Ceramic Compositional Analysis to Trace Extensive Cultural Interaction

该项目对查科峡谷的陶器生产和贸易进行了研究。查科是联合国教科文组织世界遗产，也是研究前国家社会社会经济组织的重要人类学案例。查科交换网络的结构仍然是未知的，它将国外地理区域的材料汇集到峡谷中。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。陶器制作仍然是许多相关后裔社区的重要活动。通过结合传统普韦布洛陶工的专业知识和观点，该项目成为一个例子，说明重要的科学考古研究不仅可以以与后代部落价值观一致的最小影响方式成功进行，而且还可以通过结合传统土著知识的各个方面产生更丰富，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，并提供一个框架，在这个框架中，早期的职业PI可以与她的研究领域的土著社区成员建立重要的联系和关系，使她能够更好地将她的工作与他们的关注和兴趣结合起来。虽然有些类型的陶器显然是进口到查科峡谷的，但Cibola陶器的确切生产地点尚不清楚；这些陶器构成了查科峡谷考古遗址中发现的大部分陶瓷文物，至少代表了数万只器皿。根据Cibola陶器的地理分布，其可能的生产面积约为30,000平方英里。考虑到峡谷中缺乏重要陶瓷制造的考古证据，研究人员普遍默认的假设是，大多数（如果不是全部的话）Cibola陶器是在峡谷之外生产的。然而，这一假设尚未得到充分的检验，留下了一个未解决的问题，该问题直接反映了峡谷的经济支持以及峡谷与构成查科系统的其他社区之间关系的性质。该项目通过一个成分分析项目解决了这一重要问题，该项目包括中子活化分析和电子探针分析，对36个大型查科遗址（“大房子”）的Cibola陶瓷进行了分析，这些遗址既位于峡谷本身，也位于查科的相互作用和交换领域。该研究首次对这一时期的Cibola陶瓷进行了大规模的器乐成分研究，极大地推进了对陶瓷流通在查科社会组织中所起作用的认识，并创建了一个可供未来研究人员使用的大型成分参考数据库。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。

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.