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

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.