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

博士论文改进奖：家庭对不断变化的环境、人口和社会条件的反应

• 批准号: 1627005
• 负责人: Gregory Wilson
• 金额: $ 2.52万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Barbara
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-05-15 至 2019-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1627005&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Award; Household

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.

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，一个群体会被分化和/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，这些社会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制度（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息息相关，检查有助于了解社会中的个人如何应对和应对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？为什么像这个特殊案例研究中那样的社会不平等并没有像我们预期的那样出现？考古学，特别是这个项目，在解决这些问题上具有独特的地位。该项目的挖掘工作将在遭受抢劫的地点进行；该项目将表明，被掠夺的地点仍然可以为研究人员提供信息，并应继续受到保护。以讲座和演示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，是该项目的关键部分。加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校 (UCSB) 的格雷戈里·D·威尔逊 (Gregory D. Wilson) 博士和珍娜·K·桑蒂 (Jenna K. Santy) 将调查东加州欧文斯谷在前哥伦布时代占领时期的两个时期社会组织的变化。在发生已知变化的时期（例如弓箭的引入、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？该项目将使用由国家科学基金会支持的挖掘工作以及现有的未经分析的收集获得的家庭层面的数据，调查个人家庭的生存策略与邻近家庭的比较，并将评估空间的使用和组织方式如何不同。空间分析包括一种使用土壤中的化学同位素水平作为活动区域代理的方法，因为某些活动（例如饮食和食品加工）在活动发生很久之后就会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位于何处：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？或者在开放空间中，暗示公共方向？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，他们将接受现场方法培训。