Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Social Functions of Monumentality

至少在过去的一万年里，纪念碑在人类社会中发挥了重要作用，它构建了人、历史和景观之间的关系。考古学家通过“纪念性”的框架来探索这些关系。从历史上看，纪念碑与复杂的社会有着先验的联系，因为人们认为，建造纪念碑所需的劳动力必须由有等级权力的领导人组织起来，并由农业盈余支持。该项目通过探索纪念碑在小规模社会中的作用，增加了一个正在出现的相反例子的全球记录。在小规模社会中几乎没有关于纪念碑建造的人种志或人种史记录，这使得考古学成为唯一的研究领域。北美东部的林地最近在这一讨论中占据了突出的位置，但该地区最神秘的纪念碑“西奥托霍普韦尔的大型几何土方工程”还没有以一种有意义的方式进入这一考虑。本研究以Scioto Hopewell纪念碑为中心，并提供了一个比较框架，通过该框架可以了解其他小规模社会的纪念碑。随着内战纪念碑占据了最近的头条新闻，纪念碑在社会中仍然发挥着巨大而积极的作用。该项目将引起人们对过去两个世纪中以惊人速度被摧毁的美洲土著纪念碑的关注，以促进对这些地方的欣赏、了解和保护。密歇根大学博士候选人蒂莫西·埃弗哈特将调查中林地（公元1-400年）在中央Scioto河谷的纪念碑。这一时期的希奥托·霍普韦尔社会建造的纪念碑比任何其他已知的小规模社会的纪念碑都要密集和多样。通过在俄亥俄州罗斯县的钢铁集团遗址（33 Ro 62）进行新的挖掘，并对回收的材料进行大量基于实验室的分析，本研究将调查导致在同一地点建造不同纪念碑形式的独特过程和纪念性实践。具体来说，它将记录纪念碑建设的历史轨迹，纪念碑的使用，以及在这个网站上的劳动党的组成。该项目将寻求解决霍普韦尔土方工程在南部俄亥俄州的中央Scioto河谷之间的变化范围，从而提供深入了解纪念碑在小规模社会中发挥的各种作用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

Monuments have played an important role in human societies for at least the last ten millennia by structuring relationships between people, histories, and landscapes. Archaeologists explore these relationships through the framework of "monumentality." Historically, monuments were associated a priori with complex societies following a notion that the necessary labor for their construction must inherently be organized by hierarchically-empowered leaders and supported by agricultural surplus. This project adds to an emerging global record of contrary examples by exploring the role of monuments in small-scale societies. The near absence of ethnographic or ethnohistoric records of monument construction among small-scale societies leaves archaeology as the sole domain for inquiry. The Eastern Woodlands of North America have recently assumed a prominent place in this discussion, but the region's most enigmatic monuments "the large geometric earthworks of the Scioto Hopewell" have yet to enter this consideration in a meaningful way. This research centers Scioto Hopewell monumentality and provides a comparative framework through which to understand monumentality in other small-scale societies. That monuments still play a large and active role in society has been made apparent as Civil War monuments have dominated recent headlines. This project will bring attention to Native American monuments, which have been destroyed at an alarming rate over the last two centuries, in an effort to facilitate appreciation, knowledge, and conservation of these places. University of Michigan doctoral candidate Timothy Everhart will investigate Middle Woodland (AD 1-400) monumentality in the Central Scioto River Valley. Scioto Hopewell societies of this period constructed monuments of a greater density and of a greater diversity than any other known monuments of small-scale societies. By conducting new excavations at the Steel Group site (33Ro62) - a site with at least 13 earthen monuments of many designs - in Ross County, Ohio, and subjecting recovered materials to a host of laboratory-based analyses, this research will investigate the unique processes and practices of monumentality that led to the construction of different monument forms at the same location. Specifically, it will document the historical trajectory of monument construction, the use of monuments, and the composition of laboring parties at this site. This project will seek to address the range of variation among Hopewell earthworks in the Central Scioto River Valley of southern Ohio, and thus to offer insight into the various roles monuments played in small-scale societies.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.