Dissertation Research: Social Complexity and Corporate Group Dynamics: A Case Study of Corporate Households on theLower Columbia River, on the Southern Northwest Coast

在John Speth博士的指导下，Elizabeth Sobel女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将分析从华盛顿-俄勒冈州边境哥伦比亚河下游三个地点挖掘出来的考古材料。这些遗址跨越了从史前晚期到早期历史时期的时间顺序，因此可以记录哥伦比亚之前和之后的时期。这个西北地区在人类学上是众所周知的，因为它的文化复杂程度是由那些仅仅依靠狩猎和采集而缺乏家畜和植物的群体实现的。这种复杂程度在狩猎采集者中是独一无二的，也是定居农业和游牧人口的特征。因此，这一地区一直是人类学研究的重点。索贝尔女士对促进这种发展的社会过程很感兴趣，并转向研究企业集团与更广泛的社会组织之间关系的理论文献。西北社会被组织成多家庭单位，居住在单独的长房子里。一系列的备选公式假设了基于这些企业集团内部和之间的竞争关系的驱动力。长屋通常会留下明显的考古印记，而构成索贝尔分析基础的三个地点包含了许多这样的单元。她将与控制良好的博物馆藏品合作，研究结构内部和结构之间物体的空间分布。大量保存完好的遗迹，如贵重的黑曜石（火山玻璃）工具和其他长途交易的外来物品，使人们能够确定身份关系。因此，有可能阐明等级关系，并了解这些关系如何随时间变化。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它解决了一个重要的人类学问题。它最大限度地利用挖掘的数据，并将其综合成一种对许多研究人员有用的形式。它还将帮助培训一名有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. John Speth, MS Elizabeth Sobel will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will analyze archaeological materials which have been excavated from three sites on the lower Columbia River on the Washington-Oregon border. These sites span the chronological period from late prehistoric to early historic times and thus serve to document both pre and post-Colombian periods. This Northwest area is well known anthropologically for the degree of cultural complexity achieved by groups which relied solely on hunting and gathering and lacked domestic plants and animals. This level of complexity is unique among hunter gatherers and is characteristic of settled agricultural and pastoral populations. Therefore this region has been focus of sustained anthropological work. MS Sobel is interested in the social processes which fostered this development and has turned to a body of theoretical literature which examines the relationships between corporate groups and broader social organization. Northwest societies were organized into multifamily units which inhabited individual long houses. A series of alternative formulations posit driving forces based on competitive relationships both within and between such corporate groups. Longhouses often leave a clear archaeological imprint and the three sites which form the basis for MS Sobel's analysis contain a number of such units. Working with well controlled museum collections she will examine the spatial distribution of objects both within and between structures. Abundant, well preserved remains such as highly prized obsidian (volcanic glass) tools and other exotics which were traded over long distances allow status relationships to be determined. Thus it is possible to elucidate hierarchical relationships and see how these changed over time. This research is important for several reasons. It addresses an important anthropological question. It makes maximum use of excavated data and synthesizes it in a form useful to many researchers. It also will assist in training a promising young scientist.