Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Cultural Interaction In Hierarchical Contexts

大规模复杂社会的政治扩张最好理解为精英权力和地方创新之间的动态。早期对文化接触、迁移和政治扩张的研究夸大了文化实践从一个占主导地位的核心政体向其周边定居点的扩散。然而，这种对核心的强调忽视了当地社区在文化接触情况下的经验，以及这些互动对身份和日常生活的影响。Gregory D.作者声明：Christina M.加州大学圣巴巴拉分校（UCSB）的弗里伯格将进行考古研究，以评估复杂的密西西比社会卡霍基亚（公元1050-1375年）如何以及为什么扩展其对北美中部大陆的影响，以及“密西西比化”过程如何在伊利诺斯州中西部的下伊利诺斯河谷（LIRV）展开。这项研究将突出文化接触的复杂过程，使当地人民不被动地采用更强大的核心政体的做法，但参与，或抵制参与，在自己的身份。该项目还将为本科生提供教育机会，以及实地考察和实验室工作的实践经验，培训他们从事考古学职业所需的实践技能。研究结果将通过出版物与科学界分享，并通过公开讲座与当地社区分享，讨论他们家乡的史前史，同时强调背景和考古学中科学方法的重要性，以此作为阻止普遍掠夺行为的一种手段。卡霍基亚，靠近现代密苏里州的圣路易斯，是北美最大的前哥伦布时期城市，其居民将密西西比文化的各个方面传播到北至威斯康星州西北部。然而，很少有人了解卡霍克人如何发起这些遥远的互动，以及当地团体如何以及为什么参与其中。位于伊利诺伊州西南部卡霍基亚的美国底层地区的定居点显示了与卡霍基亚最高中心直接政治和经济联系的证据。更北的考古研究也表明，边境定居点的居民选择性地采用了密西西比生活方式的某些方面，同时保持了一些现有的传统。工艺生产和交流，生计模式，并在奥黛丽北网站在LIRV社区组织的分析将增加宝贵的洞察力，考古学家的密西西比河现象的理解在卡霍基亚的周边。LIRV与卡霍基亚的接近可能促进了两个地区之间的定期互动，使美国底层群体能够进行某些社会，政治和经济互动，而这些互动不会与更遥远的群体发生。以磁力梯度测量数据为出发点，挖掘工作应能揭示具有重要经济意义的卡霍基工艺品的生产和交换的证据。放射性碳测定的贝叶斯统计分析将为LIRV中的密西西比化过程建立时间轴。最后，日常做法，如食品加工和储存和社区组织的额外分析将阐明当地LIRV人纳入卡霍基人的做法和/或保持传统的程度与他们现有的理解世界秩序。

The political expansion of large-scale complex societies is best understood as a dynamic between elite power and local innovation. Earlier studies of culture contact, migration, and political expansion have exaggerated the diffusion of cultural practices from a dominant core polity to its peripheral settlements. However, this emphasis on the core overlooks the experiences of local communities in culture contact situations, and the implications these interactions have on identity and everyday life. Dr. Gregory D. Wilson and Christina M. Friberg of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) will conduct archaeological research to evaluate how and why the complex Mississippian society of Cahokia (A.D. 1050-1375) extended its influence over the North American midcontinent and how the process of "Mississippianization" unfolded in the Lower Illinois River Valley (LIRV) of west-central Illinois. This research will highlight the complex process of culture contact whereby local peoples do not passively adopt the practices of a more powerful core polity, but engage, or resist engagement, in reference to their own identities. The project will also provide educational opportunities, and hands-on experience in both fieldwork and lab work, to undergraduate students, training them in the practical skills necessary to pursue a career in archaeology. Results will be shared with the scientific community through publication, and with local communities through public talks addressing the prehistory of their hometowns while stressing the importance of context and the scientific method in archaeology, as a means to discourage the widespread practice of looting.Cahokia, near modern-day St. Louis, Missouri, was the largest PreColumbian city in North America and its inhabitants spread aspects of Mississippian culture as far north as northwest Wisconsin. However, little is understood about how Cahokians initiated these distant interactions, and how and why local groups participated in them. Settlements in Cahokia's American Bottom region of southwestern Illinois show evidence of direct political and economic ties with the paramount center of Cahokia. Archaeological research farther north has also shown that the inhabitants of frontier settlements selectively adopted certain aspects of a Mississippian way of life, while maintaining a number of their existing traditions. An analysis of craft production and exchange, subsistence patterns, and community organization at the Audrey North Site in the LIRV will add valuable insight to archaeologists' understanding of the Mississippian phenomenon in Cahokia's immediate periphery. The proximity of the LIRV to Cahokia likely facilitated regular interaction between the two regions, enabling certain social, political, and economic interactions with American Bottom groups that did not transpire with more distant groups. Using magnetic gradiometry data as a starting point, excavation should reveal evidence of the production and exchange of economically important Cahokian crafts. Bayesian statistical analysis of Radiocarbon assays will establish a timeline for the Mississippianization process in the LIRV. Finally, additional analysis of everyday practices such as food processing and storage and community organization will shed light on the degree to which local LIRV people incorporated Cahokian practices and/or maintained traditions with reference to their existing understanding of world order.