Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Interaction, Tradition, and Middle Woodland Monumentality at Garden Creek, North Carolina

大约2000至1500年前，阿巴拉契亚山脉南部标志着土著文化接触和交流的两个领域的边缘：以中西部为中心的霍普韦尔（Hopewell），以及集中在南部腹地的科洛莫基（Kolomoki）平台丘仪式模式。在她的导师罗宾·贝克博士的指导下，论文学生爱丽丝·赖特将研究这些相互作用领域与北卡罗来纳州西部花园溪遗址中林地时期（公元前300年至公元800年）纪念性建筑的出现之间的关系。由于纪念碑是众所周知的新的社会、政治和宗教制度的考古标志，赖特女士的研究旨在阐明，在哥伦布发现新大陆之前，遥远的平等主义社区之间的相互作用是如何促成了深刻的文化变革的。花园溪包括重要的考古沉积物，这些沉积物早于土丘和围墙的建造，并与之相吻合，以及大量本地和非本地文物的组合，为评估当地传统和非本地影响在塑造前所未有的纪念碑建设中的作用提供了理想的案例研究。迄今为止，赖特女士在花园溪的研究包括重新分析1965年花园溪丘2号挖掘中收集的大量未发表的文物，以及针对丘周围地区进行的为期五个月的实地调查（2011-2012年）。对这些数据集的初步分析侧重于活动、粮食生产和消费以及工艺生产的空间组织的连续性和变化的证据。在该奖项中，将对几个纪念性和非纪念性环境进行放射性碳测定，以将这些变化与该地点的纪念性建筑历史联系起来。几个分层特征将被微观形态学检查，以澄清产生它们的活动的性质和时间。怀特女士还将协调由专家进行的宏观植物学和地质考古学（傅里叶变换红外显微镜）分析，以进一步完善对与纪念性有关的食物方式和可能的盛宴的观察。最后，将采用几种非侵入性地球物理测量技术（磁力计、磁化率、探地雷达）来绘制场地的范围，并生成其纪念碑和周围建筑环境的无与伦比的视图。这项研究的结果将构成赖特的论文和后续出版物的基础，并将阐明古代北美东部的跨文化互动、纪念碑和历史变化之间的关系（以及世界范围内的比较案例研究）。该项目将对目前居住在该遗址及其周边地区的当地社区以及北卡罗来纳州西部不可再生的考古资源产生更广泛的影响。赖特女士与当地居民、广州地区历史博物馆（Canton Area Historical Museum）、北卡罗来纳州国家森林（National Forests of North Carolina）的考古学家以及几所地区大学密切合作，以促进考古工作的参与和管理。通过在花园溪举办博物馆展览，定期更新博客以报告最近的发现，在现场举办公共考古日，并向当地学校和历史学会发表演讲，该项目积极鼓励当地对考古研究的兴趣和热情，这对于确保北卡罗莱纳西部快速发展地区的考古资源得到保护至关重要。

Roughly 2000 to 1500 years ago, the southern Appalachian Mountains marked the edges of two spheres of indigenous culture contact and exchange: Hopewell, centered in the Midwest, and the Kolomoki pattern of platform mound ceremonialism, concentrated in the Deep South. Under the direction of her advisor, Dr. Robin Beck, dissertation student Alice Wright will examine the relationships between these interaction spheres and the emergence of monumental architecture at the Middle Woodland period (ca. 300 BC - AD 800) Garden Creek site in western North Carolina. Since monuments are well-known archaeological signposts of novel social, political, and religious institutions, Ms. Wright's research stands to clarify how interactions among far-flung egalitarian communities contributed to profound cultural changes in the pre-Columbian Eastern Woodlands. Garden Creek includes significant archaeological deposits that pre-date and coincide with the construction of earthen mounds and enclosures, as well as large assemblages of local and non-local artifacts, providing an ideal case study for evaluating the roles of both local traditions and non-local influences in shaping unprecedented monument construction. To date, Ms. Wright's research at Garden Creek has involved the re-analysis of large but unpublished artifact collections from the 1965 excavations of Garden Creek Mound No. 2 and five months of fieldwork (2011-2012) targeting areas around the mound. Preliminary analyses of these datasets have focused on evidence for continuity and change in the spatial organization of activities, food production and consumption, and craft production. In this award, several monumental and non-monumental contexts will be radiocarbon dated to link such changes to the history of monument construction at the site. Several stratified features will be examined micromorphologically to clarify the nature and timing of the activities that generated them. Ms. Wright will also coordinate macrobotanical and geoarchaeological (Fourier transform infrared microscopic) analyses by specialists to further refine observations regarding foodways and possible feasting associated with monumentality. Finally, several non-invasive geophysical survey techniques (magnetometry, magnetic susceptibility, ground penetrating radar) will be employed to map the extent of the site and to generate an incomparable view of its monuments and surrounding built environment. The results of this research will form the basis of Wright's dissertation and subsequent publications, and will elucidate the relationships among cross-cultural interactions, monuments, and historical change in ancient Eastern North America (and in comparative case studies worldwide). The project will have broader impacts on the local community that presently inhabits the site and its surroundings, as well as on the non-renewable archaeological resources of western North Carolina. Ms. Wright has worked closely with local residents, the Canton Area Historical Museum, archaeologists at the National Forests of North Carolina, and several regional universities to foster archaeological engagement and stewardship. By developing a museum exhibit on Garden Creek, maintaining a regularly updated blog to report recent findings, hosting a public archaeology day at the site, and presenting talks to local schools and historical societies, the project actively encourages local interest and enthusiasm for archaeological research, essential for insuring the preservation of archaeological resources in the rapidly developing portions of western North Carolina.