Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Monumentality in Early Florida

博士候选人马特·科尔文和格鲁吉亚大学的维克托·汤普森博士将研究佛罗里达奥基乔比湖地区狩猎采集渔民之间的合作和社区形成的性质。社会科学和进化科学的最新研究都更加关注合作，试图了解不相关的群体如何一起工作并形成正式的社区。这些调查往往侧重于从事狩猎和采集以及有限农业经济的群体。考古学有能力通过对建筑环境的分析，特别是通过对纪念碑和建筑公民仪式空间的形式的研究，了解这种合作背后的实践历史。在这些地方重建建筑和职业序列以及使用强度是衡量这些社区之间合作和共同居住如何根深蒂固的一个标准。这项研究的主要贡献将是促进对狩猎-采集-渔民制度发展的理解，以及这些群体在长时间内设法在大规模劳动项目中合作的程度和背景。为了进行这项研究，该项目将调查堡垒中心的遗址，位于佛罗里达南部内陆的一个多土墩的仪式建筑群，展示了2000多年来狩猎采集者和渔民共同居住的纪念碑建筑时期。这项研究将解决两个相互关联的轨迹：（1）确定活动随时间变化的强度（例如，从周期性使用转变为更持续的活动）。(2)确定其他区域活动强度的变化是否与纪念性建筑的新颖类型相对应。在查明家庭和社区的垃圾坑及其范围后，调查人员将在现场查明的垃圾坑内进行挖掘。这些挖掘将提供样本，以创建一个强大的放射性碳年代学，确定空间和时间的积累率，并确定贝冢的分布，以解释相关活动。最后，这项工作将为本科生提供培训机会，并与当地社区和公众接触，了解该地区的文化历史。该奖项反映了NSF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。

Doctoral candidate Matt Colvin and Dr. Victor Thompson of the University of Georgia will undertake research on the nature of cooperation and community formation among hunter-gatherer-fishers in the Lake Okeechobee region of Florida. Recent studies in both the social and evolutionary sciences have taken a more pronounced focus on cooperation, seeking to understand how unrelated groups work together and form formal communities. These investigations often focus on groups that follow hunting and gathering and limited agricultural economies. Archaeology has the ability to inform on the history of practices that belie such cooperation though an analysis of the built environment, particularly through the study of the form of monuments and constructed civic-ceremonial spaces. Reconstructing the building and occupational sequences, as well as the intensity of use, at such places is one measure of how cooperation and co-residence became entrenched among these communities. The primary contribution of this research will be to advance understanding of institutional development among hunter-gatherer-fishers, and the degree and context in which such groups managed to cooperate in large-scale labor projects over extended periods of time.To conduct this research the project will investigate the site of Fort Center, a multi-mound ceremonial complex in the southern Florida interior that exhibited periods of monument construction and co-residence among hunter-gatherer-fishers for over 2000 years. This research will address two interrelated trajectories: (1) Identify the intensity of activity change over time (e.g., shifts from a periodic usage to more continual activity). (2) Determine if shifts in the intensity of activities in other areas correspond with novel types of monumental architecture. Following the identification and extent of both domestic and communal middens, the investigators will conduct excavations within identified middens at the site. These excavations will provide samples to create a robust radiocarbon chronology, identify rates of accumulation both spatially and through time, and also determine the distribution of middens to interpret related activities. Finally, this work will provide training opportunities for undergraduate students, as well as engage with local communities and public outreach regarding the cultural history of the region.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.