Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Monumentality in Early Florida

乔治亚大学的博士候选人马特·科尔文和维克多·汤普森博士将对佛罗里达州奥基乔比湖地区的狩猎-采集-渔民之间的合作和社区形成的本质进行研究。最近，社会科学和进化科学的研究都更加关注合作，试图理解不相关的群体如何合作并形成正式的社区。这些调查通常侧重于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造的公民仪式空间的形式的研究，来了解这种合作的实践历史。重建这些地方的建筑和职业序列，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种措施。这项研究的主要贡献将是促进对狩猎-采集-渔民的制度发展的理解，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Fort Center遗址，这是一个位于佛罗里达州南部内陆的多丘仪式建筑群，展示了2000多年来狩猎-采集-渔民共同居住的纪念碑建设时期。本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，从周期性使用到更持续的活动的转变）。(2)确定其他地区活动强度的变化是否与纪念性建筑的新类型相对应。在确定了家庭和公共墓葬的范围后，调查人员将在现场确定的墓葬内进行挖掘。这些挖掘将提供样品，以创建一个可靠的放射性碳年代学，确定空间和时间上的积累速率，并确定中间的分布，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。

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.