Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Dating Widespread Social Networks

从公元9世纪到12世纪，查科峡谷新墨西哥州的人们和整个广阔的周边地区建立了具有纪念性建筑的社区，这表明了古代普韦布洛精英的发展。考古学家长期以来一直试图了解查科峡谷以及查科与其离群社区之间的社会政治关系的性质。查科社会政治等级制度的证据本身就很模糊，在世界各地的其他权力中心几乎看不到个人权力的印记，考古学家对查科的100多个离群社区知之甚少，其中只有少数几个社区有重大的挖掘。宾厄姆顿大学的米歇尔·特纳在露丝·货车·戴克博士的指导下，将通过建立阿兹特克北部大房子的建造年表，研究查科峡谷和最大的查科离群社区之一阿兹特克遗址之间的关系。这项研究将是特纳博士论文的基础，所以这笔赠款支持学生的工作。研究人员的项目是在与部落代表协商后，与阿兹特克遗址国家纪念碑的考古学家合作开发的，它将为公园的工作人员提供有价值的新信息，与游客分享。研究人员将与部落代表和后裔社区的其他成员分享他们的研究结果，研究结果也将在该地区的公开讲座以及学术期刊和专业会议上传播。特纳和货车戴克在2016年对以前未挖掘的阿兹特克北部大房子进行了有限的考古测试，这是阿兹特克遗址国家纪念碑的三大房子之一。阿兹特克诺斯的起源一直备受争议。虽然它的邻居大房子阿兹特克西显然是在公元1110年左右开始与查科建筑商的参与下建造的，但阿兹特克北的建筑包括查科和非查科建筑特征的不寻常组合。例如，虽然结构的墙壁有一个砂岩单板，看起来非常像查科砌体，单板隐藏了一个土坯填充核心，看起来更本地。这座建筑是由新来的查科人建造的，他们还没有发展出足够的劳动力来建造完整的砖石结构，还是由当地人模仿查科人的方式建造的？或者这是一个很久以后的土坯建筑实验？特纳将通过对来自阿兹特克北部的有机物质进行放射性碳测年来测试这些可能性，以确定该遗址的占领日期。如果阿兹特克北部是在建造阿兹特克西部之后的几年里建造的，那么很可能查科的建造者已经存在了，而更早的日期则表明它很可能是由当地人模仿查科建造的。1100年代中期以后的日期表明是后查科时代的起源。放射性碳年代测定结合研究人员对建筑、陶瓷和其他出土文物的分析，将为考古学家了解阿兹特克遗址和更广泛的查科地区的历史提供有价值的数据。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

From the 9th to 12th centuries CE, people at Chaco Canyon New Mexico and throughout a vast surrounding region built communities with monumental architecture suggesting the development of an ancient Puebloan elite. Archaeologists have long sought to understand the nature of sociopolitical relations at Chaco Canyon, and between Chaco and its outlier communities. The evidence of sociopolitical hierarchy at Chaco itself is ambiguous, with few of the stamps of individual power seen at other power centers around the world, and archaeologists know even less about Chaco's 100+ outlier communities, of which only a handful have seen significant excavation. Michelle Turner of Binghamton University, under the guidance of Dr. Ruth Van Dyke, will examine the relationship between Chaco Canyon and Aztec Ruins, one of the largest Chacoan outlier communities, by establishing a chronology for the construction of the Aztec North great house. This research will be a basis for Turner's PhD dissertation, so this grant supports the work of a student. The researchers' project was developed in cooperation with archaeologists at Aztec Ruins National Monument, following consultation with tribal representatives, and it will provide valuable new information for the park's staff to share with visitors. The researchers will share their findings with tribal representatives and other members of descendant communities, and the results will also be disseminated at public talks in the region as well as in academic journals and at professional conferences. Turner and Van Dyke conducted limited archaeological testing in 2016 at the previously unexcavated Aztec North great house, one of three great houses at Aztec Ruins National Monument. Aztec North's origins are hotly debated. While its neighbor great house Aztec West was clearly constructed with the involvement of Chacoan builders starting around 1110 CE, Aztec North's architecture includes an unusual combination of Chacoan and non-Chacoan construction features. For example, while the walls of the structure have a sandstone veneer that looks very much like Chacoan masonry, that veneer conceals an adobe fill core that looks more local. Was this structure built by newly arrived Chacoan builders who had not yet developed the work force to build a full masonry structure, or was it built by local people imitating Chacoan ways? Or was it perhaps a much later experiment in adobe construction? Turner will test these possibilities by running radiocarbon dating on organic materials from Aztec North to pinpoint the site's occupation dates. If Aztec North was built in the years just after construction of Aztec West, then it is probable that Chacoan builders were already present, while earlier dates would indicate it was most likely built by local people emulating Chaco. Dates after the mid-1100s would suggest a post-Chacoan origin. The radiocarbon dates, interpreted in combination with the researchers' analysis of the architecture, ceramics and other artifacts from the excavation, will provide valuable data for archaeologists seeking to understand the history of both Aztec Ruins and the wider Chacoan region.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.