Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant: Religion at the Edges: Social Boundaries and Religious Architecture in the Prehispanic Southwest

在芭芭拉米尔斯博士的监督下，凯瑟琳邓根将分析公元13世纪和14世纪的西班牙前宗教建筑。位于亚利桑那州中东部和新墨西哥州中西部。这个大区域包含多个空间和社会边界区，在这些区域，实行不同文化传统的群体彼此生活得很近。本研究将探讨宗教建筑与这些边界区域的关系，询问宗教是否在社会边界的建立和加强中发挥了作用，或者，宗教在社会边界方面是否更灵活。本研究将通过考察大基瓦（宗教结构）特征的空间变异来探讨这些问题。如果在社会边界地带的大基瓦坚持一个理想的形式或大小，这将表明它们促进了边界的维持。相反，边界区域结构之间较大的可变性表明，边界位置有助于宗教实验或灵活性。长期以来，人们一直认为宗教在前现代社会或小规模社会中主要是融合的，而对宗教在时间边界背景下的研究则对这种观点提出了挑战。研究将包括重新访问以前挖掘出的大基瓦斯的收藏和记录，沿着建立一个大规模的数据库，其中包括大约100个地点的已发表和未发表的记录。大多数待重新检查的藏品都是在世纪中期挖掘出来的，只有最不寻常或最壮观的发现才被解释为宗教活动的证据。重新评估这些收藏品，主要是在菲尔德博物馆，哈佛皮博迪博物馆，和博物馆的新墨西哥州实验室的人类学，应大大有助于更广泛的研究西南宗教。对现有藏品的使用坚持以考古学为重点的方法，强调对考古记录影响最小的研究。新墨西哥州的上吉拉地区将作为一个密集的当地研究区，最近完成的挖掘和密集的收集分析的数据补充了区域数据库。在新墨西哥州Mule Creek的一个13世纪遗址进行的有限挖掘表明，该地区曾是一个社会边界区，与较大地区相比，该遗址的宗教建筑是不寻常的。除了这些具体问题之外，这项研究旨在做出更广泛的贡献。删除空间数据后，该数据库将在网上提供，大大增加了从研究不足的数据库中获取数据的机会。公共土地占研究区域的很大一部分;这项研究将增加管理机构和公众解释的可用信息。对已完成挖掘的材料的分析将继续为包括亚利桑那大学和皮马社区学院在内的多个机构的本科生提供培训机会。这项研究继续亚利桑那大学和西南考古学之间的合作，西南考古学是一个专注于考古保护和研究的非营利组织。这项工作的结果将通过考古西南部的网站，杂志，并在图森和上吉拉公开演示，并通过同行评审的出版物向学术界观众介绍。最后，研究结果将用于考古西南部的土地所有者在上吉拉推广，最终有助于保存考古记录。

Under the supervision of Dr. Barbara Mills, Katherine Dungan will analyze prehispanic religious architecture dating to the 13th and 14th centuries C.E. in east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico. This large region contains multiple spatial and social boundary zones, areas where groups practicing distinct cultural traditions lived in close proximity to one another. The study will examine the relationship of religious architecture to these boundary zones, asking whether religion played a role in the creation and reinforcement of social boundaries, or, alternatively, whether religion was more flexible at social boundaries. The study will approach these questions through the examination of spatial variability in great kiva (religious structure) characteristics. If great kivas in social boundary zones adhere to an ideal form or size this would suggest that they facilitated boundary maintenance. Conversely, greater variability among boundary zone structures would suggest that a boundary position contributed to religious experimentation or flexibility. Research on religion in the context of boundaries over time challenges the long-standing view of religion in premodern or small-scale societies as primarily integrative.The research will include revisiting collections and records from previously excavated great kivas, along with the creation of a large-scale database from published and unpublished records of approximately 100 sites. Most of the collections to be reexamined were excavated in the mid-20th century, with only the most unusual or spectacular finds interpreted as evidence of religious activity. Reevaluation of these collections, housed primarily at the Field Museum, Harvard Peabody Museum, and Museum of New Mexico Laboratory of Anthropology, should contribute substantially to the broader study of Southwestern religion. The use of existing collections adheres to a preservation-focused approach to archaeology, which emphasizes research with a minimal impact on the archaeological record. The Upper Gila area of New Mexico will serve as an intensive local study area, with data from recently completed excavations and intensive collections analysis complementing the regional database. Limited excavation at a 13th-century site in Mule Creek, NM has demonstrated that this area served as a social boundary zone through time and that the site's religious architecture is unusual compared to that of the larger region. Beyond these specific questions, the research aims to make broader contributions. The database, with spatial data removed, will be made available online, substantially increasing the accessibility of data from understudied collections. Public lands make up a large portion of the study area; the study will increase the information available to managing agencies and for public interpretation. The analysis of material from the completed excavations will continue to provide training opportunities for undergraduates at multiple institutions, including the University of Arizona and Pima Community College. The research continues the collaboration between the University of Arizona and Archaeology Southwest, a non-profit organization focused on archaeological preservation and research. The results of the work will be presented to the public through Archaeology Southwest's website, magazine, and public presentations in Tucson and the Upper Gila, and to an academic audience through peer-reviewed publications. Finally, the results will be used in Archaeology Southwest's landowner outreach in the Upper Gila, ultimately contributing to the preservation of the archaeological record.