Processes of Hispanic Ethnogenesis in New Mexico: Archaeological Investigations of an 18th-Century Spanish Ranch

该项目探讨了早期现代殖民化的过程和殖民社会的发展。殖民社会的变化通常遵循一个共同的轨迹：早期的殖民实验之后，由于远离帝国的核心，往往是一个更正规化的做法。早期的殖民地往往是脆弱的，当他们试图在未知的环境中建立自己时，会经历动荡和动荡。殖民者通常需要时间来学习和调整，以便在新的土地上发展社会和生态关系，在这样做的过程中，他们通常会与当地土著人民接触并强加于他们。这些关系是殖民成功的关键，殖民者发展的做法往往是混合的性质，借鉴土著人民。在一些殖民地的后期阶段，随着殖民者变得更加定居和知识渊博，他们能够发挥更大的权力并成为霸权，而他们社会的混合性质则较少被承认。也是在这一时期，更多的地方身份，独立于帝国核心，发展起来。美国拉美裔社会的建立就是这样一个例子。这项研究是在位于新墨西哥州圣达菲附近的El Rancho de las Golondrinas活体历史博物馆进行的，并与该博物馆合作进行。发掘、取样和工作结果将直接有助于博物馆的教育使命，让公众了解考古调查和获得这项研究的结果。随着西班牙殖民者最终成为西班牙裔人民，学习、提炼和当地身份形成的过程展开了。使用历时的角度来看，这个项目建立在以前的研究到建立家庭在最早的西班牙殖民。目前的项目调查了附近的一个殖民晚期西班牙牧场遗址。利用考古发掘和环境采样（例如花粉），研究人员确定了牧场的性质，复杂性，生态关系和土著贡献。研究人员使用的考古和环境调查特别适合调查与土著人民的动态生态关系和社会互动，这些关系和互动往往没有记录在文件中。与早期网站的数据进行比较，这项调查提供了一个长期的轨迹和与西班牙裔社会的创建过程的理解。这个项目的重点是在西班牙裔背景下的土著贡献提供了一个更精致的图片历史，并增加了对西班牙裔社会的深度和复杂性的更广泛的理解在今天的美国的边界内。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This project explores the processes of early modern colonization and the development of colonial societies. Changes in colonizing societies often follow a common trajectory: an early period of colonial experimentation is often followed by a later period of more regularized practices brought about by the distance from the cores of empires. Early colonies were often vulnerable, going through episodes of privation and upheaval as they attempted to establish themselves in unknown environments. Often colonists required time to learn and adjust in order to develop social and ecological relationships in novel lands, and in doing so they typically engaged and imposed on local Indigenous people. These relationships were key to colonial successes, and the practices colonists developed were frequently hybrid in nature, borrowing from Indigenous people. During later stages in some colonies, as colonizers became more settled and knowledgeable, they were able to exert more power and become hegemonic, while the hybrid nature of their society was acknowledged less. It was also during this period that more local identities, separate from the imperial core, developed. The creation of US Hispanic society is one such example. The research takes place on the grounds of and in collaboration with the living history museum, El Rancho de las Golondrinas, located near Santa Fe, New Mexico. The excavation, sampling, and results of the work will directly contribute to the educational mission of the museum, affording the public a view of archaeological inquiry and access to the results of this research.The processes of learning, refinement, and local identity formation unfolded as Spanish colonizers ultimately became Hispanic peoples. Using a diachronic perspective, this project builds on previous research into the establishment of households during the earliest Spanish colonization. The current project investigates a nearby Late Colonial Hispanic ranch site. Using archaeological excavation and environmental sampling (for example, pollen), the researchers define the nature, complexity, ecological relationships, and Indigenous contributions to the ranch. The archaeological and environmental investigations used by the researchers are particularly well suited to investigate the dynamic ecological relationships and social interactions with Indigenous peoples, which often went unrecorded in documents. Placed in comparison with data from earlier sites, this investigation provides an understanding of the long term trajectory and processes associated with the creation of Hispanic society. This project’s focus on Indigenous contributions within Hispanic contexts provides a more refined picture to history and adds to a broader understanding of the depth and complexity of Hispanic society within the boundaries of today’s United States.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.