Doctoral Dissertation: Caddo Salt Production in Northwestern Louisiana

NSF资助的考古学的一个中心目标是了解复杂的社会是如何发展的-包括当今世界上几乎所有现存的社会。考古学家认为，经济专业化和由此产生的产品的相关贸易发挥了重要作用，该项目将提供对这一问题的深入了解。在伊恩·布朗博士的指导下，保罗·尤班克斯将探讨盐在路易斯安那州西北部卡多印第安社会的经济和政治发展中所起的作用。利用历史文献和考古资料，他研究了上盐和小盐的经济专业化和盐生产强度的问题。这些盐场位于路易斯安那州戈尔多纳附近的德雷克盐场，是世纪美国中南部使用最频繁的两处盐场。本项目提议的挖掘工作旨在确定卡多制盐者是否长期或半长期居住在他们的工作地点。如果是这样的话，那么这将支持这样的论点，即在持续的欧洲接触之后，作为经济专家的卡多盐制造商能够通过参与盐的经济来获得他们生计的很大一部分。尤班克斯的论文讨论了关于经济专业化和潜在权力来源之间的联系的关键人类学问题，例如对生产，贸易，盐的消费。为了解决这些问题，他的项目将是第一个对路易斯安那州西北部的卡多盐生产进行系统研究的项目。他的论文还将报告他对北美“Briquetage Mound”的挖掘。“这个土堆是一个人工上升的小舔盐平原组成的几乎完全是盐生产碎片（燃烧的地球，陶器碎片，和木炭）。它是由尤班克斯在2012年秋季对该遗址进行第一次专业考古调查时发现的。像这样的土丘在非洲、亚洲、欧洲和中美洲的其他地方都有记载，因此，对这个土墩的调查提供了一个很好的机会，可以将卡多盐生产技术与世界各地其他社会的技术进行比较。这项研究有可能使学术界和非学术界都受益并为其提供信息。尤班克斯已经采取了初步措施，通过在上利克盐滩附近的拟议建筑区进行考古测试，为德雷克盐厂博物馆的建设扫清道路。该博物馆的建设目前正在进行中，从该项目收集的数据将用于创建一个关于卡多盐生产的展览。尤班克斯还就盐在卡多印度社会中的作用接受了当地报纸和新闻广播公司的几次采访。该项目的成果还将以同行评议的期刊文章的形式以及在国家和地方考古会议上公布。此外，免费访问的主要数据和他的论文的最终副本将提供在线供公众使用。最后，这项研究还将有助于培养本科生和研究生在考古领域和实验室的方法。

A central goal of NSF funded archaeology is to understand how complex societies - which include almost all extant in the world today - developed. Archaeologists believe that economic specialization and associated trade in products thus produced played an important role and this project will provide insight into this issue. It will do so in a context also relevant to increasing understanding of US history and the immediately preceding late prehistoric period.Under the direction of Dr. Ian Brown, Paul Eubanks will explore the role that salt played in the economic and political development of Caddo Indian societies in northwestern Louisiana during the period of initial European contact. Using historical documentation and archaeological data, he examines the issues of economic specialization and salt production intensity at the Upper and Little salt licks. Located at the Drake's Salt Works Site Complex near Goldonna, Louisiana, these salt licks were two of the most intensively-utilized salines in the south-central United States during the eighteenth century. The excavations proposed in this project seek to determine if the Caddo salt makers lived at their place of work on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. If this is the case, then this would lend support to the argument that following sustained European contact, the Caddo salt makers, as economic specialists, were able to derive a substantial portion of their livelihoods by participating in the economy of salt.Eubanks's dissertation addresses key anthropological issues concerning the linkages between economic specialization and potential sources of power such as control over the production, trade, and consumption of salt. In addressing these issues, his project will be the first to conduct a systematic study of Caddo salt production in northwestern Louisiana. His dissertation will also report on his excavations of a North American "Briquetage Mound." This mound is an artificial rise on the Little Lick salt flat composed almost entirely of salt production debris (burned earth, pottery fragments, and charcoal). It was identified by Eubanks during the site's first professional archaeological survey in the fall of 2012. Mounds such as these have been documented elsewhere in Africa, Asia, Europe and Mesoamerica, and thus, the investigations at this mound present an excellent opportunity to compare Caddo salt production techniques to those from other societies from around the world. This research has the potential to benefit and inform both academic and non-academic communities alike. Eubanks has already taken the initial steps in clearing the way for the construction of the Drake's Salt Works Museum by conducting archaeological tests in the proposed construction area near the Upper Lick salt flat. The construction of this museum is currently underway, and the data gathered from this project will be used to create an exhibit on Caddo salt production. Eubanks has also conducted several interviews with local newspapers and news broadcasters concerning the role of salt in Caddo Indian societies. The results of this project will also be made available in the form of peer-reviewed journal articles and at national and local archaeological conferences. In addition, free access to the primary data and a final copy of his dissertation will be made available online for public use. Lastly, this research will also assist in training undergraduate and graduate students in archaeological field and laboratory methods.