Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Fundamental Processes of Social Change

博士论文改进奖：社会变革的基本过程

• 批准号: 2015819
• 负责人: William Parkinson
• 金额: $ 2.27万
• 依托单位: Field Museum of Natural History
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-01 至 2023-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2015819&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Award; Fundamental

Under the direction of Dr. William A. Parkinson at the Field Museum of Natural History, William P. Ridge, a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago will conduct archaeological fieldwork to examine the social responses and adaptations in small-scale societies to large-scale population shifts and economic changes. The modern world is characterized by dense urban landscapes and massive degrees of political and economic inequality, but these are recent developments within the human experience. Since the end of the Pleistocene, most humans have lived in small, autonomous, village societies. Through archaeological research, archaeologists can examine extended periods of time – centuries or millennia – and trace the emergent forms of characteristics that have come to define the contemporary world, such as social differentiation, economic inequality, the negotiation of cultural identities, and the physiological effects of dense populations. Why do people come together to live in ever larger populations? How are social relationships and cultural identities reshaped by shifting populations? How and under what circumstances do such aggregations fail? With global and domestic population movements more frequent than ever before, such questions are increasingly pertinent.The doctoral student and colleagues will examine how social structure and population changed in prehistoric village societies. The research will consist primarily of targeted excavations at prehistoric settlement sites. Excavations will take place at prehistoric villages that belong to a period when there was a juxtaposition between, on the one hand, the disappearance of large settlements, and, on the other hand, the establishment of rich burial grounds. Combining excavation data from households with the high-precision chronological data of radiocarbon dates the project will elucidate how demographic and economic processes occurring at the regional level effected the nature of local society and at what pace these changes took place. The research team will generate models to explain human responses to population and economic fluctuations. The project will focus on training and data generation and will provide educational and research opportunities for both students and scholars.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.

在威廉·A·帕金森（William A. Parkinson）博士自然历史博物馆的指导下，威廉·P·里奇（William P. Ridge）博士学位。芝加哥伊利诺伊大学的候选人将进行档案现场工作，以检查小型社会对大规模人口转变和经济变化的社会反应和适应。现代世界的特征是城市景观茂密，政治和经济不平等的程度很大，但是这些是人类经验中的最新发展。自更新世结束以来，大多数人类都生活在小型自主乡村社会中。通过考古学研究，考古学家可以检查长时间的时间（几个世纪或几千年），并追踪已定义当代世界的新兴特征形式，例如社会差异，经济不平等，文化认同的谈判以及密集人群的身体影响。人们为什么聚在一起生活在更大的人群中？社会关系和文化身份如何通过改变人群来重塑？这样的聚合如何以及在什么情况下如何失败？随着全球和国内人口的运动比以往任何时候都更加频繁，此类问题越来越相关。博士生和同事将研究史前乡村社会中社会结构和人口的变化。这项研究将由史前环境场所的目标发掘组成。发掘将在史前村庄进行，这一方面是大型定居点的消失，另一方面，建立了丰富的埋葬地。将家庭的发掘数据与放射性碳日期的高精度时间表结合在一起，该项目将阐明在区域一级发生的人口统计和经济过程如何影响当地社会的性质，并以这些变化发生了什么速度。研究小组将产生模型，以解释人类对人口和经济波动的反应。该项目将着重于培训和数据生成，并将为学生和学者提供教育和研究机会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准来评估，被视为珍贵的支持。