Collaborative Research: Precise Dating Determination in an Archaeological Context

This is a collaborative project examining how large-scale population history of ancient peoples corresponds to changing political-religious institutions of prehistoric Indigenous societies. Archaeological reconstructions of past population numbers rely on changes in the number of houses in a particular time period and archaeologists understand that community solidarity and institutional power was often expressed by monumental construction, specifically earthen platform mounds. Currently, the time periods used by archaeologists to constrain events such as village construction and mound building in one region have uncertainties ranging from several decades to a century. This uncertainty is broader than human timescales of years to decades in which hypotheses for institutions are framed. This is a persistent problem for archaeologists who are interested in addressing major problems associated with the origin and evolution of human institutions and political change. This project revises the timeline for population history and monumental construction by systematically redating wood and charcoal recovered from archaeological sites nearly one hundred years ago. New techniques for tree-ring dating and radiocarbon calibration enable much high-precisions than ever before, approaching annual precision in favorable cases. The scientific outcome of this project is new high-precision radiocarbon and tree-ring data, and statistical models for the pace of population change and the history of institutional development in the study area. Another objective of this project is to provide independent temporal data to direct descendants that empower their own historical narratives. Therefore, an important broader impact of the study is the inclusion of descendant communities in the research. This is accomplished by including knowledgeable descendant collaborators in project planning and creating an undergraduate research opportunity for students in STEM or humanities majors. Participants have the opportunity to assist in the research and explore an independent project compatible with their interests and career goals. 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.