Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Visible Markers of Group Affiliation and Social Position

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

In this doctoral dissertation award Benjamin Bellorado a graduate student from the University of Arizona, working under the supervision of Dr. Ronald Towner, will collect data for his PhD dissertation. Thus, in addition to the resultant knowledge this grant will serve to further the intellectual development and career trajectory of a promising young scientist. Using long term archaeological data the project investigates the often subtle ways in which individuals signal group affiliation as well as within group status based on visible symbols. The research employs an archaeological example drawn from the prehistoric US Southwest to examine variation in symbol usage over time and correlate it with dramatic changes which occurred in social organization. While it is clear within a present day context that symbols such as jewelry or head covering may reflect group affiliation, this archaeological analysis offers the opportunity to examine variation over time spans measured in centuries. This study will be of particular interest to Southwest Native Americans as it provides insight into tribal history. Using the Ancestral Pueblo region during the tenth through thirteenth centuries as a case study, this research will considers the complex ways groups transformed the visibility of different aspects of their material world to communicate important messages about boundaries, group inclusiveness, and social identities over time. It also addresses much broader issues of adaptation and identity in times of great cultural changes on religious and political levels at multiple scales, providing new information about societal disruption and reformation associated with the Chaco system and its reorganization. Museum collections will be studied to measure and photograph sandals, acquire samples for AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) dating, and compile data from prior descriptive and chronometric documentation of building murals and rock art depicting sandals. With these data it will be possible to construct a tight chronological sequence to determine how sandal design styles were manipulated to signal membership within groups of different scales and organizational structures during the turbulent Chaco and post-Chaco eras.