Examination of Long Term Development of Inequality

研究人员正在进行考古分析，重点是了解新兴复杂社会中不平等的起源、出现、持续和收缩。考古学特别适合于研究这些动力学，因为考古记录为调查人员提供了高分辨率的材料数据和巨大的时间深度。研究人员考虑了过去造成不平等的因素，目的是有助于理解当今的不平等。该项目还增加了考古学中传统上代表性不足的个人获得领导机会的机会。项目领导中的两名成员是女性，一名在理科博士生中任职人数不足。这项研究不仅培训该领域的研究生，还将整合到本科课程中，包括《国家起源》，学生将更好地理解复杂社会、新出现的不平等和不平等之间的联系，以及考古学在阐明这些问题方面所发挥的关键作用。这个多学科的多国团队将通过对多个时期的古代家庭、存储特征和殡仪馆背景的详细、比较挖掘和分析来调查不平等。将挖掘家庭、存储特征和埋葬的大样本，并将对与不平等有关的变量进行比较统计分析(基尼系数)，例如，房屋大小和复杂性。基尼系数是衡量一个社区内或一个社会中社区之间某些被测量变量的不平等集中程度的数字度量，经济学家用它来衡量当代社会的不平等。这些大型考古数据集及其基尼系数使该团队能够经验性地测量随时间推移的不平等。这种大规模的统计分析为从人类历史上理解世界范围内的不平等提供了一个重要的案例研究。这项调查挑战了人们的普遍印象，即不平等一旦确立，就不会改变和不可避免。相反，经济和社会不平等的强度是高度情境性的，并与更广泛的社会变化、领导战略和区域间互动动态联系在一起。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。

Researchers are conducting archaeological analysis focused on understanding the origins, emergence, persistence, and contraction of inequality in emerging complex societies. Archaeology is uniquely suited for the study of these dynamics due to the high-resolution material data and great time depth that the archaeological record affords investigators. The researchers consider the factors that contributed to inequality in the past with the aim of contributing to understanding inequality in the present-day. The project also increases access to leadership opportunities for individuals traditionally underrepresented in archaeology. Two members of project leadership are women and one is an underrepresented in science doctoral student. This research not only trains graduate students in the field but will be integrated into undergraduate courses including the “Origins of the State” where students will better understand the linkages between complex societies, emergent inequalities, and inequity, as well as the critical role played by archaeology in illuminating these issues. This multidisciplinary and multinational team will investigate inequality through the detailed, comparative excavation and analysis of ancient households, storage features, and mortuary contexts dating to multiple time periods. Large samples of households, storage features, and burials will be excavated, and comparative statistical analysis (Gini coefficients) will be applied to variables linked to inequality, such as, for example, house size and complexity. The Gini coefficient is a numerical measure of the unequal concentration of some measured variable within a community or among communities in a society and is used by economists to measure inequality in contemporary societies. These large archaeological datasets and their Gini coefficients allows the team to empirically measure inequality through time. This kind of large-scale statistical analysis provides an important case study to the understanding of inequality worldwide from the human past. The investigation challenges common impressions that once established, inequality is unchanging and inevitable. Intensities of economic and social inequality are instead highly situational and dynamically linked to broader social change, leadership strategies, and interregional interaction.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.