The Development Of Extensive Geographic Networks And Social Complexity

长期以来，研究人员一直试图理解广泛分散和流动的社区之间的互动如何以及为什么会合并成更大、更复杂、更固定的社会政治实体。先前关于这一主题的学术研究主要集中在生态和人口因素上，这些因素使久坐不动的生活方式成为必要。特别是人口增长和采用农业，经常被认为是这一进化过程中的关键因素。考古学现在已经做好准备，通过关注人类和文物在古代景观中的实际运动和融合，对这一关键转变有更细致的理解。在这个项目中，佛罗里达大学的Kenneth Sassaman博士和Zackary Gilmore博士通过追踪代表北美最古老陶器技术的容器的流通和积累，研究了从广泛分布的社会和经济网络到相对有限的基于地方的社区的转变。指导本研究的关键问题是：现有区域网络的空间组织是否预期到向基于地点的社区的转变？或者，现有的区域网络是否被基于地点的社区的组织和结构所矛盾或取代？虽然明确地针对过去的社会，但这项研究与理解今天受到大规模进程（如全球化、新自由主义和全球气候变化）影响的社区有关，这些进程挑战了地方自治和传统的持久性。例如，从现代通讯网络中产生了虚拟的实践社区，使当地能够获得迄今为止仅限于那些具有引导和控制获取非当地信息的政治和经济能力的人的知识。Sassaman和Gilmore使用化学和矿物学来源技术来研究预先存在的相互作用网络的组织如何促进和限制持久的基于地方的社区（即村庄）的出现。中子活化分析（NAA）和岩石学将对早期（5150-4100 B.P.）和古典（4100-3800 B.P.）的陶器碎片的大样本进行研究。在乔治亚州和南卡罗来纳州的萨凡纳河谷的斯托林斯时期遗址，为了测试陶器和粘土变化作为社区规模和组织变化的功能的替代假设。在某种程度上，早期斯托林斯陶器的差异在空间上分布不同，古典斯托林斯时代以地方为基础的社区可能是从现有的社会差异中产生的。相反，由于早期的斯托林斯陶器缺乏可检测的分区域差异，基于地方的社区作为新的社会安排出现了。除了有助于解决一个基本的人类学问题外，这项研究还将通过支持博士后研究职位来创造教育和培训机会。它还将对美国东南部六个不同的收藏库的藏品的研究价值产生直接的积极影响，也许会加强公众和政府对考古藏品长期管理的承诺。此外，收集到的NAA和岩石学数据将提供给其他研究人员，从而提高今后进行比较和综合研究的能力。

Researchers have long sought to understand how and why interaction among widely dispersed and mobile communities coalesced into larger and more complex and stationary sociopolitical entities. Previous scholarship on this topic has focused on the ecological and demographic factors that necessitated a more sedentary lifestyle. Population growth and the adoption of agriculture, in particular, have been frequently cited as key factors in this evolutionary process. Archaeology is now well positioned to achieve a more nuanced understanding of this critical transition by focusing on the actual movements and convergences of people and artifacts across ancient landscapes. In this project, Dr. Kenneth Sassaman and Dr. Zackary Gilmore, of the University of Florida, examine the shift from broadly distributed social and economic networks to relatively circumscribed place-based communities by tracing the circulation and accumulation of vessels representing North America's oldest pottery technology. Key questions guiding this research are: Was the shift to place-based communities anticipated by the spatial organization of existing regional networks? Or, alternatively, were existing regional networks contradicted or superseded by the organization and structure of place-based communities? Although geared explicitly toward past societies, this research bears relevance to the understanding of communities affected today by large-scale processes, such as globalization, neoliberalism, and global climate change, that challenge local autonomy and the persistence of tradition. Arising out of modern networks of communication, for instance, are virtual communities of practice that enable local access to knowledge hitherto restricted to those with the political and economic capacity to channel and control access to nonlocal information.Sassaman and Gilmore use chemical and mineralogical sourcing techniques to investigate how the organization of preexisting interaction networks enabled and constrained the emergence of durable place-based communities (i.e., villages). Neutron activation analysis (NAA) and petrography will be conducted on large samples of pottery sherds from Early (5150-4100 B.P.) and Classic (4100-3800 B.P.) Stallings period sites in the Savannah River valley of Georgia and South Carolina in order to test alternative hypotheses on pottery and clay variation as a function of changes in community scale and organization. To the extent that variations in Early Stallings pottery was differentially distributed in space, the place-based communities of Classic Stallings times likely emerged out of existing social distinctions. Conversely, inasmuch as Early Stallings pottery lacks detectable subregional variations, place-based communities emerged as novel social arrangements. In addition to helping to address a fundamental anthropological question, this research will create an educational and training opportunity by supporting a post-doctoral research position. It will also have an immediate positive impact on the research value of collections housed at six different repositories in the southeastern U.S., perhaps bolstering public and government commitment to the long-term curation of archaeological collections. In addition, the NAA and petrographic data collected will be made available to other researchers and thus enhance the capacity for comparative and synthetic research in the future.