Doctoral Dissertation Research: Material Culture Networks and Social Interactions

本研究的目的是澄清考古物质文化网络与过去社会网络之间的复杂关系。社会网络分析用于研究社会行为者在不同尺度上的互动结构和动态。网络方法为研究实体之间的关系以及这些关系如何影响结果提供了一种手段。这种方法在考古学中的有用性被其迅速采用所证明，然而，关于作为社会网络代理的物质文化网络的基本性质，仍然存在大量问题。考古学家通常使用不同类型的人工制品之间的相似性来代表过去社会群体互动的可能性。但是，陶瓷罐的相似性代表了哪种类型的相互作用呢？这是否与箭头所代表的相似之处相同？本论文的研究旨在利用多层网络分析来回答这些问题。这种形式的分析同时处理多个网络，这将允许研究人员使用公元1150年至公元1500年美国西南部西部普韦布洛地区的数据进行研究，比较多种类型的物质文化。这个地区有很好的时间记录和考古覆盖范围，这使得它成为一个理想的区域来测试使用物质文化网络作为社会网络代理的有效性。通过确定不同的物质文化网络如何相互关联，这项研究将告知更广泛的考古社区关于不同类型的物质文化可能或可能不会揭示过去社会网络的不同方面的方式。此外，这项研究将首次正式探索西部普韦布洛地区快速社会组织变革时期社区的网络轨迹。这项研究还涉及与西部普韦布洛地区古代居民的后代的重要合作，他们将对这项研究的结果提供当地的解释。研究的第一部分涉及档案研究，记录了西部普韦布洛地区数千个抛射点。将获得每个弹丸点的图像，用于几何形态计量学分析，该分析使用每个弹丸点上的同源地标，以数学方式比较轮廓的相似性。一个较小的弹丸点样本也将在3D中扫描，以比较点的整个表面，以进行更详细的比较。研究的第二部分将抛射点分析与现有的关于陶瓷、建筑特征、地球化学来源的黑曜石和陶瓷的数据库相结合。这些数据将被转化为物质文化网络，用来代表古代的社会网络。然后将使用标准的多层和单个网络分析方法对网络进行分析，以比较它们之间的差异，并检查整个西部普韦布洛地区的变化轨迹。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 goal of this research is to clarify the complicated relationships between archaeological material culture networks and past social networks. Social network analysis is used to study the structure and dynamics of interactions among social actors at a variety of scales. Network methods provide a means to study the relations between entities and how those relations affect outcomes. The usefulness of this approach in archaeology is attested by its rapid adoption, yet there remain substantial questions regarding the fundamental nature of the material culture networks used as proxies for social networks. Archaeologists typically use similarities between types of artifacts as a proxy for the probability that social groups interacted in the past. But what type of interaction is represented by similarities in ceramic pots? Is it the same type of interaction as that represented by similarities in arrowheads? This dissertation research is designed to answer these questions using multilayer network analysis. This form of analysis handles multiple networks in at once, which will allow the researcher to conduct a study comparing many types of material culture using data from the Western Pueblo Region of the Southwest United States between AD 1150 and AD 1500. This region has an excellent chronological record and archaeological coverage, which makes it an ideal area to test the efficacy of using material culture networks as proxies for social networks. By determining how different material culture networks correlate with each other, this research will inform the broader archaeological community regarding the ways different types of material culture may or may not reveal different aspects of past social networks. Furthermore, this study will be the first to formally explore the network trajectories of communities across a period of rapid social-organizational change in the Western Pueblo region. The research also involves significant collaboration with the living descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the Western Pueblo region who will provide native interpretations of the results of this study. The first portion of the study involves archival research documenting thousands of projectile points across the Western Pueblo region. Images will be obtained of each projectile point for use in a geometric morphometric analysis that uses homologous landmarks on each projectile point to mathematically compare similarities in outlines. A smaller sample of projectile points will also be scanned in 3D to compare the entire surface of the point to make a more detailed comparison. The second portion of the study combines the projectile point analysis with existing databases on ceramics, architectural features, and geochemically sourced obsidian and ceramics. These data will be converted into material culture networks used to represent ancient social networks. The networks will then be analyzed using standard multilayer and individual network analysis methods to compare the differences between them and to examine the trajectory of change throughout the Western Pueblo region.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.