Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Work Allocation in a Traditional Society

该项目分析了波纹陶瓷容器上的指纹印，以更好地了解社会如何适应性别生产以应对文化变革。以前关于性别分工的研究在很大程度上把这些角色描绘成静态的，而不是动态的、适应性的过程，在这个过程中，角色和界限是不断重新协商的。今天，性别及其在社会中所扮演的角色在公共话语中占据了相当大的地位。在美国，什么是“合适的”性别角色一直在被重新协商、辩论和立法。关于过去社会如何应对不断变化的性别劳动分工的讨论，为当前的辩论提供了非常需要的细微差别和背景，而这些问题无法得到简单的答案。这项工作将在各种媒体上分享，从同行评审的文献到公开演讲和研讨会。这项工作将与来自普韦布洛人的文化资源工作人员分享，他们将自己的祖先追溯到本研究中探索的地点。这种信息共享的最终目标是促进当地普韦布洛社区和新墨西哥大学之间的更大合作，并将更多的土著观点纳入学术考古学。这项研究是在新墨西哥州中部（MRG）的五个地点的陶瓷材料样本上进行的。在很长一段时间内，不同的群体融合成该地区一些最大的社区，直到工业时代。新的建筑、技术、宗教和贸易实践出现，帮助这些社区在一个动态变化的时期团结在一起。陶器制作的做法也随着这些发展而改变，从为当地消费而生产到为交换而生产的剩余产品。本研究验证了一个预测，即随着陶瓷需求的增加，需要改变性别分工来帮助满足新的生产需求。为了实现这一目标，该项目分析了在当地生产的波纹陶瓷上发现的指纹印。它们经常保留指纹印记，即人类手掌皮肤上复杂的脊纹和沟纹图案，可以可靠地用于性别估计。这些指纹数据将作为性别的代表，并在不同的地点、时间和不同的陶瓷类型之间进行比较。新的辐射测量日期将用于建立性别劳动分工的时间模型。这项研究将产生和完善新的分析方法，以解决过去的性别劳动问题。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 project analyzes fingerprint impressions found on corrugated ceramic vessels to better understand how societies adapt gendered production in response to cultural change. Previous research on gendered divisions of labor largely portrays these roles as static rather than as dynamic, adaptive processes where roles and boundaries are constantly renegotiated. Today gender and the role it plays in the society occupies a substantial place in public discourse. What constitutes “appropriate” gender roles are constantly being renegotiated, debated, and legislated in the United States. Discussions of how past societies navigated changing gendered divisions of labor contributes greatly to these current debates by providing much needed nuance and context on topics that defy simple answers. This work will be shared in a variety of media ranging from peer-reviewed literature to public talks and workshops. The work will be shared with cultural resource staff from the Pueblos who trace their ancestry to the sites explored in this study. Ultimately, the goal of this information sharing is to foster greater collaboration between local Pueblo communities and the University of New Mexico as well as incorporating more Indigenous perspectives into academic archaeology. The research is being conducted on a sample of ceramic material from five sites in the Middle Rio Grande of central New Mexico (MRG). During an extended time period, diverse groups coalesced into some of the largest communities seen in the region until the industrial era. New architectural, technological, religious, and trade practices emerged to help knit these communities together during a dynamic period of change. Pottery making practices changed alongside these other developments transforming from manufacture for local consumption to surplus production for exchange. This research tests the prediction that as demand for ceramics increased, changes in the gendered division of labor were required to help meet new production needs. To accomplish this, the project analyzes fingerprint impressions found on locally produced corrugated ceramics. These frequently preserve fingerprint impressions, the complex pattern of ridges and furrows on human palmar skin, which can reliably be used for sex estimation. These fingerprint data will serve as a proxy for gender and be compared between sites, time periods, and different ceramic types. New radiometric dates will be used to build a chronological model of gendered labor divisions. The research will generate and refine new analytical methods for addressing questions of gendered labor in the past.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.