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

在Timothy R. Pauketat博士的指导下，Sarah E. Baires将在卡霍基亚（Cahokia）遗址对一条高台人行道或游行大道进行考古发掘，并对先前挖掘的三个山脊顶部墓葬冢中的文物、笔记和地图进行分析。卡霍基亚是一个前哥伦布时期的美洲原住民城市，位于美国底部，靠近伊利诺斯河、密西西比河和密苏里河汇合处。拜尔斯女士建议调查公元1050年至1200年间卡霍基亚地区正式的丧葬习俗、新的宗教信仰和城市社会的兴起之间的关系。这项研究将检验一个假设，即殡葬活动作为一种宗教活动，在加强这个复杂社会的社会组织方面发挥着核心作用。这一假设将通过以下方式得到验证：(1)考古挖掘一条可能的高架人行道，将该遗址最大的山脊顶墓葬之一与卡霍基亚的中央公共广场连接起来；(2)对三个山脊顶墓葬的分析。拜尔斯女士将参观三个博物馆，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，研究位于卡霍基亚的三个墓地中尚未分析的人类遗骸和文物。像卡霍基亚这样的遗址提供了对最初产生像我们自己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。他们设定了一系列广泛的社会，这些社会在更广泛的时间背景下表征了现存世界。在连接公共空间和墓地的高架人行道上进行挖掘，将为伊利诺伊州的土著人如何聚集、移动和埋葬死者提供新的信息。对三个山脊上的墓葬的遗骸进行分析，将提供埋葬在这些墓葬中的人的人口统计数据。死亡通常与来世、祖先和宗教信仰的概念联系在一起。宗教和死亡的这些方面似乎是人类的共性，是人们理解周围世界和自己在其中位置的一种方式，也是政治家获得权威地位的一种方式。通过利用宗教殡葬仪式的考古证据，拜尔斯女士将有助于更深入地了解宗教和政治是如何相互影响的。在宗教殡葬仪式中，某些人以政治上强有力的方式被埋葬。这项研究将涉及人类学的三个子领域，物理，社会文化和考古学，不仅关注研究的科学组成部分，还关注复杂社会，殡葬实践和宗教信仰之间的直接关系。在卡霍基亚土丘（Cahokia Mounds）的土地上，将对升高的人行道或列队大道进行挖掘，吸引社区成员和考古学家在现场参观和工作。该项目将涉及感兴趣的社区成员，通过在年度公共卡霍基亚会议和伊利诺伊州考古促进协会会议、年度中西部考古会议、东南部考古会议和美国考古学会年会上介绍挖掘结果。威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校和伊利诺斯州蒙茅斯学院的两场公开讲座将为社区教育和参与提供额外的途径。最后，贝雷斯将撰写一份信息小册子，并通过卡霍基亚土丘国家历史遗址解说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.