Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Chronological Development of Complex Community Interactions

科学家研究塑造过去生活方式的社会、政治和经济系统之间的复杂相互联系。考古学非常适合这项研究，因为过去的物质遗迹嵌入了材料建造时正在发挥作用的社会政治和经济关系。通过调查过去文化使用的陶瓷的生产和分布，研究人员可以重建这个文化群体居住的地区存在的复杂和相互关联的关系。在审查期间，社会和政治组织发生了戏剧性的变化，在材料记录中追踪组织变化的模式与当前对现代社会政治和经济关系的理解有关，这些关系塑造了我们与物质商品的互动，并被塑造了这些关系。调查人员计划与当地工匠和非营利组织密切合作，制定旨在鼓励保护文化遗产以及对当地社区成员进行文化遗产和考古教育的项目。该项目的设计考虑到包容性，将创造性的项目设计和观点引入考古过程，同时确保多种声音都能接触到结果。这个博士论文项目将通过研究两个地点的陶瓷器皿的生产和分配来模拟陶瓷经济，以突出这一时期发生的社会复杂性的动态变化。在仪式经济学的框架内，本研究将分析和比较遗址中陶瓷组合的矿物和化学成分，以检验这样的假设，即较大的遗址作为公共活动的节点，是当地居民和来自其他周边社区的政治、社会和仪式聚会的场所。为了验证这个模型，博士生将对来自两个组合的精细陶瓷进行风格分析、岩相学和中子活化分析。血管的微观特征将揭示种群及其实践之间的宏观关系，因为这些动态在其生产和分配时嵌入材料记录中。这种性质的调查突出了塑造社会的经济、政治和社会结构之间的千丝万缕的联系。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Scientists study the complex interconnections between the social, political, and economics systems that shaped past lifeways. Archaeology is well suited to this study because the material remains of the past are embedded with the sociopolitical and economic relationships at play when the materials were constructed. By investigating the production and distribution of ceramics used by cultures in the past, researchers can reconstruct the complex and interconnected relationships that existed in the region inhabited by this cultural group. The time-period under consideration saw dramatic shifts in social and political organization and tracing the patterns of organizational change in the material record is relevant to current understandings of modern sociopolitical and economic relationships that shape and are shaped by our interactions with material goods. The investigators plan to collaborate closely with local artisans and non-profit organizations to develop programs designed to encourage the safeguarding of cultural heritage as well as the education of members of local communities about cultural heritage and archaeology. This project was designed with inclusivity in mind, introducing creative project design and perspectives into the archaeological process, while ensuring that results are accessible to multiple voices. This doctoral dissertation project will model a ceramic economy by examining the production and distribution of fine-ware ceramic vessels from two sites to highlight the dynamic shifts in social complexity that occurred during this period. Within a framework of ritual economy, the study will analyze and compare the mineral and chemical compositions of ceramic assemblages from the sites to test the hypothesis that a larger site served as a node of public activity a place for political, social, and ritual congregation for local residents as well as those from other surrounding communities. To test this model, the doctoral student will conduct stylistic analysis, petrography, and Neutron Activation Analysis on the fine-ware ceramics from two assemblages. Micro-level characteristics of the vessels will reveal macro-level relationships between populations and their practices because these dynamics are embedded in the material record at the time of its production and distribution. Investigations of this nature highlight the inextricable link between the economic, political, and social structures that shape society.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.