Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of Multiple Power Levels in Governance

这个博士论文项目研究了地方领导人如何通过发展独特的领导地位和实践与一个至高无上的帝国进行谈判。该项目考察了一个古老的帝国省份，考察了帝国前的地方领导人之间的关系，他们最初来自社区和新的统治侵入帝国精英。通过将规则视为通过代理人和节点网络完成的事情，工作重点放在战略，忠诚和行动领域的问题上，以了解规则是如何在基层构成的。 该项目研究了哪些方面的规则是由国家保留，哪些是割让给地方代理。 这些地方代理人如何利用他们在帝国中的地位来提高自己的地位，扩大他们的权力，或保护他们的臣民？ 地方领导人如何认同或区分自己与帝国？ 这些问题长期以来一直是研究殖民主义的核心，在当代关于主权、地方性坚持/抵抗和国家建设的讨论中仍然具有相关性。 这个研究项目的更广泛的影响包括当地社区的参与和教育机会，培训参与文化资源管理的学生和当地个人。区域考古调查揭示了治理的分层景观。 除了源于先前传统的考古建筑群之外，第二种空间上不同的类型，包括一个覆盖的帝国基础设施网络。 研究的重点是比较地方领导以及帝国网站的活动和在更大的社会和农业景观的位置。解决这些问题的数据来自这些治理节点的密集地表收集、四个此类地点的挖掘以及之前的无人机和行人调查。基于地理信息系统（GIS）的分析比较内部网站的模式和网站之间的变化，在人工制品组合和功能有关的财富和主食金融，日常实践，社区和丧葬仪式，以及风格的归属范围内的治理网站，本地和侵入。有了关于不同类型的治理地点所代表的活动的可变性的信息，就有可能将这些地点及其居民纳入治理景观，阐明广义的帝国-地方治理是如何产生的，该奖项反映了NSF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进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。

This doctoral dissertation project investigates how local leaders negotiate with an overarching imperial power through developing distinctive leadership positions and practices. Examining an ancient imperial province, the project examines the relationship between pre-empire local leaders who derived originally from the community and new governing intrusive empire elites. By viewing rule as something that is done through networks of agents and nodes, the work focuses on questions of strategies, allegiance, and spheres of action in understanding how rule is constituted at the grass-roots level. The project examines what aspects of rule are retained by the state and what is ceded to local proxies. How do such local proxies use their positions in the empire to improve their own standing, further their power, or protect their subject populations? How do the local leaders identify with, or distinguish themselves from, the overarching empire? Such issues have long been central in studying colonialism and remain relevant in contemporary discussions of sovereignty, localized persistence/resistance, and nation building. The broader impacts of this research project include local community participation and educational opportunities training of students and local individuals involved in cultural resource management.This project investigates governances constructed and contested in one specific archaeological situation. Regional archaeological survey has revealed a layered landscape of governance. In addition to archaeological compounds which derive from a prior tradition a second spatially distinct type, consists of a network of overlain imperial infrastructure. The research focuses on comparing local leadership as well as imperial sites in terms of activities and position in the larger social and agricultural landscape. The data to address these issues are generated from intensive surface collection at these governance nodes, excavations at four such sites, and prior drone and pedestrian survey. Geographic Information System (GIS) based analysis compares intra-site patterns and inter-site variability in artifact assemblages and features relating to wealth and staple finance, daily practice, communal and mortuary ritual, and stylistic affiliation for a range of governance sites, both local and intrusive. With information on the variability in activities represented by the different types of governance sites, it becomes possible to situate these sites and their residents in a governance landscape, illuminating how imperial – local governance, broadly defined, was created, distributed and practiced.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.