Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Cultural Ecology of Muskogee Mound Landscapes

在地球仪上，古代遗迹代表着集体（地方、种族、宗教和国家）的历史和身份。在最好的情况下，国际，国家和地方的努力走到一起，以保护历史建筑，景观和文物。然而，最近发生的事件，从中东的文物遭到破坏，到教科文组织提出缓和巴台农神庙大理石浮雕所有权的冲突，再到规范美洲土著祖先遗骸和手工艺品的处理和归还的联邦立法，都表明物质遗产也可能成为冲突的主题。纪念碑和古物是记忆和历史的来源和代表，有多种形式，并向不同的受众传达不同的含义：它们可能被科学家分析，被游客参观，或被后代社区尊为圣地。也有很多方法来写这些纪念碑的历史和意义。然而，土著人的口述历史和他们的祖先建造的建筑的文化观点已经给予很少的优先或关注，无论是在分析或解释。该奖项支持的研究解决了当后代社区被纳入解释古代地方及其意义时可能会获得什么的问题。它会丰富它们对研究人员和公众的价值吗？如果是的话，这是如何实现的？为了解决这些问题，弗吉尼亚大学的博士生，李布洛赫，由博士杰弗里L。Hantman将在美国东部进行实地研究。这一地区的南部地区是值得注意的是非常明显的，但也相当古老的土制寺庙土丘，雕像土丘和墓葬土丘的持续存在，主要建造在公元前。公元前3500年和公元1600年由当代美洲原住民的祖先。 尽管许多土丘遗址在过去几个世纪中被摧毁，但其中大量遗址现在受到联邦和州保护法的保护。研究人员将把重点放在佛罗里达北方的一个马斯科吉（克里克）部落城镇的土丘上。使用民族志的方法，他将收集数据，社区成员如何维护和解释历史相关的土墩网站在五个正在进行的情况下：朝圣土墩网站，口头传统的背诵，仪式的做法和舞蹈的表演，学徒与礼仪领导人和专家，和社区讨论宇宙学知识。研究人员假设，这些表现力的表演，这可能会错过局外人的分析，实际上可能是什么土丘的关键要素，并注意这些表演的美学原则，可以提高对土堆景观和文物的理解。这项研究的结果可能会进一步科学和文化的美洲原住民的历史和文化的理解，以及如何所有社区都受到影响，并影响其景观的物质性。

Around the globe, ancient monuments represent collective (local, ethnic, religious, and national) histories and identities. Under the best circumstances, international, national, and local efforts come together to preserve historical architecture, landscapes, and artifacts. However, recent events, ranging from the destruction of antiquities in the Middle East, to UNESCO's offer to moderate conflicts over the ownership of the Parthenon Marbles, to federal legislation regulating the treatment and repatriation of ancestral Native American human remains and artifacts, demonstrate that material heritage can also be the subject of conflict. Monuments and antiquities, the source and representation of memory and history, take many forms and convey different meanings to different audiences: they may analyzed by scientists, visited by tourists, or revered as sacred places by descendant communities. There are also many ways to write the history and significance of such monuments. However, Indigenous oral histories and cultural perspectives on constructions built by their ancestor have been given little priority or attention in either analysis or interpretation. The research supported by this award addresses the question of what might be gained when descendent communities are included in interpreting ancient places and their meanings. Would it enrich their value for researchers and for the public -- and if so, how does this come about?To address these questions, University of Virginia doctoral student, Lee Bloch, supervised by Dr. Jeffrey L. Hantman, will undertake field research in the eastern United States. The southern part of this region is notable for the continuing presence of very visible but also quite ancient earthen temple mounds, effigy mounds, and burial mounds constructed largely between c. 3500 BCE and 1600 CE by the ancestors of contemporary Native Americans. Although many mound sites were destroyed over the past few centuries, a large number are now protected by federal and state preservation law. The researcher will focus on the mounds in one Muskogee (Creek) tribal town in northern Florida. Using an ethnographic methodology, he will collect data on how community members maintain and interpret histories related to mound sites in five ongoing contexts: pilgrimages to mound sites, recitations of oral traditions, performances of ceremonial practices and dances, apprenticeships with ceremonial leaders and specialists, and community discussions about cosmological knowledge. The investigator hypothesizes that these expressive performances, which could be missed by outsider analysis, may in fact be key elements of what the mounds are and that paying attention to aesthetic principles of these performances may enhance understanding of mound landscapes and artifacts. Findings from this research may further scientific and cultural understanding of Native American history and cultures, as well as how all communities are both affected by and affect the materiality of their landscapes.