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，一个群体开始被区分和/或分层。然而，许多研究初期社会复杂性的现有模型忽视了社会中的关键变化，在这些社会中，不断变化的社会政治秩序不能轻易地被描述为或多或少的等级(例如，当社区的组成似乎在变化，但没有证据表明不平等正在加剧。)此外，气候不稳定和不断变化的资源基础经常被认为是导致社会动荡和重组的因素。这些问题与我们自己的社会相关，而审查可以帮助理解社会中的个人如何应对和防范剧烈的生态和环境变化。资源稀缺或不可预测性如何影响社区组织？为什么社会不平等，就像这个特殊的案例研究一样，没有出现在我们预期的地方？总的来说，考古学，特别是这个项目，对于解决这些问题是独一无二的。对该项目的挖掘将在一个遭到抢劫的遗址进行；该项目将表明，被掠夺的遗址仍然可以为研究人员提供信息，应该继续受到保护。以演讲和演讲的形式进行社区宣传，强调尊重和保护当地考古资源的重要性，是该项目的一个关键部分。加州大学圣巴巴拉分校(UCSB)的格雷戈里·D·威尔逊博士和珍娜·K·桑蒂博士将研究哥伦布占领前加州东部欧文斯山谷两个时期社会组织的变化。在已知发生变化的一段时间内(如弓箭的引入，陶器的引入和传播，食物资源的急剧变化，以及气候不稳定的加剧)，小规模的村级社会组织也发生了怎样的变化？利用由国家科学基金会支持的挖掘获得的家庭层面的数据，以及从现有的、未分析的收集中获得的数据，该项目将调查单个家庭的生存战略与邻近家庭相比如何，并将评估空间是如何以不同的方式使用和组织的。空间分析包括使用土壤中的化学同位素水平作为活动区的替代方法，因为某些活动(如进食和食品加工)在活动发生很长时间后在土壤中留下可见的痕迹。该项目还将评估乡村生活的某些特征在哪里：烹饪和储存活动在哪里进行？在房子里，远离村子里其他人的视线？或者在开阔的空间里，暗示着一种公共取向？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.