Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant: Social Interaction and Colonialism in Peru

在Kevin J.Vaughn博士的指导下，Verity Whalen女士将进行论文研究，以调查社会互动和殖民主义之间的关系。她将考察秘鲁南海岸纳斯卡晚期遗址Cocahuischo的古代家庭和墓葬。Cocahuischo位于Tierras Blancas河上游山谷，位于安第斯山脉海岸和高地之间的关键地理边界地带。大约在公元600年左右，科卡惠施是一个有近300户家庭的社区，是当地山谷政体的中心。到公元1000年，随着瓦里国--第一个安第斯帝国--的崩溃，这个定居点被放弃了。这400年间发生的事情是帝国兴起的一个关键案例。惠伦的论文研究将通过考察即将成为“殖民者”和“被殖民者”之间的接触和互动的历史，来发展人们对纳斯卡瓦里殖民主义的当前理解。为此，惠伦将利用多项考古技术，包括家庭考古学、陶器的仪器中子活化分析、黑铁矿工具的激光烧蚀-电感耦合等离子体-质谱仪，以及人类骨骼遗骸的同位素分析，以追踪史前时期人和物品的运动。尽管这项研究本质上是考古的，但这项研究与当今相邻的政治实体之间存在类似差异的情况有关。理解这种相互作用有助于洞察将国家联系在一起的纽带和破坏团结的力量。考古数据，因为它可以提供长期的视角，使研究人员能够追踪这种跨越几个世纪的时期的互动。通过调查地区参与如何塑造当地社区政治和新兴的殖民制度，惠伦的论文建立在广泛的人类学研究的基础上，并将为过去和现在的社会互动和殖民遭遇提供新的见解。所采用的办法主张将殖民遭遇视为土著群体和非当地群体之间相互影响的漫长区域互动过程的结果。这项研究有可能改变相互作用的分析方式。最近的学术研究已经开始调查土著群体在这种接触中的积极作用，以及文化传统如何通过互动和殖民主义而变得相互交融。但这样的工作充满了问题，并没有真正解决这个问题--人们如何以及为什么从他人的信仰、传统和象征中吸取教训来塑造自己在社区中的身份和地位？惠伦女士的论文研究将促进人类学对这些问题的理解，并通过系统地分析陶器、非本地物品、殡仪馆惯例和骨骼材料，为解决这些问题提供一个方法论框架。该项目将进一步深化惠伦女士的研究生培训。此外，这是美国和秘鲁考古学家之间的合作努力，将为秘鲁和美国学生提供学习机会，并与纳斯卡和蒂拉斯·布兰卡斯山谷的当地社区接触。以前与纳斯卡当地社区成员的合作将继续提供培训机会，并促进关于考古研究和发现的对话。惠伦女士还将在纳斯卡的学校、城镇会议和博物馆展示这项研究的成果，努力创造教育展览，鼓励考古旅游，并确保该项目的影响远远超出学术界。

Under the direction of Dr. Kevin J. Vaughn, Ms. Verity Whalen will conduct dissertation research to investigate the relationship between societal interaction and colonialism. She will examine ancient households and burials at Cocahuischo, a Late Nasca site on the south coast of Peru. Cocahuischo is located in the upper valley of the Tierras Blancas River, at a key geographical borderland in the Andean landscape - between the coast and the highlands. Around AD 600, Cocahuischo was a community of nearly 300 households and the center of the local valley polity. By AD 1000, the settlement had been abandoned following the collapse of the Wari state - the first Andean empire. What happened during the 400 years in between is a crucial case study in the emergence of empires. Ms. Whalen's dissertation research will develop current understandings of Wari colonialism in Nasca by examining the history of contact and interaction between the people who would become the "colonizers" and the "colonized." To do so, Ms. Whalen will draw from a number of archaeological techniques, including household archaeology, Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis of pottery, Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry of obsidian tools, and isotopic analysis of human skeletal remains, to track the movement of people and objects in prehistory.Although archaeological in nature the research is relevant to the present day in which similar disparities exist between adjacent political entities. Understanding such interactions provide insight into the bonds that hold states together and the forces which undermine unity. Archaeological data because of the long term perspective it can provide allows researchers to track such interactions across periods which may span multiple centuries.By investigating how regional engagements shape local community politics and emerging colonial systems, Ms. Whalen's dissertation builds from an extensive body of anthropological research and stands to contribute new insights into societal interaction and colonial encounters in both the past and present. The approach employed advocates viewing colonial encounters as the outcome of a lengthy and mutually influential process of regional interaction between indigenous and non-local groups. The research has the potential to shape how interaction is analyzed. Recent scholarship has begun to investigate the active role of indigenous groups in such encounters and how cultural traditions may become intermixed through interaction and colonialism. But such work is fraught with problems and does not really address the question - how and why do people draw from the beliefs, traditions, and symbols of others to shape their own identity and position within the community? Ms. Whalen's dissertation research will advance anthropological understandings of these issues and provide a methodological framework for addressing them by systematically analyzing pottery, non-local goods, mortuary practices, and skeletal material.This project will further Ms. Whalen's graduate training. In addition it is a collaborative effort between American and Peruvian archaeologists that will provide learning opportunities for Peruvian and American students, and engage the local communities in Nasca and the Tierras Blancas Valley. Prior collaborations with local community members in Nasca, who participated in excavations and survey on past field projects, will continue to contribute training opportunities and foster a dialogue on archaeological research and discoveries. Ms. Whalen will also present the results of this research at schools, town meetings, and museums in Nasca, working to create educational displays that will encourage archaeo-tourism and ensure that the impacts of this project reach far beyond the academic community.