Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Effect Of Culture Contact On Household And Community Organization

在Robin Beck博士的指导下，Ashley Schubert将调查文化互动对北卡罗莱纳州阿巴拉契亚山顶祖传切罗基社区的影响。它利用长期的考古数据来研究一个相互作用导致的变化过程，这个过程今天在世界许多地方仍在继续。该项目将考察史前晚期美国原住民的生活，当时阿巴拉契亚地区的一些社区经历了被考古学家称为密西西比化的文化转型过程。在美国中西部和东南部的许多印第安人社区中展开的密西西比化（公元900-1500年）的漫长过程，在考古学上通过人工制品风格和社区实践的相似性来确定。那么，山区社区是如何应对他们遇到的密西西比习俗的呢？在家庭活动和公共环境中，社会融合或抵抗的过程是如何发挥作用的？在经历不同程度接触的场所，变化表达是否不同？利用最近在皮斯加村遗址（凯恩河遗址）的挖掘，并分析之前从该遗址和一个丘和村庄中心（花园溪遗址）挖掘的藏品，本研究将比较在重大文化转型时期，整个阿巴拉契亚山脉中部的家庭和社区活动的考古组合和空间组织。该项目的目标是：(1)调查密西西比人的接触和交流对主要的皮斯加定居点的影响程度；(2)评估这些变化如何影响阿巴拉契亚山顶生态中的社区实践。这项研究有可能产生一个更全面的早期密西西比的出现和相互作用在外围地缘政治区域的图景。这将为整个东部林地的密西西比研究提供信息，并在多个社会互动尺度上为早期复杂的前状态形成提供更深入的见解。对皮斯加社区的研究将对当地社区教育、地区考古学家之间更广泛的合作以及后代社区的参与和参与产生更广泛的影响。当地一所中学后面的挖掘促进了项目对社区教育和管理的投资。通过在挖掘过程中利用教育机会和利用现有的考古收藏，该项目保留了原位考古记录，同时承认附近大学的收藏。该项目还吸引了其他利益相关者，包括来自皮斯加国家森林和切罗基印第安人东部部落的考古学家，并促进了对北卡罗来纳州西部考古记录的更深入了解，同时确保与后代社区分享结果和发现。结果和数据将通过同行评审的出版物和考古数据的在线数字档案，即数字考古记录（tDAR）共享。公共宣传将包括在当地博物馆举办展览，并在当地博物馆和会议上发表演讲。

Under the guidance of Dr. Robin Beck, Ashley Schubert will investigate the influence of cultural interaction on ancestral Cherokee communities in the Appalachian Summit of North Carolina. It takes advantage of long term archaeological data to examine a process of interactional caused change which continues today in many parts of the world. The project will examine Native American life during the late prehistoric period when some Appalachian communities underwent a process of cultural transformation identified by archaeologists as Mississippianization. The long process of Mississippianization (AD 900-1500) that unfolded in many Native American communities across the midwestern and southeastern United States is identified archaeologically by similarities in artifact styles and community practices. How, then, did mountain communities respond to Mississippian practices that they encountered? How does the process of social integration or resistance play out in household activities and in public contexts? Is change expressed differently at sites that experience differing degrees of contact? Using recent excavations at a Pisgah village site (the Cane River site) and analysis of previously excavated collections from this site and from a mound and village center (the Garden Creek site), this research will compare the archaeological assemblages and spatial organization of both household and community activities across the central Appalachian Summit during a time of major cultural transformation. The goals of this project are (1) to investigate the extent to which Mississippian contact and exchange influenced major Pisgah settlements and (2) to evaluate how these changes affected community practice within the ecology of the Appalachian Summit. This research has the potential to generate a more comprehensive picture of early Mississippian emergence and interaction across a peripheral geopolitical region. This will inform Mississippian studies across the Eastern Woodlands, as well as provide greater insights into early complex pre-state formations at multiple scales of social interaction.This research on Pisgah communities will have broader impacts on local community education, broader collaboration among regional archaeologists, and participation and involvement with descendant communities. Excavations behind a local middle school facilitated an investment of the project into community education and stewardship. By utilizing educational opportunities during excavation and making use of existing archaeological collections, this project preserves the in situ archaeological record while simultaneously acknowledging the collections curated in nearby universities. This project has engaged other stakeholders, including archaeologists from the Pisgah National Forest and the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, and facilitates a more robust understanding of the archaeological record in western North Carolina while ensuring that results and findings are shared with descendent communities. Results and data will be shared through peer-reviewed publications and the online digital archive for archaeological data, the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR). Public outreach will include instillation of a local museum exhibit and lectures given at local museums and conferences.