Dissertation Research: The Political Economy of the Northern Maya

论文研究：北玛雅的政治经济学

• 批准号: 8902631
• 负责人: Gary Feinman
• 金额: $ 1万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1989
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1989-06-01 至 1991-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8902631&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Political; Economy; Northern

Under the direction of Dr. Gary Feinman, Ms. Susan Kepecs will conduct her doctoral dissertation research in the Chikinchel region of the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. In this archaeological research, she will conduct a surface survey to locate large sites which were occupied during Early and Late Postclassic periods. From these a group will be drawn for more intensive analysis. Small settlements and other features will be surveyed and mapped. Surface distributions of elite architecture, housemounds, trade goods, and other remains will be plotted. Subsequent analysis will reveal relationships between architectural indicators of social class and the remains of economic activities. Through a comparison of Early and succeeding Late Postclassic sites, it will be possible to determine how economic and related social organization changed over time. Archaeologists have long been interested in the "decline" of the Mayan empire. The Classic period saw the construction of temples and other major monuments and associated large scale ceremonial activity. In the succeeding Early and Late Postclassic periods, these large centers were abandoned and the population dispersed into smaller groups. Traditionally this has been interpreted as a "decline." However, others argue that what is involved is a change in economic organization characterized by decentralization and increasing economic competition between groups. Because economic and social organization during the Postclassic period have not been well examined, it is not possible to choose between these two options. Ms. Kepecs research will provide much needed data. A major goal of archaeology is to understand the processes which lead to the rise and decline of complex societies. The Mayan case has provided a textbook example of social decline and many researchers have attempted both to discover the cause and to generalize to other societies. Ms. Kepecs' research is important because it will shed additional light on this question.

在加里·费曼博士的指导下，苏珊·凯佩克斯女士将在墨西哥尤卡坦半岛奇金谢尔地区进行博士论文研究。在这次考古研究中，她将进行一次地表调查，以确定后古典时期早期和晚期的大片遗址的位置。将从这些数据中抽出一个小组进行更深入的分析。将对小住区和其他地物进行调查和绘制地图。将绘制精英建筑、住宅区、贸易商品和其他遗迹的表面分布。随后的分析将揭示社会阶层的建筑指标与经济活动残余物之间的关系。通过对早期和后来的后期经典遗址的比较，可以确定经济和相关的社会组织是如何随着时间的推移而变化的。长期以来，考古学家一直对玛雅帝国的衰落感兴趣。在古典时期，寺庙和其他主要纪念碑的建造以及相关的大规模仪式活动。在随后的后古典早期和晚期，这些大的中心被抛弃，人口分散成较小的群体。传统上，这被解释为“下降”。然而，其他人认为，这涉及的是以分权和集团之间日益激烈的经济竞争为特征的经济组织的变化。由于后古典时期的经济和社会组织没有得到很好的考察，因此不可能在这两个选项中做出选择。凯佩克斯的研究将提供急需的数据。考古学的一个主要目标是了解导致复杂社会兴衰的过程。玛雅人的案例提供了一个社会衰落的教科书例子，许多研究人员试图找出原因，并将其推广到其他社会。凯佩克斯的研究很重要，因为它将为这个问题提供更多的线索。