Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Cultural Interaction In Hierarchical Contexts

大规模复杂社会的政治扩张最好理解为精英权力与地方创新之间的动态关系。早期关于文化接触、移民和政治扩张的研究夸大了文化实践从一个占主导地位的核心政体向其周边聚落的扩散。然而，这种对核心的强调忽视了当地社区在文化接触情境中的经验，以及这些互动对身份和日常生活的影响。加州大学圣巴巴拉分校（UCSB）的Gregory D. Wilson博士和Christina M. Friberg博士将进行考古研究，以评估卡霍kia（公元1050-1375年）复杂的密西西比社会如何以及为何将其影响力扩展到北美中部大陆，以及“密西西比化”过程如何在伊利诺斯州中西部的下伊利诺斯河谷（LIRV）展开。本研究将强调文化接触的复杂过程，即当地人民不会被动地采用更强大的核心政体的做法，而是根据自己的身份参与或抵制参与。该项目还将为本科生提供教育机会，以及实地工作和实验室工作的实践经验，培训他们从事考古工作所需的实用技能。结果将通过出版物与科学界分享，并通过公开演讲与当地社区分享他们家乡的史前史，同时强调考古学中的背景和科学方法的重要性，以此作为阻止普遍掠夺行为的手段。卡霍基亚靠近今天的密苏里州圣路易斯，是北美前哥伦布时代最大的城市，其居民将密西西比文化的各个方面向北传播到威斯康星州西北部。然而，对于卡霍肯人如何发起这些遥远的互动，以及当地群体如何以及为什么参与其中，人们知之甚少。伊利诺斯州西南部卡霍基亚的美国底部地区的定居点显示了与卡霍基亚最重要的中心直接的政治和经济联系。再往北的考古研究也表明，边境定居点的居民有选择地采用了密西西比人生活方式的某些方面，同时保留了许多现有的传统。对奥黛丽·诺斯遗址的工艺生产和交换、生存模式和社区组织的分析，将为考古学家对卡霍基亚周边的密西西比现象的理解提供有价值的见解。LIRV与卡霍基亚的邻近可能促进了两个地区之间的定期互动，使与美国底层群体的某些社会，政治和经济互动成为可能，而这些互动不会与更远的群体发生。以磁梯度测量数据为起点，挖掘工作应能揭示卡霍坎人生产和交换经济上重要工艺品的证据。放射性碳测定的贝叶斯统计分析将为LIRV中的密西西比化过程建立一个时间表。最后，对日常实践（如食品加工和储存以及社区组织）的额外分析将揭示当地LIRV人在多大程度上结合了卡霍坎人的实践和/或保持了他们对世界秩序的现有理解的传统。

The political expansion of large-scale complex societies is best understood as a dynamic between elite power and local innovation. Earlier studies of culture contact, migration, and political expansion have exaggerated the diffusion of cultural practices from a dominant core polity to its peripheral settlements. However, this emphasis on the core overlooks the experiences of local communities in culture contact situations, and the implications these interactions have on identity and everyday life. Dr. Gregory D. Wilson and Christina M. Friberg of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) will conduct archaeological research to evaluate how and why the complex Mississippian society of Cahokia (A.D. 1050-1375) extended its influence over the North American midcontinent and how the process of "Mississippianization" unfolded in the Lower Illinois River Valley (LIRV) of west-central Illinois. This research will highlight the complex process of culture contact whereby local peoples do not passively adopt the practices of a more powerful core polity, but engage, or resist engagement, in reference to their own identities. The project will also provide educational opportunities, and hands-on experience in both fieldwork and lab work, to undergraduate students, training them in the practical skills necessary to pursue a career in archaeology. Results will be shared with the scientific community through publication, and with local communities through public talks addressing the prehistory of their hometowns while stressing the importance of context and the scientific method in archaeology, as a means to discourage the widespread practice of looting.Cahokia, near modern-day St. Louis, Missouri, was the largest PreColumbian city in North America and its inhabitants spread aspects of Mississippian culture as far north as northwest Wisconsin. However, little is understood about how Cahokians initiated these distant interactions, and how and why local groups participated in them. Settlements in Cahokia's American Bottom region of southwestern Illinois show evidence of direct political and economic ties with the paramount center of Cahokia. Archaeological research farther north has also shown that the inhabitants of frontier settlements selectively adopted certain aspects of a Mississippian way of life, while maintaining a number of their existing traditions. An analysis of craft production and exchange, subsistence patterns, and community organization at the Audrey North Site in the LIRV will add valuable insight to archaeologists' understanding of the Mississippian phenomenon in Cahokia's immediate periphery. The proximity of the LIRV to Cahokia likely facilitated regular interaction between the two regions, enabling certain social, political, and economic interactions with American Bottom groups that did not transpire with more distant groups. Using magnetic gradiometry data as a starting point, excavation should reveal evidence of the production and exchange of economically important Cahokian crafts. Bayesian statistical analysis of Radiocarbon assays will establish a timeline for the Mississippianization process in the LIRV. Finally, additional analysis of everyday practices such as food processing and storage and community organization will shed light on the degree to which local LIRV people incorporated Cahokian practices and/or maintained traditions with reference to their existing understanding of world order.