古典时期（约。公元1100-1375年）陶瓷生产恢复到当地制造，供当地消费。这些结果引发了一个问题，即在霍霍坎史前时期，大规模的陶器生产是如何进行的，以及如此多的陶器是如何广泛分布的。一种假说解释了定居时期的陶瓷分布与可能的周期性市场相关的仪式球类游戏在超过225个球场遍布整个地区。这些球类运动吸引了周围甚至是遥远村庄的人群，也可能是专门制作的陶器和其他生活必需品定期交换的场所，超出了亲属关系网的范围。这一想法意味着比以前对霍霍坎的任何设想都要复杂得多的经济安排。为了进一步研究这一观点，从殖民时期（约1800年）的陶瓷组合的容器形式和生产来源。公元775-900），晚先锋（约。公元700-775年）和早期的先驱（公元700年前）时期将进行分析，以确定如何陶瓷生产和分配是在每个时间段组织，并确定多久的复杂分工陶瓷生产是现存的霍霍坎。它是先于、平行还是继承了球场网络的发展？球场网络始于拓荒者时代晚期，在殖民地和定居时期得到了极大的发展？这项新的研究还将使用最近的时间顺序改进，以确定向本地化陶瓷生产的转变是否与近久坐时期结束时球场仪式主义的崩溃同时发生。这项研究很重要，因为它有助于建立文化进化理论，并突出了西南部古代美洲原住民的显着成就。没有中央控制和等级政治制度的复杂经济学使霍霍坎成为将组织复杂性与等级结构联系起来的进化假设的一个迷人的例外。因此，重建他们庞大而复杂的网络是如何发展和运作的，可能是改善文化变迁综合理论的关键。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. David R. Abbott and his colleagues will conduct 21 months of archaeological research focused on the unusually complex economy and the regional ceremonial network of the ancient Hohokam people. The Hohokam were desert farmers and craftsmen who inhabited hundreds of villages with populations of 200 residents or more through out southern and central Arizona from ca. A.D. 300 until A.D. 1450. During previous NSF-funded research, it was shown that nearly all ceramic containers used during the Sedentary period (ca. A.D. 900-1100) were made by few hands and were widely distributed to households across a large territory. An efficient and dependable mechanism for supply was clearly extant at that time, but by the succeeding Classic period (ca. A.D. 1100-1375) ceramic production had reverted to local manufacturing for local consumption. Those results evoke questions about how far back into Hohokam prehistory large-scale pottery production was practiced and how so many pots were so widely distributed. One hypothesis explains the Sedentary period ceramic distributions with possible periodic marketplaces associated ritual ball games played in more than 225 ballcourts spread throughout the region. These ball games drew crowds from surrounding and probably distant villages and may have served as venues where specialist-made pots and other domestic necessities were regularly bartered beyond the limits of kinship networks. This idea implies far more sophisticated economic arrangements than any previously supposed for the Hohokam. To further investigate this idea, the vessel forms and production sources of ceramic assemblages from the Colonial (ca. A.D. 775-900), late Pioneer (ca. A.D. 700-775), and early Pioneer (pre-A.D. 700) periods will be analyzed to determine how ceramic production and distribution were organized during each time period and determine for how long the sophisticated division of labor for ceramic production was extant among the Hohokam. Did it precede, parallel, or succeed the development of the ballcourt network, which began during the late Pioneer period and greatly expanded during the Colonial and Sedentary periods? The new research will also use recent chronological refinements to determine if the shift to localized ceramic production was coeval with the collapse of the ballcourt ceremonialism near the end of the Sedentary period. This research is important because it contributes to building cultural evolutionary theory and highlights the remarkable accomplishments of ancient Native American peoples in the Southwest. Sophisticated economics without centrally controlled and hierarchical political institutions make the Hohokam a fascinating exception to evolutionary suppositions that link organizational complexity with hierarchical structures. As such, reconstructing how their large and intricate networks developed and worked may be pivotal for improving synthetic theories of culture change.