Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Processes of Coalescence and Colonialism

亚利桑那大学的研究人员和沙漠考古公司的合作者将收集数据，以了解合并的社会过程与殖民主义之间的关系。以前对这两个过程的研究都试图了解通过合并或殖民主义创建的社区如何在多元化社区内和不同社会景观中的社区之间保持社会凝聚力。在大范围内，合并和殖民主义的主要影响之一是将社区聚集在一个经济相互依存的网络中，无论是在平等的基础上还是在不平等的关系中。在世界上的许多地方，特别是在北美，融合是塑造社会景观的关键过程，欧洲殖民者将自己插入其中。在这些新兴社会中，经济关系的组织可能成为后来的殖民遭遇所创造的经济关系的一种模式。然而，这些过程之间的关系还没有得到充分的研究。欧洲殖民主义下的经济组织在多大程度上依赖于印第安人社区之间通过合并而形成的现有关系？欧洲殖民主义在多大程度上重新配置了这些现存的关系？了解这些过程的功能与了解美国现代印第安人社区的历史有着广泛的关系，特别是在美国西南部、五大湖和东南部地区。这项研究的结果也更普遍地适用于理解经济相互依赖如何促进社区之间的合作，并帮助管理在高度多样化的社区中遇到的一些社会挑战。研究人员将探索美洲前殖民合并和早期殖民主义之间的关系，特别是这两个过程对经济组织的影响。本研究将集中于新墨西哥区域经济组织从合并时期（公元1300-1598年）到早期西班牙殖民主义时期（公元1598-1700年）的连续性和变化程度。数据将从新墨西哥州中部里约热内卢格兰德山谷的考古遗址收集，这些遗址可以追溯到这一时期。这些数据收集对于填补现有考古文献中的地理空白是必要的，因此可以更全面地了解新墨西哥州里约热内卢Grande地区各社区之间的经济关系。研究人员将从三条证据线中收集现有数据，以评估与陶瓷生产相关的不同规模和类型的经济相互作用。研究人员将通过对陶瓷脾气的岩石学分析和铅釉漆的同位素分析来收集新的数据，以帮助填补现有数据覆盖范围的地理空白。网络分析将用于分析数据，这将促进证据线之间的比较，并提供一种在更大范围内理解复杂关系集的方法。研究人员将为区域相互作用的考古网络分析产生新的方法。研究人员还将扩展现有的网络分析，以帮助评估殖民主义的社会后果。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。

The researchers, at the University of Arizona and collaborators at Desert Archaeology, Inc., will collect data to understand the relationship between the social processes of coalescence and colonialism. Previous research on both of these processes has tried to understand how the communities created through either coalescence or colonialism maintained social cohesion, both within pluralistic communities and between communities in a diverse social landscape. At large scales, one of the primary impacts of both coalescence and colonialism was to draw communities together in a web of economic interdependence, whether on equal footing or in unequal relationships. In many parts of the world, and particularly in North America, coalescence was a key process shaping the social landscape into which European colonists inserted themselves. The organization of economic relationships in these coalescent societies may have served as a pattern for the economic relationships created by the subsequent colonial encounter. However, the relationship between these processes has been understudied. How much did economic organization under European colonialism rely on existing relationships among Native American communities created through coalescence? To what degree did European colonialism reconfigure these existing relationships? Understanding the functioning of these processes is broadly relevant to understanding the history of modern Native American communities in the United States, particularly in the U.S. Southwest, Great Lakes, and Southeastern regions. The results of this research are also applicable more generally to understanding how economic interdependence can foster cooperation between communities and help manage some of the social challenges encountered in highly diverse communities. The researchers will explore the relationship between pre-colonial coalescence and early colonialism in the Americas, particularly the impact of both processes on economic organization. This research will focus on the degree of continuity and change in the organization of the regional economy of New Mexico from a period of coalescence (A.D.1300-1598) into the period of early Spanish colonialism (A.D.1598-1700). Data will be collected from archaeological sites dating to this period throughout the Rio Grande valley of central New Mexico. This data collection is necessary to fill geographic gaps in the existing archaeological literature and therefore give a more complete picture of economic relationships between communities throughout the Rio Grande in New Mexico. The researchers will compile existing data from three lines of evidence to evaluate different scales and types of economic interaction related to the production of ceramics. The researchers will collect new data through petrographic analysis of ceramic tempers and isotopic analysis of lead glaze paints to help fill geographic gaps in the coverage of the existing data. Network analysis will be use used to analyze the data and will both facilitate comparison between the lines of evidence and provide a methodology for understanding complex sets of relationships at larger scales. The researchers will generate new methodologies for archaeological network analysis of regional interactions. The researchers will also expand on existing network analyses of coalescence to also help evaluate the social consequences of colonialism.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.