Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Material Culture of Conversion: Early Franciscan Religious Sites at Tula de Allende, Hidalgo

虽然宗教是世界上大多数人身份认同的一个重要方面，并在历史上大多数历史冲突和征服中发挥了重要作用，但考古研究和理论并没有充分考虑宗教在重塑社会世界中的作用。这一主题的物质文化视角可以增强或挑战对宗教变化的理解，就像历史考古学挑战了标准的历史叙述一样。为此，本论文项目侧重于墨西哥中部早期殖民时期不平等权力结构中的宗教身份和机构。这项研究的重点是墨西哥伊达尔戈州图拉德阿连德的两个早期方济会遗址：一个建于公元1530年的小教堂（研究人员最近在那里挖掘了45具遗骸）和一个建于公元1550年的大教堂。尽管小教堂和大教堂的建造时间相差不到20年，但它们的建筑风格、进入方式、与城市景观的关系、以及可能展示的人工物品组合都截然不同。在恩里克博士Rodriguez-Alegría的指导下，香农·杜根·艾弗森将使用一个详细的地理数据库；细粒度的建筑、生物考古和人工分析；以及档案研究，以便观察宗教身份是如何随着时间的推移而重新协商的。西班牙征服者认为征服新大陆是正当的，因为这需要“异教徒”皈依基督教。1524年，12名方济会修士抵达墨西哥中部，这是一项雄心勃勃的皈依计划的第一波浪潮，最终将蔓延到整个新西班牙。土著对这一计划的反应的次要历史和语言模型往往在从“迁就”到“冲突”的范围内变化，这些术语指的是乞讨者和土著社区的意图、行动和误解。该项目的目标是通过将物质文化和景观研究作为宗教身份协商的额外知识来源，扩展“宗教”物质文化的概念，并应用将宗教视为身份的一个方面的创新理论框架，来扩展和挑战这些模型。自托尔特克时期（约公元950-1150年）以来，图拉几乎一直是墨西哥中部重要的宗教和政治场所，在西班牙征服之前（公元1428-1521年），图拉很可能对阿兹特克人具有重要的宗教内涵。尽管有这么丰富的历史，迄今为止还没有专门针对殖民时期的研究发表。因此，这项研究将扩展这座城市的历史，考古学家、历史学家和游客都认为这座城市是墨西哥过去和现在最重要的遗址之一。艾弗森致力于通过在英语和西班牙语出版物中分享她的研究成果，并将她的数据库公开，从而促进与国际和本地研究人员的合作。此外，她将通过向图拉的学生、会众和社区进行讲座和参观来宣传这项研究。这些努力将使研究人员和公众对转化实践的概念复杂化。这个奖项也将进一步促进艾弗森女士的学术和智力发展。

Though religion is a crucial aspect of identity for most of the world's population and has played a major role in most historical conflicts and conquests throughout history, archaeological research and theory has not adequately considered religion's role in remaking social worlds. A material-cultural perspective on this topic could augment or challenge understandings of religious change, just as historical archaeology has challenged standard narratives of history. To that end, this dissertation project focuses on religious identity and agency within the unequal power structures of the early colonial period in central Mexico. The research focuses on two early Franciscan sites in Tula de Allende, Hidalgo (Mexico): a chapel constructed in 1530 A.D. (at which researchers recently excavated the remains of forty-five individuals) and a cathedral constructed in 1550 A.D. Though built within two decades of one another, the chapel and the cathedral exhibit strikingly different architectural styles, modes of access, relationship to the urban landscape, and may reveal very different artifact assemblages. Under the direction of Dr. Enrique Rodriguez-Alegría, Shannon Dugan Iverson will employ a detailed geodatabase; fine-grained architectural, bioarchaeological, and artifactual analysis; and archival research in order to observe the ways that religious identities were renegotiated over time.Spanish conquistadors justified the conquest of the New World because it entailed the conversion of "pagans" to Christianity. In 1524, twelve Franciscan friars arrived in Central Mexico in the first wave of an ambitious conversion program that would eventually spread throughout New Spain. Secondary historical and linguistic models of Indigenous responses to this program have tended to vary along a spectrum ranging from "accommodation" to "conflict," terms that refer to the intentions, actions, and misunderstandings of both the mendicant and Indigenous communities. The goals of this project are to expand upon and challenge these models by using material culture and landscape studies as additional sources of knowledge about the negotiation of religious identity, to expand the notion of "religious" material culture, and to apply an innovative theoretical framework that considers religion as an aspect of identity.Tula has been the site of nearly continuous religious and political importance in central Mexico since the Toltec period (circa 950-1150AD), and likely had important religious connotations for the Aztecs before the Spanish conquest (1428-1521 AD). Despite this rich history, no study focusing exclusively on the colonial period has been published to date. The research will therefore extend the history of a city that is considered by archaeologists, historians, and tourists alike to be one of the most important sites in Mexico's past and present. Iverson is committed to fostering collaboration with international and local researchers by sharing her results in publications in English and Spanish and by making her databases publicly accessible. Further, she will publicize the research by giving lectures and tours to students, congregants, and communities in Tula. These efforts will complicate notions of conversion practices for researchers and the general public alike. This award will also further Ms. Iverson's academic and intellectual development.