The Maintenance of Cultural Continuity in the Context of Social Change

University Of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa AL

Investigators

Abstract

Understanding the relationship between governance, religion, and cultural identity is central to the social sciences. The underlying tension is evident in the modern globalized world, but it was also common in many earlier societies. Archaeology offers a valuable perspective on the topic by revealing long-term social processes and by exploring how the dynamic interplay between power and religion was mediated by practices and objects of everyday life. This project will examine the relationship between ruling power and cultural change in the context in which rulers relied less on socio-economic integration and more on moral and religious authority. The study will determine the extent to which leaders could introduce new beliefs and values without compromising the resilience of the underlying system. In addition to informing the broader discussion on the nature of governing authority, this project will assist in the preservation of cultural heritage. It will provide research and training opportunities to undergraduates and graduate students. The methodological emphasis on large-scale three-dimensional digitization of excavations and finds will result in a large body of data available online. It will promote teaching and learning by offering remote access for low-income and minority students. The paradox of certain polities is their relative stability with no evidence of extensive armies and bureaucracies. If sovereigns could tap into group identities to ensure social cohesion, there should be cases when those identities clashed with their ambitions. This research will center on one such case of relocation that was marked by foreign religious practices and cultural values communicated through architecture, stone and ceramic artifacts. The research team will study residences before, during, and after the relocation and will examine spatial layout, architecture, stone tools, and ceramic vessels used in ritual offerings and feasting. Researchers will rely on ground survey, excavations, and subsequent investigation of the retrieved material record with an emphasis on architectural styles, ceramic analysis, lithic analysis, epigraphy, and chemical characterization of certain construction materials. The interdisciplinary dataset will reveal whether different legitimization strategies employed by rulers had a positive or negative impact on their people. 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.