Doctoral Dissertation Research: Transportation, Integration, Facilitation: Prehistoric Footpath Networks in the Sonoran Desert

在凯瑟琳·M·卡梅伦博士的指导下，德文·艾伦·怀特将对索诺兰沙漠地区(特别是帕帕圭里亚)的史前人行道网络进行研究，这些时间段与霍霍卡姆前经典(公元775-1150)和经典(公元1150-1300)相关，以及创造它们的社会，以及它们与包含它们的物理环境的复杂关系。他将通过使用从机载和星载传感器系统、地理信息系统空间分析、定量预测模型、人种学数据和行人调查获得的多光谱和高光谱数据，研究人行道如何在时间和空间上作为多标度社区和区域一体化的机制。此外，还将重点开发有效的方法来探测、识别和记录人行道网络和相关的考古特征。人行道是全球考古记录中很少被研究的部分--特别是在新大陆地区，如北美西南部。虽然正式的道路和堤道可以为日常活动和仪式游行提供便利，但人们更频繁地行走在人行道上，执行从平凡到精神的日常事务，从附近的食品采购到长途异域材料贸易。大多数情况下，人行道是将社区与有价值的资源、圣地和彼此联系起来的路线。这些道路在哪里开始和结束，它们采取什么方向，以及它们之间的联系可以揭示许多关于古代人民如何生活和他们的文化如何运作的信息，因为这些活动中的许多都是在非正式的常规水平上进行的。更具体地说，人行道网络可以说明社区之间的相互联系的程度，特别是当传统的物质文化，如贸易物品、墓品、建筑和垃圾很难被看透的时候。考古学家研究计划的智力价值包括证明几种新的遥感技术在考古田野工作中的效用和效率；证明研究人行道网络的结构、路点和终点可以揭示旅行者的动机以及特定区域内社会的焦点和复杂性；以及填补考古学上对帕帕圭里亚的理解的一个重大空白。然而，除了社会科学家的担忧之外，还有几个对广大公众来说很重要的影响。首先，这一奖项将有助于研究生的正式培训。其次，这项研究将进一步推动这样一种观点，即考古学不一定需要涉及挖掘来询问和回答关于过去的重要问题。第三，怀特将与两个政府实体(美国空军和国家公园管理局)以互惠互利的安排密切合作。每个实体都将提供对数据、设施和土地的访问，以支持他的研究，以换取他帮助他们努力保护受空军活动和非法移民跨越美墨边境影响的地区的古代人行道。最后，该项目将为该地区的土著人民提供重新发现其部分历史和神话的机会。人行道对西南部的许多族群来说非常重要，由于许多他们无法控制的因素，那些生活在索诺兰沙漠的人已经失去了他们大部分古代小径所在的踪迹。怀特先生将与这些团体合作，加强他们与风景和他们的过去的联系。

Under the supervision of Dr. Catherine M. Cameron, Devin Alan White will conduct research on prehistoric footpath networks in the Sonoran Desert region (specifically the Papagueria) during the time periods that correlate with the Hohokam Preclassic (AD 775-1150) and Classic (AD 1150-1300), the societies that created them, and their complex relationships with the physical environment that contained them. He will investigate how footpaths acted as mechanisms for multiscalar community and regional integration over time and space through the use of multispectral and hyperspectral data obtained from airborne and spaceborne sensor systems, Geographic Information System spatial analyses, quantitative predictive modeling, ethnographic data, and pedestrian survey. Additionally, there will be a focus on the development of efficient methods for detection, identification, and recording of footpath networks and associated archaeological features.Footpaths are a rarely studied part of the global archaeological record-especially in regions of the New World such as the North American Southwest. While formal roads and causeways can facilitate daily activities and ritual processions, footpaths are traveled more regularly by people carrying out daily tasks that range from the mundane to the spiritual, from nearby food procurement to long distance trade of exotic materials. Most often, footpaths are routes that link communities to valuable resources, to sacred places, and to each other. Where these paths begin and end, what directions they take, and what they connect can reveal much about how ancient peoples lived their lives and how their cultures operated because many of these activities are carried out on an informal, routine level. More specifically, footpath networks can speak to the degree of interconnectedness between communities, especially when connections are difficult to see through traditional material culture such as trade items, grave goods, architecture, and refuse.The intellectual merits of the research program for archaeologists include proving the utility and efficiency of several new remote sensing techniques for archaeological fieldwork; demonstrating that studying the structure, waypoints, and endpoints of footpath networks can reveal the motivations of travelers as well as the foci and complexity of societies within a particular region; and filling in a significant gap in the archaeological understanding of the Papagueria. Beyond the concerns of social scientists, however, there are several impacts of importance to the public at large. First, this award will assist in the formal training of a graduate student. Second, the research will further promote the idea that archaeology does not necessarily need to involve excavation to both ask and answer important questions about the past. Third, Mr. White will be working closely with two government entities (United States Air Force and the National Park Service) in a mutually beneficial arrangement. Each entity will provide access to data, facilities, and land to support his research in exchange for his assistance with their efforts to preserve ancient footpaths in areas affected by the activities of the Air Force and the movements of illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border. Last, this project will provide native peoples in the region with an opportunity to rediscover a part of their history and mythology. Footpaths are very important to many groups in the Southwest and, due to many factors outside of their control, those that live in the Sonoran Desert have lost track of where most of their ancient paths are located. Mr. White will be working with these groups to strengthen their connection to the landscape and their past.