Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Traditions in the Ozark Highlands

奥扎克高地的布拉夫庇护所已经产生了一个非常完好的织物文物和相关的纤维材料的美国东南部不寻常的保存考古记录。 在大卫L.伊丽莎白·T·布朗曼霍顿将分析阿肯色州大学博物馆奥扎克布拉夫庇护所收藏的易腐材料。 这些文物，如装满食物的编织植物纤维储存袋，渔网和狩猎网，以及精细编织的布料，在这个收藏中很常见，年龄从公元前1500年到公元1500年不等。记录技术传统的变化可以阐明诸如技术技能的贸易和交流以及共存的社会群体之间社会边界的建立和维持等过程。 霍顿的研究将需要对纤维进行显微镜检查和对人工制品结构进行分析，以了解织物技术中的图案变化。 她的项目探讨了这种“软”技术反映小生产者群体的独特边界，他们与其他此类群体的关系，以及他们对区域交流和互动模式的影响的独特方式。 她的研究还追踪了特定地区技术传统和植物使用随时间变化的方式。 该项目提高了模拟物质文化模式，技术传统和社会群体之间关系的能力，有助于不断尝试改进人类学方法来确定社会边界的物质相关性，并将大大提高人类学对欧扎克高地史前社会过程的理解。除了社会科学家感兴趣的研究问题，该项目将提高公众对史前技术的深度和广度的理解，并为当代本地和非本地工匠和研究人员提供技术信息。 为阿肯色州大学博物馆和奥塞奇民族文化中心建立一个数据库将改善研究人员、工匠和土著社区对藏品信息的获取。 在与Osage协商后，预计该数据库将被纳入一个网站，以提高这些传统的公众可见度。 在经过评审的期刊和部落通讯上发表，将有助于向科学界和世系界传达研究结果。城市发展、掠夺、破坏和土地利用模式的改变，几乎完全摧毁了奥扎克高地的断崖掩体和洞穴的考古记录。 博物馆藏品越来越成为有关考古记录中一些最短暂方面的唯一信息来源。 考古学家越来越多地转向博物馆收藏，以提出新的问题，由于过去的大部分考古记录被破坏，需要保护遗迹。 霍顿的项目对于材料本身的保护以及美国东南部前哥伦布时期第一美国社区的植物使用和织物技术的知识都至关重要。

The Ozark Highland Bluffshelters have yielded an extraordinarily well-preserved archaeological record of fabric artifacts and associated fiber materials unusual for the southeastern United States. Under the supervision of Dr. David L. Browman Elizabeth T. Horton will analyze the perishable materials in the Ozark Bluffshelter Collections at the University of Arkansas Museum. Artifacts such as woven plant-fiber storage bags full of foodstuffs, fishing and hunting nets, and finely woven cloth are common in this collection and range in age from approximately 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D. Horton's study focuses on the late prehistoric period (ca. A.D. 800-1500), in order to understand both innovation and long-term stability in fabric technologies within the context of broader cultural processes.Documenting changes in technological traditions can illuminate processes such as the trade and exchange of technological skills, as well as the creation and maintenance of social boundaries between co-existing social groups. Horton's study will entail microscopic examination of fibers and an analysis of artifact construction, in order to understand patterned variation in fabric technologies. Her project explores the unique ways in which this "soft" technology reflects the distinct boundaries of small groups of producers, their relationships with other such groups, and their impact on regional patterns of exchange and interaction. Her study also traces the ways in which technological traditions and plant use change over time within a specific region. This project enhances the ability to model relationships between material culture patterning, technological traditions and social groups, contributes to ongoing attempts to refine anthropological approaches to determining the material correlates of social boundaries, and will substantially enhance the anthropological understanding of prehistoric social processes in the Ozark Highlands. Beyond research questions of interest to social scientists, this project will enhance public understanding of the depth and breadth of prehistoric technologies and access to technical information for contemporary native and non-native artisans and researchers. The creation of a database for the University of Arkansas Museum and the Osage Nation's Cultural Center will improve access to information about the collection for researchers, artisans, and native communities. With Osage consultation, this database is expected to be incorporated into a website enhancing public visibility of these traditions. Publication in refereed journals and tribal newsletters will aid in communicating results to both the scientific and descent communities.Urban development, looting, vandalism and changing patterns of land use have almost completely destroyed the archaeological record of the bluffshelters and caves of the Ozark Highlands. Museum collections are increasingly the sole source of information about some of the most ephemeral aspects of the archaeological record. Increasingly, archaeologists are turning to museum collections in order to ask new questions, due to past destruction of much of the archaeological record and the need to conserve the remnants. Horton's project is critical for both the preservation of materials themselves and the knowledge of plant use and fabric technologies of pre-Columbian First American communities in the Southeastern United States.