Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of Material Culture in Ethnicity Identification

博士论文研究：物质文化在民族认同中的作用

• 批准号: 2341169
• 负责人: Matthew Peeples
• 金额: $ 1.67万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-11-01 至 2025-10-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341169&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Role; Material

Materials recovered in archaeological contexts have the ability to shed light on the cultural groups which produced them. The reason is that most cultures have “norms” in which individual styles can serve to identify the individual societies which produced them and archaeologists use such “styles” to determine group affiliation. With such identifications it is then possible to reconstruct how individual cultural groups moved across space, interacted with other groups and how they changed over time. However not infrequently identifying the relationship between material culture and group identification can be complicated and this doctoral dissertation project focuses on such a case. The goal is to further the ability to make matches of this type and the results should help in the development of better techniques to do so. The project focuses on what is termed the “Salado phenomenon” which refers to a group of pottery types which appear suddenly in the late prehistory of the US Southwest and appear to spread across multiple groups. Because they are not associated with changes in other material objects in this case they seem unrelated to the geographical movement of cultural groups and the goal of this dissertation project is to gain insight into what causes such a cultural phenomenon. The project focuses on Salado ceramics which have been excavated from multiple archaeological sites and are housed in museum collections. The project includes both chemical analyses which can provide insights into the geographic origin of ceramic pieces as well as analyses of ceramic shapes. The project develops new applications and practical implementations of theoretical concepts and analytical methods in archaeological research through this central case study. The approach developed in this work is relevant to examinations of similar material phenomena observed elsewhere in the world, where broadly distributed material patterns overlie cultural variability. The project has provided training, research experience, and mentorship for undergraduate students through a departmental research apprenticeship program. The project was designed and carried out in continued conversation with the Tribal Historic Preservation Offices of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and Gila River Indian Community, in order to be responsive to and respectful of cultural concerns and preferences.Compositional studies are conducted both at Arizona State University and through an NSF-supported internship program at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) Archaeometry Lab. Silhouette images of whole vessel profiles and measurements from archival sources are used to mathematically characterize and compare the shapes of ceramic vessels to understand the organization and structure of ceramic assemblages and assess the functional roles Salado vessels served within them. By establishing empirical evidence for the provenance, production technology, and use of Salado ceramics this research provides a new perspective on the practical and social meanings of engagement with materials and practices and aids in reassessing previous explanatory models of the phenomenon at both local and regional scales. This dissertation research develops new applications and practical implementations of theoretical concepts and analytical methods in archaeological research through this central case study.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.

在考古环境中发现的材料能够揭示产生它们的文化群体，原因是大多数文化都有“规范”，其中个体风格可以用来识别产生它们的个体社会，而考古学家也使用这种“风格”。通过这种识别，就可以重建各个文化群体如何跨空间移动、与其他群体互动以及它们如何随时间变化。然而，识别物质文化和群体认同之间的关系并不罕见。博士论文项目重点在这种情况下，目标是提高进行此类匹配的能力，其结果应该有助于开发更好的技术来实现这一点，该项目的重点是所谓的“萨拉多现象”，它指的是一个群体。陶器类型在美国西南部史前晚期突然出现，并似乎分布在多个群体中，因为它们与其他物质对象的变化无关，在这种情况下，它们似乎与文化群体的地理运动和目标无关。本论文项目旨在深入了解造成这种情况的原因该项目重点关注从多个考古遗址出土并收藏在博物馆藏品中的萨拉多陶瓷。该项目包括可以深入了解陶瓷件地理起源的化学分析以及陶瓷形状的分析。该项目通过这一中心案例研究开发了考古研究中的理论概念和分析方法的新应用和实际实施，这项工作中开发的方法与对世界其他地方观察到的类似材料现象的研究相关，这些现象覆盖了广泛分布的材料模式。该项目具有文化差异。通过部门研究学徒计划为本科生提供培训、研究经验和指导 该项目是在与盐河皮马-马里科帕印第安社区和吉拉河印第安社区的部落历史保护办公室的持续对话中设计和实施的。为了响应并尊重文化关注和偏好。成分研究在亚利桑那州立大学和密苏里大学研究堆 (MURR) 考古学实验室的 NSF 支持的实习项目中进行。整个容器的轮廓和来自档案来源的测量数据用于对陶瓷容器的形状进行数学表征和比较，以了解陶瓷组合体的组织和结构，并通过建立来源、生产的经验证据来评估萨拉多容器在其中所发挥的功能作用。技术和萨拉多陶瓷的使用这项研究为参与材料和实践的实际和社会意义提供了新的视角，并有助于重新评估以前在当地和区域范围内对该现象的解释模型。这项论文研究开发了新的应用和实践。通过这个中心案例研究，考古研究中理论概念和分析方法的实施。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。