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

这项研究的目标是了解导致技术简单的社会发展的大型功能社会单位的过程。这些群体是如何形成和维持的？史前的美国西南部是适合研究的，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。今天，在发展中国家的多个地区可以观察到类似的现象，考古学提供了一个背景，可以在很长一段时间内追踪这种变化。这项研究的智力价值包括开发新的方法和途径，将社会群体形成的模型从更广泛的社会科学应用于考古研究。此外，这项研究将通过扩大在社会群体形成的比较社会科学研究中所考虑的政治和经济背景的范围，加强考古学与其他领域之间的联系。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Matthew Peeples博士，Gregson Schachner博士和Paul Reed博士以及来自美国各地的学者团队将进行考古领域和收藏研究，探索美国西南前西班牙人（公元1050-1350）的两个部分人口变化与区域规模社会群体发展之间的关系；新墨西哥州的马里亚纳梅萨和塞波莱塔梅萨地区。来自这两个研究区域的现有信息表明，这两个区域都被不同的人口所占据，包括在该地区有着悠久历史的当地人和来自西南其他地区的移民。利用来自多个社会科学领域的模型，研究当代背景下社会边界的发展，该团队将探索人口规模和结构在促进同质社会群体创造或长期维持多样性方面的作用。这两个研究区域，以及之前在附近祖尼地区的工作，提供了一系列的人口尺度，通过社区组织的多次转变来探索这种关系。项目团队包括具有广泛材料类别（建筑、陶瓷、石器、编织、纤维易腐品等）背景的专家，这将允许对几种不同类型和规模的交互进行文档和比较。这项研究既需要关于重点地区的定居性质和物质文化的新数据，也需要对现有资料进行汇编和评价。通过对重点地区24个主要地点的绘图和/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地区随时间变化的人口特征，并制定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曜石工具的运动；(2)比较一系列材料的技术相似性，包括国内建筑、陶瓷、岩石和易腐材料；(3)分析高度可见的群体成员标记，包括彩绘陶瓷和公共建筑。这项研究的一个更广泛的影响将是为西南部分地区创造新的原始数据，这些地区自20世纪60年代以来几乎没有研究；为评估前西班牙西南地区的社会变迁模式提供了必要的信息。该项目还将为考古学研究生提供培训和经验。最后，该项目将提供资料和新办法，适用于根据1990年《美洲土著坟墓保护和遣返法》的规定评价文化归属。

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.