Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Mounds along the Mountain Fork: Sociopolitical Dynamics in the Caddo Area

在俄克拉何马大学的帕特里克·利文伍德博士的指导下，埃尔斯贝斯·多德将调查俄克拉何马州东南部的一系列卡多祖先考古遗址。这些遗址位于瓦希托山脉的福克山河沿岸，大约在公元1200-1600年间是一系列园艺社区的家园。这些人是现代卡多人的祖先，是俄克拉何马州的一些原始居民，但他们在这一地区的早期历史仍有许多有待了解的地方。长期以来，考古学家一直对卡多祖先的社会和政治历史很感兴趣，他们生活在林地和平原的交界处。研究人员普遍认为，这些社区在政治上是作为酋长管辖地组织起来的，在酋长管辖地中，一个强大的领导人对周围的一些社区行使强制性权力。然而，越来越清楚的是，整个卡多地区的社会政治组织比以前认识到的更加多样化。多德女士将研究这些山叉卡多社区的社会和政治动态，以检验他们是作为一个政治实体组织起来的假设，其特征是谈判和权力分享的领导策略，而不是简单的等级强制。这将包括检查伍兹丘集团和周围住宅基地之间的关系。Woods Mound Group是一个由多个仪式土丘组成的场地，由一个或多个社区建造和使用。这些土堆是仪式、社会和政治行动的体现，将为研究该地区的社会关系、政治组织和社区的时间顺序历史提供一个场所。这项研究很重要，因为它与当前关于小规模社会的复杂性和动态性的人类学辩论相交叉。它将新的理论观点纳入到卡多考古区域重要的仪式和政治景观的研究中。研究方法将主要涉及比较陶器风格，在技术和装饰方面，在土堆和考古遗址之间。数据将从现有的收集和即将在Ramos Creek进行的挖掘中获得，Ramos Creek是该流域新发现的最大和最北端的遗址。还将从现有的收藏品和拉莫斯溪中获得一系列25个放射性碳测年，以澄清该地区的年代。此外，为了了解拉莫斯溪的生存状况，将分析动物和古植物样本。这个项目除了解决社会科学家感兴趣的研究问题外，还将产生更广泛的影响。首先，该项目将涉及与俄克拉何马州的卡多民族合作，了解他们祖先的历史。第二，拉莫斯克里克野外学校的本科生将学习考古方法和卡多遗产和历史。第三，该项目的成果将在学术和非学术场所广泛传播，包括在学校、博物馆和当地考古学会的演讲，以及在同行介导的期刊上发表。最后，该项目将支持一名学生在EPSCoR（刺激竞争性研究的实验计划）机构进行博士研究。

Under the supervision of Dr. Patrick Livingood at the University of Oklahoma, Elsbeth Dowd will investigate a series of ancestral Caddo archaeological sites in southeastern Oklahoma. These sites, situated along the Mountain Fork River in the Ouachita Mountains, were home to a series of horticultural communities from approximately A.D. 1200-1600. These people, ancestors of the modern Caddo, were some of the original residents of the state of Oklahoma - and yet much remains to be understood of their early history in this area.Archaeologists have long been intrigued by the social and political history of the ancestral Caddo, who lived at the boundary of the woodlands and the plains. Researchers have commonly suggested that these communities were organized politically as chiefdoms, in which a powerful leader exercised coercive power over a number of surrounding communities. However, it is becoming clear that more diversity existed in sociopolitical organization across the Caddo area than has previously been recognized. Ms. Dowd will examine the social and political dynamics of these Mountain Fork Caddo communities in order to test the hypothesis that they were organized as a political entity characterized by leadership strategies of negotiation and power-sharing, rather than simple hierarchical coercion. This will involve examining the relationship between Woods Mound Group and surrounding residential sites. Woods Mound Group is a site with multiple ceremonial earthen mounds, constructed and used by one or more communities. These mounds, embodiments of of ceremonial, social, and political action, will provide a locus for studying the social relationships, political organization, and chronological history of the communities in this region. This research is important because it intersects with current anthropological debates about the complexity and dynamics of small-scale societies. It incorporates new theoretical perspectives into the study of a significant ceremonial and political landscape in the Caddo archaeological area. Research methods will primarily involve comparing pottery styles, in terms of technology and decoration, between the mounds and between archaeological sites. Data will be acquired from existing collections and from upcoming excavations at Ramos Creek, the newly-discovered largest and northern-most site in this drainage. A series of 25 radiocarbon dates will also be obtained from existing collections and Ramos Creek to clarify this region's chronology. In addition, to learn about subsistence at Ramos Creek, faunal and paleobotanical samples will be analyzed. This project will have broader impacts in addition to addressing research questions of interest to social scientists. First, the project will involve collaboration with the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma in learning about the history of their ancestors. Second, undergraduate students at the Ramos Creek field school will learn archaeological methods and Caddo heritage and history. Third, the results of this project will be broadly disseminated in both academic and non-academic venues, including presentations at schools, museums, and local archaeological societies and publication in peer-mediated journals. Finally, this project will support the doctoral research of a student at an EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) institution.