Mayan Archaeological Research

玛雅考古研究

• 批准号: 8719157
• 负责人: Joseph Ball
• 金额: $ 17.31万
• 依托单位: San Diego State University Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1988
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1988-02-01 至 1990-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8719157&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Mayan; Archaeological; Research

This project will permit Dr. Ball and his colleagues to continue their NSF supported archaeological research. The team will undertake additional excavation at a series of Mayan sites located in the roughly triangular valley floor occupied by the lower reaches of the Mopan and Macal rivers in Belize. They will focus their efforts on two major Mayan sites, Buenavista del Cayo and Cahal Pech and conduct supplemental excavations in several other locations. As in past work, in addition to test trenches they will open large horizonal exposures and this will allow interpretation of the functions these areas served and how they were integrated into a larger Mayan community. Archaeological evidence has shown both that Mayan sites are extremely large and that extensive interaction took place among them. Mayan society can not be understood on a small scale site-by-site basis; large scale regional work is necessary. The archaeological situation that Dr. Ball has discovered is unique because the Mopan region includes a number of sites, both large and small, which are covered by only a limited amount of overburden, which date to a single period of time - the Classic - and which contain undisturbed remains. Through large scale excavation at several sites Dr. Ball should be able to discover not only how each worked but also how they interacted. Dr. Ball has adapted models from urban anthropology which describe how cities function in order to guide his work. This research is important for several reasons. Because of the complexity of its culture archaeologists have long been interested in Mayan society, how it arose, functioned and then declined. This research should provide additional insight into the question. Secondly, the Mayans successfully adapted to a lowland tropical environment. Such areas are much more sparsely populated today than they were in prehistoric times. Dr. Ball's research should provide useful information on the organizational techniques ancient Mayans employed. Hopefully such data can be put to good use in Middle America as well as other parts of the world.

这个项目将允许鲍尔博士和他的同事继续他们的国家科学基金会支持考古研究。该小组将对一系列玛雅遗址进行进一步挖掘，这些遗址位于伯利兹的莫潘河和马卡尔河下游所占据的大致三角形的谷底。他们将集中精力在两个主要的玛雅遗址，布埃纳维斯塔德尔卡约和卡哈尔佩赫，并在其他几个地方进行补充挖掘。在过去的工作中，除了测试壕沟外，他们还将打开大的水平暴露，这将有助于解释这些区域的功能，以及它们如何融入更大的玛雅社区。考古证据表明，玛雅遗址非常大，而且它们之间发生了广泛的互动。玛雅社会不能在一个地点一个地点的小规模基础上被理解；大规模的区域工作是必要的。鲍尔博士发现的考古情况是独特的，因为磨盘地区包括许多大大小小的遗址，这些遗址仅被有限数量的覆盖层覆盖，这些遗址可追溯到一个时期-古典时期-并且包含未受干扰的遗迹。通过对几个地点的大规模挖掘，鲍尔博士不仅能够发现每个地点是如何工作的，还能发现它们是如何相互作用的。鲍尔博士改编了城市人类学中描述城市如何运作的模型，以指导他的工作。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。由于其文化的复杂性，考古学家长期以来一直对玛雅社会感兴趣，研究它是如何兴起、运作和衰落的。这项研究应该为这个问题提供更多的见解。其次，玛雅人成功地适应了热带低地环境。这些地区如今的人口比史前时期要稀少得多。鲍尔博士的研究应该能为古玛雅人使用的组织技术提供有用的信息。希望这些数据可以在中美洲和世界其他地方得到很好的利用。