Ceramic Compositional Analysis to Trace Extensive Cultural Interaction

这个项目是为了研究查科峡谷的陶器生产和贸易。查科是联合国教科文组织的世界遗产，也是前国家社会的社会经济组织的重要人类学案例研究。关于查科的交换网络的配置仍有很多未知之处，该网络将来自国外地理区域的材料输送到峡谷中。这项研究的主要贡献是解决了目前对陶器在维持这一网络中的作用的理解中的一个关键差距。制陶仍然是许多相关后代社区的一项重要活动。通过吸收传统普韦布洛陶工的专业知识和观点，该项目成为一个范例，说明重要的科学考古研究不仅可以成功地以影响最小的方式与后代部落的价值观保持一致，而且还可以通过纳入传统土著知识的各个方面而产生更丰富和更有意义的结果。这项研究的有益成果还包括为学生提供重要的科学培训机会，从而帮助他们沿着STEM职业道路前进，并为早期职业PI提供一个框架，在这个框架内，早期职业PI可以与其研究领域的祖先附属的土著社区成员建立重要的联系和关系，使她的工作能够更好地与他们的关切和兴趣相结合。虽然某些类型的陶器显然是进口到查科峡谷的，但Cibola器皿的确切生产地点尚不清楚；这些陶器构成了从查科峡谷考古遗址发现的大部分陶器，至少代表数万件器皿。根据Cibola陶器的地理分布，其可能的生产区域包括30,000平方英里。鉴于峡谷中缺乏大量陶瓷制造的考古证据，研究人员普遍的默认假设是，奇博拉陶器的大部分(如果不是全部)都是在峡谷以外生产的。然而，这一假设没有得到充分的检验，留下了一个悬而未决的问题，它直接反映了峡谷的经济支持以及峡谷与组成查科系统的其他社区之间的关系的性质。PI通过一项成分分析程序解决了这一重要问题，该程序对来自36个大型查科遗址(大宅)的Cibola陶瓷进行了成分分析，包括中子活化分析和电子显微探针分析，这些遗址既包括峡谷本身，也包括查科互动和交换领域的那些遗址。这项研究代表了这一时期针对Cibola陶瓷的第一次大规模器乐成分研究，极大地促进了对陶瓷流通在查科社会组织中所起作用的了解，并创建了一个大型成分参考数据库，可供未来的研究人员使用。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。

This project conducts research to study pottery production and trade at an Chaco Canyon. Chaco is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an important anthropological case study in the socioeconomic organization of pre-state societies. Much remains unknown about the configuration of Chaco’s exchange network, which funneled materials from abroad geographical region into the canyon. The major contribution of this research is addressing a critical gap in the current understanding of the role of pottery in maintaining this network. Pottery-making is still an important activity to many relevant descendant communities. By incorporating the expertise and perspectives of traditional Pueblo potters, this project serves as an example of how significant scientific archaeological research can not only be successfully conducted in a minimal-impact manner that is aligned with the values of descendant tribes, but also produce richer and more meaningful results by incorporating aspects of traditional Indigenous knowledge. The beneficial outcomes of the research also include providing important scientific training opportunities for students, thereby helping them to advance along their STEM career paths, as well as providing a framework within which an early career PI can form important contacts and relationships with members of Indigenous communities ancestrally affiliated with her area of research, allowing her to better align her work with their concerns and interests.While some types of pottery were clearly imported into Chaco Canyon, the precise production location of Cibola Wares is unknown; these wares constitute the majority of ceramic artifacts recovered from archaeological sites in Chaco Canyon, representing tens of thousands of vessels, at a minimum. Based on the geographic distribution of Cibola pottery, its possible production area encompasses 30,000 square miles. Given the scarcity of archaeological evidence in the canyon for significant ceramic manufacture, the widespread default assumption among researchers is that most, if not all, of the Cibola pottery was produced outside the canyon. However, this assumption has not been adequately tested, leaving unresolved a question that reflects directly on the economic support of the canyon and the nature of relationships between the canyon and the other communities comprising the Chaco system. The PI resolves this important issue through a program of compositional analysis, involving both Neutron Activation Analysis and Electron Microprobe Analysis, of Cibola ceramics from 36 large Chacoan sites (‘great houses’), both in the canyon itself and those in Chaco’s interaction and exchange sphere. This study represents the first large-scale instrumental compositional study aimed at Cibola ceramics from this period, significantly advances knowledge of the role ceramic circulation played in the organization of Chacoan society, and creates a large compositional reference database that can be used by future researchers.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.