Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Cultural Interaction In Hierarchical Contexts

博士论文改进奖：层级背景下的文化互动

• 批准号: 1614379
• 负责人: Gregory Wilson
• 金额: $ 2.51万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Barbara
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-06-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1614379&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Award; Cultural

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.

最好将大规模复杂社会的政治扩张理解为精英力量与当地创新之间的动态。对文化接触，移民和政治扩张的早期研究夸大了文化实践从主导的核心政体到其周边定居点的传播。但是，这种对核心的强调忽略了当地社区在文化接触情况下的经历，以及这些互动对身份和日常生活的影响。加利福尼亚大学圣塔芭芭拉分校（UCSB）的Gregory D. Wilson博士和Christina M. Friberg博士将进行考古研究，以评估Cahokia建筑群如何以及为什么Cahokia学会（公元1050- 1375年）扩大了其对北美的影响中大陆以及伊利诺伊州中西部伊利诺伊州河谷（LIRV）的“密西西比州化”过程如何进行。这项研究将突出文化接触的复杂过程，在该过程中，当地人民不会被动地采用更强大的核心政体的实践，而是在参考自己的身份方面参与或抵制参与。该项目还将为本科生提供教育机会，以及在实地调查和实验室工作方面的实践经验，并以从事考古职业所必需的实践技能培训他们。结果将通过出版与科学界分享，并通过公开谈判与当地社区共享，以解决其家乡的史前史，同时强调环境和考古学中科学方法的重要性，以此来劝阻抢劫的广泛实践。密苏里州的现代圣路易斯附近，是北美最大的前隆城市，其居民在西北威斯康星州北部传播了密西西比州文化的各个方面。但是，关于卡霍克人如何启动这些遥远的互动以及当地团体如何以及为什么参与它们的原因，几乎没有理解。伊利诺伊州西南部的卡霍基亚美国底部地区的定居点显示了与卡霍基亚派拉蒙中心的直接政治和经济联系的证据。北部的考古研究还表明，边境定居点的居民选择性地采用了密西西比州生活方式的某些方面，同时保持了许多现有的传统。在LIRV的Audrey North站点对工艺生产和交换，生存模式以及社区组织的分析将为考古学家对Cahokia直接外围的密西西比现象的理解增加宝贵的见解。 LIRV与Cahokia的距离可能促进了两个地区之间的定期互动，从而使某些社会，政治和经济互动与没有与更遥远的群体散发出来的美国底部群体。使用磁性梯度数据作为起点，发掘应揭示出生产和交换经济上重要的Cahokian手工艺品的证据。放射性碳测定法的贝叶斯统计分析将在LIRV中建立密西西比州化过程的时间表。最后，对诸如食品加工和储存和社区组织等日常实践的进一步分析将阐明当地Lirv人在多大程度上融合了Cahokian实践和/或维护传统，以了解他们对世界秩序的现有理解。