Doctoral Dissertation Research: Organization of Rural Communities

Tulane University, New Orleans LA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is to increase understanding of socioeconomic organization in tropical and sparsely populated regions. The research team will undertake research to study the relevance of settlement density in a lowland tropical region. Settlement density -how populations were spaced across the landscape- influences the degrees and nature of social interactions, which may result in diverse lifeways and forms of organization. Archaeology is well placed to provide relevant insight by focusing on the spatial and material components that are relevant to the notion of socioeconomic organization. Previous scholarship on socioeconomic distinctions has focused on class and status. This project provides an alternative approach by defining whether location in the settlement density continuum played a relevant role in socioeconomic organization. It will reassess assumptions of socioeconomic homogeneity and lack of large-scale integration within tropical societies. Results of this project will be incorporated into plans of local sustainable ecological and archaeological focused tourism in the region. Undergraduate students will be trained in archaeological methods. This project will investigate the relationship between settlement density and socioeconomic organization. Specifically, this project will characterize and compare extended household groups in three settlement density classes (urban, peri-urban and rural). How did lifeways and organizing schemes differed across them? Does settlement density correlate with varied forms of socioeconomic organization? Using a battery of techniques including remote sensing sampling, excavation of architecture and middens, material analyses, and sourcing studies, the project will study five material proxies in each sampled group (function of spaces, architectural energetics, specialized production, non-local items, and dietary patterns). If the materials proxies varied, it will be possible to distinguish these units based on location and settlement density likely played a relevant role in socioeconomic organization. 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.