Doctoral Dissertation Dissertation Award: Status Related Resource Distribution

西班牙对美洲的殖民对土著社会产生了深远的影响，但考古研究记录了16世纪和17世纪经济、社会和政治结构的变化和连续性，这意味着相互作用和反应的多样性。该项目使用动物考古学，即研究考古动物遗骸，来评估西班牙殖民主义对家庭的影响。在以往实地调查的基础上，这项研究考虑了特定社区成员在适应新的殖民地秩序时获取动物资源的连续性和变化性。动物考古学非常适合研究文化接触的时期，因为动物不仅可以作为基本资源，还可以作为文化身份的指示器、奢侈品以及地位和权力展示的象征。因此，它们在考古记录中的遗存提供了过去使用它们的经济、社会和政治制度的代理。在这项研究中，创新的动物考古技术的应用提供了一个精致的视角，通过西班牙接触时期不同社会地位和政治权威的住户使用动物。反过来，这又提供了对地位和政治地位在人们如何应对和适应不稳定时期所发挥的作用的洞察。该项目还结合了方法学上的进步，(1)提出了一种新的方法，将挖掘学(研究考古遗迹的沉积后历史)、骨骼元素改装和放射性碳测年结合起来，以解决地层和年代学分辨率差的问题；以及(2)使用多同位素方法调查从前哥伦布时代到殖民地时代的动物贸易和管理做法。通过博物馆展品以及学术和公共演讲，该项目将引发关于边缘地区土著政治经济的保留和丧失的讨论。该研究项目还将通过动手实验室活动培训本科生识别和分析动物考古遗迹的方法。为了记录西班牙统治下边缘社区的文化习俗的变化或持续，分两个步骤研究动物考古遗迹。首先，利用矿物学、改装和放射性碳数据来改进来自七个家庭的矿床的年代学。其次，通过比较不同背景(精英与非精英、统治者与统治者)和时期(前哥伦布时代与殖民地时期)的分类学、骨骼和同位素数据，确定了获取和控制动物资源和相关活动的差异。总而言之，这些证据将使人们能够确定：(1)精英阶层是否通过保留宝贵的动物资源来保持他们的地位和权力；(2)非精英社区成员是否制定了新的动物开发战略，以适应殖民秩序。总体而言，这些分析将记录西班牙边境地区动物资源的生产和分配关系，并评估西班牙殖民主义对这些活动的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Spanish colonization of the Americas had profound impacts on indigenous societies, but archaeological research has documented both change and continuity in economic, social, and political structures during the 16th and 17th centuries, implying a diversity of interactions and responses. This project uses zooarchaeology, the study of archaeological animal remains, to evaluate the impact of Spanish colonialism on households. Building on previous site-level investigations, this study considers continuities and transformations in the access to animal resources by specific community members as they adapted to the new Colonial order. Zooarchaeology is well placed to study periods of culture contact because animals can serve not only as basic resources, but also as indicators of cultural identity, luxury items, and symbols of status and power display. Thus, their material remains in the archaeological record provide a proxy of the past economic, social, and political systems in which they were used. In this study, the application of innovative zooarchaeological techniques provides a refined view of animal use by householders of different social status and political authority through the period of Spanish contact. In turn, this offers insight into the role played by status and political standing in how people react and adapt to times of instability. The project also incorporates methodological advancements by (1) presenting a new method combining taphonomy (the study of post-depositional histories of archaeological remains), skeletal element refitting, and radiocarbon dating to resolve issues of poor stratigraphic and chronological resolution; and (2) using a multi-isotope approach to investigate animal trade and management practices from pre-Columbian to Colonial times. Through museum exhibits and academic and public talks this project will generate discussions on the retention and loss of indigenous political economy in marginal areas. This research project will also train undergraduate students in methods of identification and analysis of zooarchaeological remains through hands-on lab activities. To document change or persistence in cultural practices in marginal communities under Spanish rule, zooarchaeological remains are studied in two steps. First, taphonomic, refitting, and radiocarbon data are used to refine the chronology of deposits from seven households. Second, differences in the access to and control over animal resources and related activities are identified by comparing taxonomic, skeletal, and isotopic data among contexts (elite vs. non-elite, ruler vs. ruled) and periods (pre-Columbian vs. Colonial). Together, these lines of evidence will allow one to determine (1) if the elite maintained their status and power by retaining access to valued animal resources; and (2) if non-elite community members developed new strategies of animal exploitation to adapt to the Colonial order. Overall, these analyses will document relations of production and distribution of animal resources in Spanish borderlands and assess the impact of Spanish colonialism on the pursuit of these activities.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.