Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant: Religion at the Edges: Social Boundaries and Religious Architecture in the Prehispanic Southwest

在芭芭拉·米尔斯博士的指导下，凯瑟琳·邓根将分析亚利桑那州中东部和新墨西哥州中西部的公元前13世纪和14世纪的宗教建筑。这一大片区域包含多个空间和社会边界区域，在这些区域中，实践不同文化传统的群体生活在一起，非常接近。这项研究将考察宗教建筑与这些边界地带的关系，询问宗教是否在创造和加强社会边界方面发挥了作用，或者宗教是否在社会边界上更具灵活性。这项研究将通过对大基瓦(宗教结构)特征的空间变异性的检查来解决这些问题。如果社会边界区域中的大猕猴桃坚持理想的形状或大小，这将表明它们促进了边界的维护。相反，边界区域结构之间的更大变异性将表明，边界位置有助于宗教试验或灵活性。随着时间的推移，在边界的背景下对宗教的研究挑战了在前现代或小规模社会中作为主要一体化的长期宗教观点。研究将包括重新审查以前出土的伟大猕猴桃的收藏品和记录，以及从大约100个遗址的已公布和未公布的记录创建一个大规模数据库。大多数将被重新检查的收藏品都是在20世纪中期挖掘出来的，只有最不寻常或最引人注目的发现才被解释为宗教活动的证据。这些藏品主要存放在菲尔德博物馆、哈佛大学皮博迪博物馆和新墨西哥州人类学实验室博物馆，对这些藏品的重新评估应该会对更广泛的西南宗教研究做出重大贡献。现有藏品的使用坚持以保护为重点的考古学方法，强调对考古记录影响最小的研究。新墨西哥州的上吉拉地区将作为一个密集的当地研究区域，最近完成的挖掘和密集的收藏品分析数据将补充区域数据库。对新墨西哥州穆勒克里克一处13世纪遗址的有限发掘表明，该地区长期以来一直是社会的边界地带，与更大的地区相比，该遗址的宗教建筑是不寻常的。除了这些具体的问题，这项研究的目的是做出更广泛的贡献。该数据库删除了空间数据，将在网上提供，大大增加了未充分研究收集的数据的可及性。公共土地占研究区域的很大一部分；这项研究将增加可供管理机构和公众解释的信息。对已完成挖掘的材料的分析将继续为包括亚利桑那大学和皮马社区学院在内的多个机构的本科生提供培训机会。这项研究延续了亚利桑那大学和考古西南大学之间的合作，后者是一个专注于考古保护和研究的非营利性组织。这项工作的结果将通过考古西南的网站、杂志和图森和上吉拉的公开演示向公众展示，并通过同行评议的出版物向学术受众展示。最后，这些成果将用于西南考古局在上吉拉的地主推广活动，最终有助于保存考古记录。

Under the supervision of Dr. Barbara Mills, Katherine Dungan will analyze prehispanic religious architecture dating to the 13th and 14th centuries C.E. in east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico. This large region contains multiple spatial and social boundary zones, areas where groups practicing distinct cultural traditions lived in close proximity to one another. The study will examine the relationship of religious architecture to these boundary zones, asking whether religion played a role in the creation and reinforcement of social boundaries, or, alternatively, whether religion was more flexible at social boundaries. The study will approach these questions through the examination of spatial variability in great kiva (religious structure) characteristics. If great kivas in social boundary zones adhere to an ideal form or size this would suggest that they facilitated boundary maintenance. Conversely, greater variability among boundary zone structures would suggest that a boundary position contributed to religious experimentation or flexibility. Research on religion in the context of boundaries over time challenges the long-standing view of religion in premodern or small-scale societies as primarily integrative.The research will include revisiting collections and records from previously excavated great kivas, along with the creation of a large-scale database from published and unpublished records of approximately 100 sites. Most of the collections to be reexamined were excavated in the mid-20th century, with only the most unusual or spectacular finds interpreted as evidence of religious activity. Reevaluation of these collections, housed primarily at the Field Museum, Harvard Peabody Museum, and Museum of New Mexico Laboratory of Anthropology, should contribute substantially to the broader study of Southwestern religion. The use of existing collections adheres to a preservation-focused approach to archaeology, which emphasizes research with a minimal impact on the archaeological record. The Upper Gila area of New Mexico will serve as an intensive local study area, with data from recently completed excavations and intensive collections analysis complementing the regional database. Limited excavation at a 13th-century site in Mule Creek, NM has demonstrated that this area served as a social boundary zone through time and that the site's religious architecture is unusual compared to that of the larger region. Beyond these specific questions, the research aims to make broader contributions. The database, with spatial data removed, will be made available online, substantially increasing the accessibility of data from understudied collections. Public lands make up a large portion of the study area; the study will increase the information available to managing agencies and for public interpretation. The analysis of material from the completed excavations will continue to provide training opportunities for undergraduates at multiple institutions, including the University of Arizona and Pima Community College. The research continues the collaboration between the University of Arizona and Archaeology Southwest, a non-profit organization focused on archaeological preservation and research. The results of the work will be presented to the public through Archaeology Southwest's website, magazine, and public presentations in Tucson and the Upper Gila, and to an academic audience through peer-reviewed publications. Finally, the results will be used in Archaeology Southwest's landowner outreach in the Upper Gila, ultimately contributing to the preservation of the archaeological record.