The Role of Diet in the Process of Long Term Cultural Integration.

本研究通过评估几代人如何利用动植物作为食物、原材料和宗教目的的变化，考察了14世纪产生稳定、融合的移民和当地群体社区的过程。该项目有助于在动荡时期加深对来自不同文化背景的群体的移民和社会融合的理解。这项工作提供了对过去的人们如何形成持续一个多世纪的多元文化社区的见解。今天使不同背景的美国人产生分歧的一些因素，在过去也是建立可持续的多元化社区的挑战。项目结果对考古学家和其他对多元文化社区如何形成和保持长期稳定感兴趣的社会科学家有价值。团队成员包括专业考古学家、美国印第安部落成员顾问和本科生研究助理，他们在作为项目组的一部分工作时获得了教育和研究经验。数据存档并通过cyberSW平台在线公开，该平台以专业和公众观众可访问的格式显示和分析来自美国数千个考古遗址的数据。该项目比较了从公元1000年至1450年的几十年学术和文化资源管理项目中获得的植物和动物数据集。数据描述了移徙者涌入之前、期间和之后的时期。植物和动物数据说明了在移民到来和新意识形态的发展之后，当地植物和动物利用的某些方面是如何转变的。首先，植物和动物数据被用来识别每个原始群体的文化特征。然后，对于新的合成社区，研究人员确定哪些独特的做法与表达不同的遗产有关。哪些做法是新的身份和群体成员的信号；以及在什么语境中使用了不同的表达方式。了解这些多种类型的实践是如何、在何处以及何时表达的，可以深入了解稳定的多元文化社区形成背后的过程。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 research examines the processes that produced stable, integrated communities of migrants and local groups in the fourteenth century, by assessing changes over several generations in how people used animals and plants for food, raw materials, and religious purposes. The project contributes to an increased understanding of migration and social integration of groups from diverse cultural backgrounds during a time of upheaval. This work provides insights into how people in the past formed multicultural communities that lasted more than a century. Some of the forces that divide Americans of different backgrounds today were also challenges to building sustainable diverse communities in the past. Project results haver value to archaeologists and to other social scientists interested in how multi-cultural communities form and maintain long-term stability. Team members include professional archaeologists, American Indian tribal member advisors, and undergraduate research assistants who obtain educational and research experience while working as part of the project team. Data is archived and publicly available online via the cyberSW platform, which displays and analyzes data from thousands of archaeological sites across the US in a format accessible to professional and public audiences.The project compares plant and animal datasets obtained from decades of academic and cultural resource management projects from the 1000–1450 CE time period. Data characterize the periods before, during, and after migrant influx. Plant and animal data illuminate how some aspects of local plant and animal use shifted after migrant arrival and the development of a new ideology. First, plant and animal data are used to identify culturally distinctive signatures for each original group. Then, for new resultant communities, researchers identify which distinctive practices were linked to expressing varied heritage. Which practices were signals of the new identity and group membership; and in what contexts were different expressions were used. Understanding how, where, and when these multiple types of practices were expressed provides insights into the processes behind the formation of stable multicultural communities.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.