Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Investigating Behavioral practices at the Mississippian Site of Cahokia

在蒂莫西·R·波克塔特博士的指导下，莎拉·E·贝尔斯将对一条高架人行道或游行大道进行考古挖掘，并对考古遗址的三个山脊顶墓穴中的文物、笔记和地图进行分析。卡霍基亚是一座前哥伦布时代的美洲原住民城市，位于美国底部，靠近伊利诺伊河、密西西比河和密苏里河的交汇处。比尔斯女士建议调查正式的埋葬习俗、新的宗教信仰和公元1050-1200年间卡霍基亚地区城市社会的兴起之间的关系。这项研究将检验这样一种假设，即殡仪馆作为一种宗教活动，在加强这个复杂社会的社会组织方面发挥着核心作用。这一假设将通过(1)考古发掘一条可能的隆起的人行道来验证，该人行道连接着遗址上最大的山脊顶墓丘之一和卡霍基亚的中央公共广场，以及(2)对三个山脊顶土丘停尸房的分析。拜尔斯将参观三家博物馆，分别是伊利诺伊州立博物馆、史密森学会和密歇根大学人类学博物馆，以研究位于卡霍基亚的三个墓穴中尚未分析的人类遗骸和文物收藏。像Cahokia这样的网站提供了对最初导致我们这样的复杂社会的力量的洞察，并有助于追踪潜在的发展过程。它们设定了广泛的社会，在更广泛的时间背景下描述了现存世界的特征。对连接公共空间和墓地的高架人行道的挖掘，将提供有关伊利诺伊州原住民如何收集、移动和埋葬死者的新信息。对三个山脊顶墓穴的人类遗骸的分析将提供埋葬在这些墓穴中的人的人口统计学数据。死亡通常与来世、祖先和宗教信仰有关。宗教和死亡的这些方面似乎是人类的普遍现象，是人们理解他们周围的世界和他们在其中的位置的一种方式，也是政治家获得权威地位的一种方式。通过使用宗教殡仪馆的考古证据，某些人被以政治力量强大的方式埋葬，拜尔斯将有助于更广泛地理解宗教和政治如何相互影响。这项研究将涉及人类学、物理学、社会文化和考古学的三个子领域，不仅侧重于研究的科学组成部分，而且还关注复杂社会、殡葬实践和宗教信仰之间的直接关系。对高架人行道或游行大道的挖掘将在Cahokia丘陵财产上进行，社区成员和考古学家都将前往该遗址参观和工作。该项目将通过在一年一度的公开考古会议和伊利诺伊州考古促进协会会议、一年一度的中西部考古会议、东南考古会议和美国考古学会年会上介绍挖掘结果，让感兴趣的社区成员参与进来。威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校和伊利诺伊州蒙茅斯蒙茅斯学院的两个公开讲座将为社区教育和参与提供更多的方式。最后，比尔斯将编写一本宣传手册，并通过卡霍基亚丘陵州立历史遗址解释中心分发给感兴趣的土著和非土著社区。

Under the guidance of Dr. Timothy R. Pauketat, Sarah E. Baires will conduct archaeological excavation of a raised walkway, or processional avenue, and analysis of artifacts, notes, and maps from three previously excavated ridge-top burial mounds at the site of Cahokia a pre-Columbian Native American city located in the American Bottom near the confluence of the Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Ms. Baires proposes to investigate the relationship between formal burial practices, new religious beliefs, and the rise of an urban society in the Cahokia region between the years of AD 1050 - 1200. This research will test the hypothesis that mortuary practices, as a religious activity, play a central role in reinforcing the social organization of this complex society. This hypothesis will be tested through (1) archaeological excavations into a possible raised walkway connecting one of the largest ridge-top burial mounds at the site with Cahokia's central public plaza, and (2) the analysis of three ridge-top mound mortuaries. Ms. Baires will visit three museums, the Illinois State Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, and the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology to study the as yet unanalyzed collections of human remains and artifacts from three burial mounds located at Cahokia. Sites such as Cahokia provide insight into the forces which originally gave rise to complex societies such as our own and help to trace the underlying developmental processes. They set a wide range of societies which characterize the extant world in a broader chronological context. Excavations into the raised walkway, which connects public space to burial grounds, will provide new information on how Native persons in Illinois gathered, moved, and buried their dead. The analysis of human remains from three ridge-top burial mounds will provide demographic data on those buried in the mounds. Death is often tied to concepts of the afterworld, ancestors, and religious beliefs. These aspects of religion and death appear to be a human universal, a way in which people make sense of the world around them and their place in it, and a way in which politicians achieve positions of authority. By using the archaeological evidence of religious mortuary practices, where certain people are buried in politically powerful ways, Ms. Baires will contribute to a larger understanding of how religion and politics influence each other. This research will engage three subfields of Anthropology, physical, socio-cultural, and archaeology, focusing not only on the scientific components of the research but also on the direct relationships among complex societies, mortuary practice, and religious belief. Excavations into the raised walkway, or processional avenue, will take place on Cahokia Mounds property, engaging both community members and archaeologists visiting and working at the site. The project will involve interested community members through presentations of the excavation results at the annual public Cahokia Conference and Illinois Association for Advancement of Archaeology Conference, the annual Midwestern Archaeological Conference, Southeastern Archaeological Conference, and the Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting. Two public lectures at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois will provide additional ways for community education and participation. And finally, an informational pamphlet will be authored by Baires and distributed to interested Native and non-Native communities through the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site Interpretive Center.