Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of Material Culture in Developing Social Integration

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。这个项目探讨了物质对象在支持社会网络中的作用。考古陶瓷具有独特的定位，可以提供对古代人民的洞察力，反映有意和无意的美学，技术和社会选择。建立在长期以来人类学对声望商品和交换网络的关注基础上，将研究一种独特的陶瓷风格。结合考古、艺术历史和这些鲜为人知的社会价值的组成数据，分析这些容器的生产及其在景观中的运动将展示物质对象如何在社会关系的发展中发挥关键作用。除了填补现有成分数据库的空白和协助评估考古陶瓷的化学表征方法外，该项目还将为学生提供获得与考古科学相关的实验室技能的机会。强调社会网络的物质基础，该项目评估了对技术复杂的陶瓷装饰风格的开放和限制访问的假设。这种风格是为普通大众所接受，还是仅限于精英群体？哪些盆栽社区有机会获得生产这些容器所需的技术艺术，每个社区都使用相同的技术生产它们吗？谁和谁交换陶瓷？回答这些问题可以进一步理解社会网络是如何被经济上和象征意义上重要的社会价值所支持和维持的。该项目将使用仪器中子活化分析获得的大量成分数据、便携式x射线荧光获得的表面成分数据、表面处理的显微分析以及风格和形式数据来追踪考古遗址之间的相互作用。研究这些具有社会意义的物品的生产和使用将阐明区域范围内的陶器生产系统，以及在更广泛的层面上通过物质手段协商和构建人际关系的方式。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This project explores the role of material objects in supporting social networks. Archaeological ceramics are uniquely positioned to offer insight on ancient peoples, reflecting both intentional and unintentional aesthetic, technical, and social choices. Building on a long-standing anthropological focus on prestige goods and exchange networks, a distinctive style of ceramic will be investigated. Integrating archaeological, art historical, and compositional data on this little understood social valuable, analysis of the production of these vessels and their movement through the landscape will demonstrate how material objects play a crucial role in the development of social relationships. In addition to contributing to gaps in existing compositional databases and assisting in the evaluation of methods for the chemical characterization of archaeological ceramics, the project will also provide students with the opportunity to gain laboratory skills related to archaeological science. Emphasizing the material basis for social networks, this project evaluates hypotheses of open and restricted access to a technically complex ceramic decorative style. Was this style available to the general population or restricted to elite communities? Which potting communities had access to the technical artistry required to produce these vessels, and did every community produce them using the same technique? Who exchanged ceramics with whom? Answering these questions furthers understandings of how social networks are supported and maintained by economically and symbolically significant social valuables. This project will use bulk compositional data acquired using instrumental neutron activation analysis, surface compositional data acquired using portable x-ray fluorescence, microscopic analysis of surface treatment, and data on style and form to trace interaction between archaeological sites. Examining the production of and access to these socially significant objects will illuminate systems of pottery production on a regional scale and the ways in which human relationships are negotiated and constructed through material means on a broader level.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.