Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Monumentality in Early Florida

佐治亚大学的博士候选人马特·科尔文和维克多·汤普森博士将研究佛罗里达州奥基乔比湖地区狩猎采集渔民之间的合作性质和社区形成。最近的社会科学和进化科学研究更加关注合作，试图了解不相关的群体如何合作并形成正式的社区。这些调查通常集中于从事狩猎采集和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造的公民仪式空间的形式的研究，了解掩盖这种合作的实践历史。在这些地方重建建筑和居住序列以及使用强度是衡量合作与共存如何在这些社区中根深蒂固的一种措施。这项研究的主要贡献将是加深对狩猎采集渔民制度发展的了解，以及这些群体在较长时间内在大规模劳动项目中成功合作的程度和背景。为了进行这项研究，该项目将调查中心堡遗址，这是佛罗里达州南部内陆的一个多土丘仪式综合体，展示了 2000 多年来狩猎采集渔民的纪念碑建造和共同居住的时期。这项研究将解决两个相互关联的轨迹：（1）确定活动强度随时间的变化（例如，从定期使用转变为更持续的活动）。 (2) 确定其他地区活动强度的变化是否与新型纪念性建筑相对应。在确定了家庭和公共垃圾堆的确定及其范围后，调查人员将在现场已确定的垃圾堆内进行挖掘。这些挖掘工作将提供样本来创建可靠的放射性碳年代学，确定空间和时间上的积累率，并确定贝丘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就该地区的文化历史进行接触。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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.