Collaborative Research: Interaction Among Regional Identity, Social Diversity And Demographic Change

这项研究的目的是了解导致在技术简单的社会中发展大型功能社会单位的过程。这样的团队是如何组建和维持的？史前的美国西南部是一个值得研究的地方，因为在不同的时期，这一过程既包括人口增长，也包括多个社会群体的融合。类似的现象在当今发展中世界的多个地区都可以观察到，考古学提供了一种背景，可以在很长一段时间内追踪这种变化。这项研究的学术价值包括开发新的方法和途径，将更广泛的社会科学中的社会群体形成模型应用于考古学研究。此外，这项研究将通过扩大社会群体形成的比较社会科学研究中考虑的政治和经济背景的范围，加强考古学和其他领域之间的联系。在国家科学基金会的支持下，Matthew Peeples博士、Gregson Schachner博士和Paul Reed博士将与来自美国各地的一个学者团队一起进行考古田野和收藏品研究，探索人口变化与美国西南部两个地区(公元1050-1350年)--马里亚纳梅萨和新墨西哥州Cebolleta梅萨地区--的地区规模社会群体发展之间的关系。来自这两个研究地区的现有信息表明，这两个地区都被不同的人口占据，包括在该地区有很长历史的当地人和来自西南其他地区的移民。该小组将利用多个社会科学领域的模型，重点研究当代背景下社会边界的发展，探索人口规模和结构在促进同质社会群体的创建或长期保持多样性方面的作用。这两个研究领域，以及附近祖尼地区以前的工作，提供了一系列人口统计尺度，以探索社区组织的多个转变中的这种关系。项目团队包括具有广泛材料类别(建筑、陶瓷、石器、篮子、纤维易腐品等)背景的专家。这项研究既需要关于重点地区聚落和物质文化性质的新数据，也需要对现有信息的汇编和评价。通过对重点地区的24个主要遗址进行测绘和(或)实地分析，以及对现有博物馆藏品的重新分析，该小组将记录定居点和区域随时间变化的人口特性，并编制改进的区域年表和定居点历史。然后，该团队将通过以下方式进行分析，以表征相互作用的模式和群体形成的证据：(1)通过中子活化分析和X射线荧光记录陶瓷和黑铁矿工具的移动；(2)比较一系列材料(包括家用建筑、陶瓷、石材和易腐烂材料)的技术相似性；以及(3)分析群体成员的高度可见的标记，包括彩绘陶瓷和公共建筑。这项研究的更广泛影响之一将是为自20世纪60年代以来鲜有研究的西南部部分地区创建新的原始数据；为评估理解型西南地区的社会变化模式提供必要的信息。该项目还将为研究生提供考古学方面的培训和经验。最后，该项目将根据1990年《美洲土著墓地保护和遣返法》的规定，提供信息和适用于评估文化归属的新方法。

The goal of this research is to gain understanding of the process which leads to the development in technologically simple societies of large functioning social units. How are such groups formed and maintained? The prehistoric US Southwest is appropriate for study since the process, at different time periods, included both population increase and the melding of multiple social groups. Similar phenomena can be observed in multiple regions within the developing world today and archaeology provides a context to traces such changes over extended periods of time. The intellectual merits of this research include the development of new methods and approaches applying models of social group formation from the broader social sciences in archaeological research. Further, this research will strengthen ties between archaeology and other fields by expanding the range of political and economic contexts considered in comparative social science research on social group formation. With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Matthew Peeples, Dr. Gregson Schachner, and Paul Reed along with a team of scholars from across the U.S. will conduct archaeological field and collections research exploring the relationship between demographic change and the development of regional-scale social groups in two portions of the prehispanic U.S. Southwest (A.D. 1050-1350); the Mariana Mesa and Cebolleta Mesa regions of New Mexico. Available information from the two study areas suggests that both were occupied by diverse populations including locals with long histories in the region and immigrants from other portions of the Southwest. Using models from multiple social science fields focused on the development of social boundaries in contemporary contexts, the team will explore the role of population size and structure in promoting either the creation of homogenous social groups or the long-term maintenance of diversity. The two study areas, along with previous work in the nearby Zuni area, provide a range of demographic scales to explore this relationship through time across multiple transformations of community organization. The project team includes specialists with backgrounds covering a broad range of material classes (architecture, ceramics, stone tools, basketry, fiber perishables, etc.) which will allow for the documentation and comparison of several different kinds and scales of interaction.This research requires both new data on the nature of settlement and material culture in the focal areas as well as a compilation and evaluation of existing information. Through mapping and/or in-field analysis of 24 major sites in the focal areas, along with re-analyses of existing museum collections, the team will document the changing demographic properties of settlements and regions through time and develop an improved regional chronology and settlement history. The team will then conduct analyses to characterize patterns of interaction and evidence for group formation through time by: (1) documenting the movement of ceramics and obsidian tools through neutron activation analysis and X-ray fluorescence,(2) comparing technological similarities in a range of materials including domestic architecture, ceramics, lithics, and perishable materials, and (3) analyzing highly visible markers of group membership including painted ceramics and public architecture. One of the broader impacts of the study will be the creation of new primary data for portions of the Southwest which have seen little research since the 1960s; providing information essential for evaluating models of social change in the prehispanic Southwest. The project will also result in training and experience for graduate students in archaeology. Finally, the project will produce information and new approaches applicable to evaluating cultural affiliation as mandated by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990.