Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Chronological Development of Complex Community Interactions

科学家们研究塑造过去生活方式的社会、政治和经济系统之间复杂的相互联系。考古学非常适合这项研究，因为过去的材料遗迹与材料建造时发挥作用的社会政治和经济关系息息相关。通过调查过去文化使用的陶瓷的生产和分布，研究人员可以重建该文化群体居住的地区存在的复杂而相互关联的关系。所考虑的时期见证了社会和政治组织的巨大变化，在物质记录中追踪组织变化的模式与当前对现代社会政治和经济关系的理解有关，这些关系塑造了我们与物质商品的互动，也被塑造了。调查人员计划与当地工匠和非营利组织密切合作，制定旨在鼓励保护文化遗产以及教育当地社区成员有关文化遗产和考古学的项目。该项目在设计时考虑了包容性，在考古过程中引入了创造性的项目设计和观点，同时确保多种声音都能获得结果。这个博士论文项目将通过研究两个地点的精细陶瓷容器的生产和分布来模拟陶瓷经济，以突出这一时期社会复杂性的动态变化。在仪式经济的框架内，该研究将分析和比较来自遗址的陶瓷组合的矿物和化学成分，以检验一个更大的遗址作为公共活动节点的假设，一个为当地居民以及其他周边社区的政治、社会和仪式集会的场所。为了验证这个模型，博士生将对两个组合的精细陶瓷进行风格分析、岩石学和中子活化分析。这些容器的微观特征将揭示种群及其实践之间的宏观关系，因为这些动态在其生产和分配时嵌入在材料记录中。这种性质的调查突出了塑造社会的经济、政治和社会结构之间不可分割的联系。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。

Scientists study the complex interconnections between the social, political, and economics systems that shaped past lifeways. Archaeology is well suited to this study because the material remains of the past are embedded with the sociopolitical and economic relationships at play when the materials were constructed. By investigating the production and distribution of ceramics used by cultures in the past, researchers can reconstruct the complex and interconnected relationships that existed in the region inhabited by this cultural group. The time-period under consideration saw dramatic shifts in social and political organization and tracing the patterns of organizational change in the material record is relevant to current understandings of modern sociopolitical and economic relationships that shape and are shaped by our interactions with material goods. The investigators plan to collaborate closely with local artisans and non-profit organizations to develop programs designed to encourage the safeguarding of cultural heritage as well as the education of members of local communities about cultural heritage and archaeology. This project was designed with inclusivity in mind, introducing creative project design and perspectives into the archaeological process, while ensuring that results are accessible to multiple voices. This doctoral dissertation project will model a ceramic economy by examining the production and distribution of fine-ware ceramic vessels from two sites to highlight the dynamic shifts in social complexity that occurred during this period. Within a framework of ritual economy, the study will analyze and compare the mineral and chemical compositions of ceramic assemblages from the sites to test the hypothesis that a larger site served as a node of public activity a place for political, social, and ritual congregation for local residents as well as those from other surrounding communities. To test this model, the doctoral student will conduct stylistic analysis, petrography, and Neutron Activation Analysis on the fine-ware ceramics from two assemblages. Micro-level characteristics of the vessels will reveal macro-level relationships between populations and their practices because these dynamics are embedded in the material record at the time of its production and distribution. Investigations of this nature highlight the inextricable link between the economic, political, and social structures that shape society.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.