Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Use of Material Remains to Trace Cultural Interaction

动物在世界各地的史前仪式和宗教中占有重要地位。由于它们独特的颜色、行为和飞行能力，鸟类一直是最具象征意义的重要动物之一。在史前美洲尤其如此，在那里，对考古遗址中他们的遗骸的研究可以帮助解决有关史前仪式和宗教的问题。凯特琳·毕晓普是加州大学洛杉矶分校的博士候选人，她将通过对公元850-1150年间新墨西哥州查科峡谷鸟类的使用和意识形态意义的分析，来研究史前普韦布洛人的仪式和宗教。民族志、民族历史和考古研究已经证明了鸟类在普韦布洛仪式和宇宙学中的中心地位；因此，经常未得到充分研究的鸟类遗骸应被视为仪式实践的有力指标，对其进行分析可以说明意识形态观念和信仰。在普韦布洛二世时期（公元900-1150年），查科峡谷是现在新墨西哥州的一个主要的社会和仪式中心，对仪式实践的重建将把这些传统置于普韦布洛仪式和宗教的长期发展中，并在更大的西南地区的更广泛的区域背景下进行。这项研究的结果可能与现代后代社区有关，并且可以通过创建一个关于普韦布洛世界鸟类过去和现在重要性的解释性展览来丰富查科峡谷国家历史公园游客的体验，并为那些无法进入公园偏远地区的人提供在线材料。该项目将汇集来自广泛分布的机构的材料，并展示从历史发掘中揭示旧的和未发表的收藏品的重要性。通过分析鸟类遗骸和艺术中对鸟类的描绘，毕晓普试图实现三个主要目标：(1)了解涉及鸟类的仪式实践和意识形态的本质；(2)了解仪式是如何跨越峡谷，在多个大房子和小遗址内部和之间组织的；(3)考察仪式及其组织的性质随时间的变化。在实现这些目标的过程中，本项目将综合峡谷近130年的挖掘历史中所有的鸟类遗骸和鸟类图像。毕晓普依靠仪式作为一种社会实践形式的理论视角，其中仪式是一种动态的活动，既被现有的社会和信仰结构所结构，也可以重构。这一理论视角使我们有可能理解仪式的做法可能是什么样子的，以及它们是如何随着时间而变化的。她还运用基于人种学的模型来理解这种仪式实践的组织，并从现代和历史的仪式组织原则中获得期望。在Gregson Schachner博士的指导下，Bishop的研究将促进我们对普韦布洛仪式和宗教、查科地区系统的性质以及史前鸟类价值的理解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Animals figure prominently in prehistoric ritual and religion throughout the world. Because of their unique colors, behaviors, and their ability to fly, birds in particular have been one of the most symbolically important types of animals throughout time. This is especially true in the prehistoric Americas, where the study of their remains from archaeological sites can help address questions concerning prehistoric ritual and religion. Katelyn Bishop, a PhD Candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles, will examine prehistoric Pueblo ritual and religion through an analysis of the use and ideological significance of birds in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico between AD 850-1150. Ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and archaeological research have demonstrated the centrality of birds in Pueblo ritual and cosmology; avifaunal remains, which are frequently under-studied, should therefore be considered strong indicators of ritual practice, the analysis of which can speak to ideological perceptions and belief. The reconstruction of ritual practices in Chaco Canyon, a major social and ceremonial center in what is now New Mexico, during the Pueblo II period (AD 900-1150), will contextualize these traditions in the long development of Pueblo ritual and religion, and within broader regional context in the greater Southwest. The results of this research may have relevance to modern descendent communities, and can enrich the experience of visitors to the Chaco Canyon National Historical Park through the creation of an interpretive exhibit on the past and present importance of birds in the Pueblo world, and online material for those who cannot access the remote location of the park. This project will bring together material from widely disbursed institutions, and demonstrate the importance of bringing to light old and unpublished collections from historic excavations.Through the analysis of both avifaunal remains and the depiction of birds in art, Bishop seeks to address three major goals: (1) to understand the nature of ritual practice and ideologies that involved birds; (2) to understand how ritual was organized across the canyon, within and between multiple great houses and small sites; and (3) to examine change over time in the nature of ritual and its organization. In the process of achieving these goals, this project will synthesize all avifaunal remains and bird imagery from the nearly 130-year long history of excavation in the canyon. Bishop relies on the theoretical perspective of ritual as a form of social practice, where ritual is a dynamic activity that is both structured by and can restructure existing social and belief structures. This theoretical perspective makes it possible to understand what ritual practices may have looked like, and how they may have changed over time. She also employs ethnographically-based models to understand the organization of this ritual practice, with expectations derived from modern and historic organizational principles of ritual. Under the guidance of Dr. Gregson Schachner, Bishop's research will advance our understanding of Pueblo ritual and religion, the nature of the Chaco regional system, and the value of birds in prehistory.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.