Ritual, craft, and economy in Ohio Hopewell: An examination of two earthworks on the Little Miami River.

摘要

In this dissertation I examine the organization of craft production in a small-scale society through the lens of ritual economy. Specifically, I examine the structure of the production of craft goods at Hopewell earthworks by studying the production and function of flint bladelets. Measures of the production and function of Hopewell bladelets are used to examine the structure of craft production. The use-wear on bladelets, and the manufacturing tasks inferred therein, serves as a proxy measure of the production of craft goods.;The examination of bladelets is ultimately aimed at gaining insight into how ritual processes structure the organization of production. Privileging ritual institutions in economic studies is the realm of ritual economy. Ritual economy is the analysis of the economic aspects of ritual and the ritual aspects of economic transactions as they relate to the materialization of ideology. Thus, ritual economy focuses on the economics of ritual---the economic acts necessary to properly participate in or host ritual events---and the ritual of economy--- ritualized economic interactions between individuals. My analysis suggests that the dual forces examined by ritual economy were at work within Hopewell society.;The materials for my study come from two Hopewell earthworks on the Little Miami River in southwest Ohio; The Fort Ancient Earthworks and the Stubbs Earthworks. In order to examine how production was distributed across excavated contexts at Fort Ancient and Stubbs I compare the microwear traces from bladelets associated with multiple locations at each earthwork. Results indicate that bladelets were produced in moderate amounts at numerous locations at both earthworks. Additionally, while bladelets were used in a generalized manner throughout the earthworks, they were also used of a number of potential craft production activities. At Fort Ancient, ritual craft production was organized in domestic spaces by households, larger kin groupings, or tribal segments. Each domestic context examined produced craft objects from a distinct set of raw materials. At Stubbs, inhabitants of each context participated in the same types of productive activities.;Previous research has demonstrated that independent groups were drawn to the earthworks in order to create social ties through participation in communal ritual and reciprocal exchange. These exchanges were fueled by intensified production of craft products organized and orchestrated by ritual participation. Ultimately, craft production documented at Fort Ancient and Stubbs was probably more about the creation of relationships than the creation of objects. Ritual economy's focus on the materialization of these relationships allows archaeologists to reconstruct complex social processes by tracing economic processes recorded in materials recovered in archaeological assemblages.