Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Technological Organization and Thermal Efficiency of Grayware Ceramics from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

在Patricia Crown博士的指导下，Marianne Tyndall将在新墨西哥州查科峡谷解决陶瓷技术变革与木材资源枯竭之间的关系。对过去环境条件的研究表明，在过去的2000年里，查科峡谷一直是一片贫瘠、干旱的景观，几乎没有树木和水。然而，尽管环境恶劣，资源稀缺，查科峡谷却有着悠久的人类居住历史。早在八世纪，用于建筑和燃料的木材就很稀缺。陶瓷制造和使用的适应是对这种稀缺性的一种反应。尽管环境极端，但在查科峡谷居住的强度和持续时间为研究陶工如何改变他们制作陶瓷的方式提供了理想的环境，以应对日益减少的燃料。本研究提出，当地陶工在陶瓷生产过程中修改了烹饪器皿的某些属性，以提高烹饪器皿的热效率。最适于烹饪的粘土器皿有两种生产方法。薄壁容器传热迅速，但在制造过程中需要更热、更长的烧制条件。另外，厚壁容器在初始燃烧时需要较少的燃料，但在烹饪时使用更多的燃料。廷德尔认为，查科峡谷的陶工选择了前一种策略，使锅在日常烹饪中更有效率。实验室分析将针对影响热效率的属性：容器尺寸、壁厚、孔隙率、原始烧成温度和回火选择。这项研究意义重大，因为它考虑了陶瓷技术变化的社会和环境背景。烹饪陶瓷的生产和使用涉及到有关容器功能、资源可用性和烹饪行为的决策。因此，将研究燃料使用模式和食品加工战略。木材资源的可用性将来自已发表的古环境研究，而关于燃料使用和烹饪策略的数据将从挖掘报告中收集。与实验室分析相结合，这些数据将提供有关烹饪技术变化的补充信息。这项研究的智力价值超出了人类学学科的范畴。实验室方法将创建一个宝贵的数据库，在此基础上建立对史前实用陶瓷热效率的未来研究。有关大型植物遗迹和食品加工工具的数据库将突出前拉美裔查科社区的烹饪和营养行为，并追踪饮食随时间的变化。研究美国西南生态的学者可能会发现关于薪材可用性的数据是一个重要的资源。这项研究的独特之处在于它对查科遗址恢复的公用事业器具进行了广泛的检查。通过使用博物馆的藏品，新的数据将从一个有价值的，但未被充分利用的资源中产生。大量完整的罐子和碎片可供研究，为观察烹饪技术的变化提供了一个大样本的机会。这项研究的广泛影响包括感兴趣的部落理事会的关注。所有的发现都将传播给那些认为查科峡谷是他们祖先土地的群体。此外，研究结果将提供给查科峡谷国家历史公园，以加强向每年85,000多名游客提供的解说服务。这项研究将在国家公园管理局、史密森学会、美国自然历史博物馆和新墨西哥大学之间建立联系。最后，这个项目将提供宝贵的研究生培训。

Under the supervision of Dr. Patricia Crown, Marianne Tyndall will address the correlation between ceramic technological change and wood resource depletion in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Studies of past environmental conditions indicate that Chaco Canyon has been a barren, arid landscape with few trees and little water for the last 2,000 years. Despite the harsh environment and scarce resources, however, Chaco Canyon has a long history of human occupation. Wood for building and fuel were scarce as early as the eighth century. Adaptations in the manufacture and use of ceramics are one response to such scarcity. The intensity and duration of habitation in Chaco Canyon despite the extreme environment presents an ideal setting within which to examine how potters change the way they make ceramics in response to dwindling fuel. This research proposes that local potters modified certain attributes of culinary ware during ceramic production to improve the thermal efficiency of cooking vessels. Clay vessels most suitable for cooking may be produced one of two ways. Vessels with thin walls transfer heat rapidly but require hotter and longer firing conditions during manufacture. Alternatively, thick-walled vessels require less fuel during initial firing, but use more fuel during cooking. Tyndall argues that potters in Chaco Canyon chose the former strategy to make pots more thermally efficient in daily cooking. Laboratory analyses will target attributes that influence thermal efficiency: vessel size, wall thickness, porosity, original firing temperature, and temper choice. This research is significant because it considers the social and environmental contexts within which ceramic technology changes. The production and use of culinary ceramics involve decisions regarding vessel function, resource availability, and cooking behavior. Therefore, fuel-use patterns and food-processing strategies will be studied. The availability of timber resources will be derived from published paleoenvironmental studies, while data regarding fuel use and cooking strategies will be gathered from excavation reports. Correlated with laboratory analyses, these data will provide complementary information regarding changes in cooking technology. The intellectual merits of this research reach beyond the anthropological discipline. The laboratory methodology will create an invaluable database upon which to build future research on the thermal efficiency of prehistoric utilitarian ceramics. Databases concerning macrobotanical remains and food-processing tools will highlight the culinary and nutritional behavior of prehispanic Chaco communities and track dietary changes through time. Scholars who study American Southwest ecology may find data regarding fuelwood availability an important resource. This study is unique in its extensive examination of utility ware recovered from Chaco sites. By using museum collections, new data will be generated from a valuable, yet under-utilized resource. The substantial number of whole jars and sherds available for study offers an opportunity to observe changes in cooking technology with a large sample. Broader impacts of this research include the concerns of interested tribal councils. All findings will be disseminated to those groups who regard Chaco Canyon as their ancestral lands. Furthermore, results will be made available to the Chaco Canyon National Historical Park to enhance the interpretive services provided to over 85,000 annual visitors. The study will create links among the National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, American Museum of Natural History, and University of New Mexico. Finally, this project will provide invaluable graduate student training.