Social Change, Subsistence and Sedentism in the Pithouse-to-Pueblo Transition in the Southwest

在国家科学基金会的支持下，托马斯·罗塞克博士将在新墨西哥州中部的邓拉普-萨拉查遗址进行为期三个季节的考古发掘。罗塞克博士的初步工作表明，该遗址的年代约为公元500至700年，以大约300平方米乘400平方米的石器和陶器散布为标志。小规模的挖掘证明了半地下坑房和储藏坑的存在。通过一个多年的挖掘和分析计划，罗塞克博士将收集更多的信息，以验证居民依赖农业而不是狩猎和采集食物的初步迹象，并重建社会组织。为了实现这些目标，他将定位和展示足够大的建筑特征及其周围区域，以检查国内活动的组织情况，并增加对矿藏的时序控制，以便能够确定住宅和存储特征之间以及场地上多个住宅之间的关联。将对多个放射性碳样进行年代测定，植物硅胶体和大型植物学分析将提供有关所消费植物的详细信息。当西班牙探险家在16世纪初第一次进入美国西南部时，他们发现美洲原住民生活在等级制度组织的社会中的大量人口聚集地，依赖农业。考古学家希望了解这个复杂的社会层面是如何发展起来的，他们在西南地区的大部分研究都集中在这个问题上。一个关键的变化发生在公元一千年中期，典型的半地下顶楼住宅被抛弃，取而代之的是多层的普韦布洛住宅。根据许多发掘的数据，居住类型、居住模式、对农业的依赖和社会复杂性的发展似乎密切相关，一些模型检验了这些变量之间的相互作用。在这种情况下，邓拉普-萨拉查网站特别有趣，因为它挑战了这一假设。这个皮塔斯村的居民似乎高度依赖农业，但没有表现出任何其他所谓的相关变化。该网站的进一步工作将对这一假设进行评估。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为导致复杂社会崛起的变量提供新的线索。它将提供许多考古学家感兴趣的数据，由于许多本科生将参与实地研究，该项目将有助于培养潜在的年轻科学家。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Thomas Rocek will conduct three seasons of archaeological excavation at the site of Dunlap-Salazar located in central New Mexico. Preliminary work by Dr. Rocek indicates that the site dates to approximately 500 to 700 A.D.and is marked by a ca. 300 by 400 meter square scatter of lithic and ceramics. Small scale excavation has demonstrated the presence of both semi-subterranean pit houses and storage pits. Through a multiyear program of excavation and analysis Dr. Rocek will collect additional information to test preliminary indications that inhabitants were dependent on agricultural rather than hunted and gathered food and to reconstruct social organization. To accomplish these goals he will locate and expose large enough areas of architectural features and their surroundings to examine the organization of domestic activities and to obtain increased chronological control over the deposits to allow identification of associations between dwellings and storage features and among the multiple dwellings on the site. Multiple radiocarbon samples will be dated and phytolith and macrobotanical analysis will provide detailed information on plants consumed. When Spanish explorers first entered the Southwestern United States in the early 1500s they found Native Americans living in large population aggregations in hierarchically organized societies and dependent on agriculture. Archaeologists wish to understand how this complex level of society developed and much of their research in the Southwest has focused on this issue. A crucial changed occurred in the mid first millennium AD when the typical semi-subterranean pithouse dwellings were abandoned in favor of multistory pueblo houses. Based on data from many excavations it appears that changes in dwelling type, settlement pattern, reliance on agriculture and the development of social complexity appear closely related and a number of models examine the interaction among these variables. In this context the Dunlap-Salazar site is particularly interesting because it challenges this assumption. The inhabitants of this pithouse village appear to have been highly dependent on agriculture but to evince none of the other supposedly related changes. Further work at the site will evaluate this hypothesis. This research is important for several reasons. It will shed new light on the variables which led to the rise of complex societies. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and because many undergraduates will participate in the field research the project will contribute to the education of potential young scientists.