The Archaeology of Tiwanaku

科拉塔博士和他的同事将在玻利维亚北部的史前遗址蒂瓦纳库开始研究。一千多年来（约公元100-1200年），蒂瓦纳库一直是喀喀湖盆地最重要的城市，而喀喀湖盆地又是安第斯土著文明的人口中心之一。然而，尽管蒂瓦纳库在安第斯山脉的史前史中占有重要地位——它是国家形成的早期中心之一——但人们对它的经济史以及它如何崛起、统治一个帝国、然后衰落的了解却很少。科拉塔博士的研究旨在填补这一空白。在过去的工作中，Kolata博士研究了维持这么多人口的农业系统。现在他将把重点放在城市本身。比起挖掘纪念性建筑，他将专注于国内结构，这将揭示居民如何生存以及他们是如何组织的。他计划考察一系列从“平民”到“精英”的住宅。对工艺生产区域的发掘也应提供对经济组织的洞察。文物将在现场进行分析，Kolata博士将与玻利维亚同事密切合作。这项研究之所以重要，有两个原因。首先，它将揭示南美洲史前史的一个鲜为人知的方面。蒂瓦纳库帝国迅速崛起，并迅速将其影响力扩展到广阔的地区。这段历史鲜为人知。其次，它将增加我们对更普遍的问题的理解，即像我们这样的复杂社会是如何产生和维持的。

Dr. Kolata and his colleagues will begin research at the prehistoric site of Tiwanaku in Northern Bolivia. For more than a millennium (ca. A.D. 100-1200), Tiwanaku was the paramount city of the Lake Titicaca basin which was, in turn, one of the great demographic centers of native Andean civilization. However, despite Tiwanaku's important position in the prehistory of the Andes - it is one of the early centers of state formation - little is known about its economic history and how it rose to prominence, governed an empire, and then declined. Dr. Kolata's research is designed to fill this gap. In past work Dr. Kolata has examined the agricultural system which sustained this large population. Now he will focus on the city proper. Rather than excavate monumental architecture, he will focus on domestic structures which will shed light on how the inhabitants subsisted and how they were organized. He plans to examine a series which extends from "commoner" to "elite" dwellings. Excavation of craft production areas should also provide insight into economic organization. Artifacts will be analyzed in the field, and Dr. Kolata will collaborate closely with Bolivian colleagues. This research is important for two reasons. First, it will shed light on a little understood aspect of South American prehistory. The Tiwanaku empire rose quickly and extended its influence rapidly over a wide area. This history is little understood. Second, it will increase our understanding of the more general question of how complex societies such as our own arise and are maintained.