Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Household Response To Changing Environmental, Demographic And Social Conditions

研究人员希望了解社会变得“复杂”的过程;也就是说，在什么样的条件下，一个群体开始分化和/或分层。然而，许多现有的研究初期社会复杂性的模型忽视了社会中的关键变化，这些变化中的社会政治秩序不能轻易地被描述为或多或少的等级制（例如，当社区的组成似乎在变化，但没有证据表明不平等加剧时。此外，气候不稳定和资源基础不断变化往往被认为是造成社会动荡和重组的因素。这些问题与我们自己的社会有关，审查有助于了解社会中的个人如何应对和应对急剧的生态和环境变化。资源稀缺性或不可预测性如何影响社区组织？为什么社会不平等，就像在这个特殊的案例研究中一样，没有出现在我们预期的地方？一般来说，考古学，特别是这个项目，是解决这些问题的独特定位。这一项目的调查将在一个曾遭受抢劫的遗址进行;这一项目将表明，被抢劫的遗址仍然可以为研究人员提供信息，应该继续受到保护。该项目的一个关键部分是以讲座和介绍的形式开展社区外联活动，强调尊重和保护当地考古资源的重要性。Gregory D.作者声明：Jenna K.桑蒂是加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的教授，他将研究哥伦布发现美洲大陆之前，位于加州东部欧文斯谷的两个时期社会组织的变化。在一个已知的变化发生的时期（如弓和箭的引入，陶器的引入和传播，食物资源的急剧变化，以及气候的不稳定性增加），小规模的村级社会组织是如何变化的？使用家庭层面的数据，通过NSF支持的挖掘以及现有的未分析的收集获得，该项目将调查与邻近家庭相比，单个家庭的生存策略如何，并将评估空间如何被不同地使用和组织。空间分析包括一种利用土壤中的化学同位素水平作为活动地区的代用指标的方法，因为某些活动（如饮食和食品加工）在活动发生后很久仍在土壤中留下可见的痕迹。该项目还将评估村庄生活的某些特征所在地：烹饪和储存活动在哪里进行？在房子里，远离村里其他人的视线？或者是在开放的空间里，暗示着一种公共的倾向？挖掘工作将由本科生和研究生志愿者进行，作为该项目的一部分，他们将接受实地方法的培训。

Researchers wish to understand the processes by which societies become "complex"; that is, under what kind of conditions a group came to be differentiated and/or stratified. However, many existing models for studying incipient social complexity overlook crucial variation in societies whose changing social-political order cannot readily be characterized as more or less hierarchical (e.g., when communities seem to be changing in composition, but not with evidence of increasing inequality.) Additionally, climatic instability and a changing resource base are frequently identified as factors contributing to social upheaval and reorganization. These issues have relevance to our own society, and examination can contribute to an understanding of the ways in which individuals in a society can react to and gird against dramatic ecological and environmental changes. How does resource scarcity or unpredictability affect community organization? And why does social inequality, as in this particular case study, not arise where we might expect it to? Archaeology in general, and this project specifically, is uniquely positioned to address these questions. Excavations for this project will be conducted at a site that has been subject to looting; this project will illustrate that looted sites can still be informative to researchers and should remain subject to protection. Community outreach in the form of talks and presentations to emphasize the importance of respecting and protecting local archaeological resources are a key part of this project. Dr. Gregory D. Wilson and Jenna K. Santy, of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), will investigate changes in social organization during two periods of pre-Columbian occupation in Owens Valley, in eastern California. During a time period when known changes occurred (such as the introduction of the bow and arrow, the introduction and spread of pottery, dramatic shifts in food resources, and increasing climatic instability), how was small-scale, village-level social organization changing as well? Using household-level data, obtained by excavation supported by NSF but also from existing, un-analyzed collections, this project will investigate how individual household subsistence strategies compared to neighboring households, and will assess how space was used and organized differently. Spatial analyses include a method using chemical-isotopic levels in soil as a proxy for activity areas, as certain activities (such as eating and food processing) leave traces in soil visible long after the activities occurred. This project will also assess where certain features of village life were located: where were cooking and storage activities taking place? Inside the house, away from the eyes of others in the village? Or in open space, suggesting a communal orientation? Excavation will be carried out by undergraduate and graduate student volunteers, who will be trained in field methods as part of this project.