Dissertation Research: Craft Production and the Organization of a Hohokam Platform Mound Community

在凯瑟琳·斯皮尔曼博士的指导下，詹姆斯·贝曼先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将在亚利桑那州索诺兰沙漠的马拉纳遗址进行考古发掘。该遗址由霍霍坎人建造和占据，可追溯到大约公元1100-11350年，实际上是一个巨大的多遗址社区，占地146万平方公里，横跨三个环境区。到目前为止，已经在其中两个区域进行了研究，在国家科学基金会的支持下，贝曼将在第三个区域挖掘，以收集比较数据。他将在四个最大的垃圾场中放置1x2米的测试坑，这些垃圾场似乎代表着不同家庭的遗骸。然后，他将分析回收的材料，以确定该地区特有的生产活动的种类，以及“外来”材料的性质和频率。根据这些数据，他将试图重建马拉纳的社会、政治和经济组织。在公元第一个千年之初，霍霍卡姆人发展了一个复杂的社会，在恶劣和不可预测的沙漠环境中将大量人民联系在一起。考古学家希望了解霍霍卡姆群体是如何组织起来，在这种看似困难的情况下成功生存的。在许多地区，人们发展了大规模的灌溉系统，考古学家认为，修建和维护运河的需要导致了政治中央集权的发展和不断加强。马拉纳社区很有趣，因为这个群体似乎一直依赖降雨农业，而运河系统并不存在。贝曼先生认为，分区域的经济专业化和精英对外来材料的控制相结合，具有与运河相同的社会功能，他的研究将对这一假设进行评估。这项工作之所以重要，有几个原因。它将增加我们对美国史前历史上一个仅有部分了解的时期的理解。它将为简单技术水平的社会如何适应恶劣和不可预测的环境提供新的线索，并最终将有助于培养有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Katherine Spielmann, Mr. James Bayman will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological excavation at the site of Marana in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. This site, constructed and occupied by Hohokan peoples, dates from approximately AD 1100-11350 and consists, in effect of a vast multi-site community which spans a 146 km square area and cross-cuts three environmental zones. To date, research has been conducted in two of these zones and with National Science Foundation support Mr. Bayman will excavate in the third of these to collect comparative data. He will place 1 x 2 meter test pits in four of the largest refuse middens which appear the represent the remains of separate households. He will then analyze the materials recovered both to determine the kinds of production activities which characterized this zone and nature and frequency of "exotic" materials. With these data he will attempt to reconstruct the social, political and economic organization of Marana. By early in the first millennium A.D. Hohocam peoples had developed a complex society which knit together large numbers of peoples in a harsh and unpredictable desert environment. Archaeologists wish to understand how Hohocam groups organized themselves to exist successfully in this seemingly difficult situation. In many areas groups developed large scale irrigation systems and archaeologists believe that the need both to build and then maintain canals led to the growth and continual reinforcement of political centralization. The Marana community is interesting because this group appears to have depended on rainfall agriculture and a canal system is not present. Mr. Bayman believes that a combination of economic specialization by subregion and control of exotic materials by elites served the same social function as canals and his research will evaluate this hypothesis. This work is important for several reasons. It will increase our understanding of an only partially understood period in American prehistory. It will shed new light on how societies at a simple level of technology adapted to harsh and unpredictable environments and finally it will contribute to the training of a promising young scientist.