Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Cultural Ecology of Muskogee Mound Landscapes

在全球范围内，古迹代表着集体（地方、种族、宗教和国家）的历史和身份。在最好的情况下，国际、国家和地方共同努力保护历史建筑、景观和文物。然而，最近发生的事件表明，物质遗产也可能成为冲突的主题，从中东的古物遭到破坏，到联合国教科文组织提出缓和围绕帕台农神庙大理石神庙所有权的冲突，再到联邦立法规范美洲原住民祖先遗骸和文物的处理和遣返。纪念碑和古物是记忆和历史的来源和代表，它们以多种形式呈现，并向不同的受众传达不同的含义：它们可能被科学家分析，被游客参观，或被后代社区视为神圣的地方。也有很多方法来书写这些纪念碑的历史和意义。然而，土著居民口述历史和他们祖先建造的建筑的文化观点在分析或解释中很少得到优先考虑或关注。该奖项支持的研究解决的问题是，当后代社区被纳入解释古代地点及其意义时，可能会获得什么。它是否会丰富它们对研究人员和公众的价值？如果会，这是如何实现的？为了解决这些问题，弗吉尼亚大学的博士生Lee Bloch在Jeffrey L. Hantman博士的指导下，将在美国东部进行实地研究。这一地区的南部地区以持续存在的非常明显但也相当古老的土制神庙丘、雕像丘和墓葬丘而闻名，这些土制神庙丘主要是由当代美洲原住民的祖先在公元前3500年至公元1600年之间建造的。尽管在过去的几个世纪里，许多土丘遗址遭到了破坏，但现在有大量的土丘遗址受到联邦和州保护法的保护。研究人员将把重点放在佛罗里达州北部一个马斯科吉（克里克）部落城镇的土丘上。使用人种学方法，他将收集关于社区成员如何在五个持续的背景下维护和解释与土墩遗址相关的历史的数据：土墩遗址朝圣，口述传统的背诵，仪式实践和舞蹈的表演，与仪式领袖和专家的学徒，以及社区对宇宙知识的讨论。研究者假设，这些可能被外界分析所遗漏的富有表现力的表演，实际上可能是土墩的关键要素，并且关注这些表演的美学原则可能会增强对土墩景观和文物的理解。这项研究的发现可能会进一步加深对美洲原住民历史和文化的科学和文化理解，以及所有社区如何受到其景观的影响和影响。

Around the globe, ancient monuments represent collective (local, ethnic, religious, and national) histories and identities. Under the best circumstances, international, national, and local efforts come together to preserve historical architecture, landscapes, and artifacts. However, recent events, ranging from the destruction of antiquities in the Middle East, to UNESCO's offer to moderate conflicts over the ownership of the Parthenon Marbles, to federal legislation regulating the treatment and repatriation of ancestral Native American human remains and artifacts, demonstrate that material heritage can also be the subject of conflict. Monuments and antiquities, the source and representation of memory and history, take many forms and convey different meanings to different audiences: they may analyzed by scientists, visited by tourists, or revered as sacred places by descendant communities. There are also many ways to write the history and significance of such monuments. However, Indigenous oral histories and cultural perspectives on constructions built by their ancestor have been given little priority or attention in either analysis or interpretation. The research supported by this award addresses the question of what might be gained when descendent communities are included in interpreting ancient places and their meanings. Would it enrich their value for researchers and for the public -- and if so, how does this come about?To address these questions, University of Virginia doctoral student, Lee Bloch, supervised by Dr. Jeffrey L. Hantman, will undertake field research in the eastern United States. The southern part of this region is notable for the continuing presence of very visible but also quite ancient earthen temple mounds, effigy mounds, and burial mounds constructed largely between c. 3500 BCE and 1600 CE by the ancestors of contemporary Native Americans. Although many mound sites were destroyed over the past few centuries, a large number are now protected by federal and state preservation law. The researcher will focus on the mounds in one Muskogee (Creek) tribal town in northern Florida. Using an ethnographic methodology, he will collect data on how community members maintain and interpret histories related to mound sites in five ongoing contexts: pilgrimages to mound sites, recitations of oral traditions, performances of ceremonial practices and dances, apprenticeships with ceremonial leaders and specialists, and community discussions about cosmological knowledge. The investigator hypothesizes that these expressive performances, which could be missed by outsider analysis, may in fact be key elements of what the mounds are and that paying attention to aesthetic principles of these performances may enhance understanding of mound landscapes and artifacts. Findings from this research may further scientific and cultural understanding of Native American history and cultures, as well as how all communities are both affected by and affect the materiality of their landscapes.