Collaborative Research: Tropical Human Ecology, AgriculturalProduction and Prehistoric Settlement in the Jama River Drainage, Manabi Province, Ecuador

在国家科学基金会的支持下，黛博拉·皮尔索尔博士 詹姆斯·泽德勒将继续与 在厄瓜多尔北方的Jama流域进行考古研究。 他们的工作集中在圣伊西德罗遗址，一个大型的 位于中央的土丘可能是一个 区域礼仪和行政中心。 网站的大小 和纪念性建筑都意味着剩余的存在 生产能力能够支持密集的人口。 材料 迄今发现的证据表明，圣伊西德罗是 对外联系和商品流通都沿着 厄瓜多尔以及海岸和高地之间。 过程中 Zeidler和Pearsall博士调查了 周边地区定位较小的网站和相关的 农业特色。 这方面研究的目标是 是将圣伊西德罗置于更广阔的区域背景下。 的 目前的NSF奖将允许团队进行行人 最后一个测区的测量，并完成测量分析 数据和相关工件。 这些最后的步骤将允许 分析两个区域的定居模式， 调查场址位置、大小和 功能以及定居点增长和社会模式 随着时间的推移而变化。 这项研究很重要，因为它将为我们提供新的视角， 人口增长的过程以及 生存和伴随而来的文化发展 发生在北方热带地区的复杂性 厄瓜多尔. 尽管如此复杂的社会出现在热带地区 在世界不同地区，潜在的 过程还不太清楚。 厄瓜多尔以富有而闻名 史前遗迹，但很少有考古研究 在那里进行。这个项目将有助于补救这一点 形势

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Deborah Pearsall and James Zeidler will continue their collaborative archaeological research in the Jama drainage in northern Ecuador. Their work has focussed on the site of San Isidro, a large centrally located earthern mound which probably functioned as a regional ceremonial and administrative center. The site's size and monumental architecture imply the existence of surplus production capable of supporting a dense population. Materials recovered to date suggest that San Isidro was a major point of external contact and commodity flow both along the coast of Ecuador and between the coast and the highlands. In the course of their work, Drs. Zeidler and Pearsall have surveyed the surrounding region to locate smaller sites and related agricultural features. The goal of this aspect of the research is to set San Isidro into a broader regional context. The current NSF award will permit the team to conduct a pedestrian survey of a last survey area and to finish analyses of survey data and associated artifacts. These final steps will permit the analysis of both regional settlement patterns, allowing investigation of temporal shifts in site location, size and function, and of patterns of setttlement growth and social transformation over time. The research is important because it will give new insight into the process of demographic growth as well as change in subsistence and the accompanying development of cultural complexity which took place in this tropical area of northern Ecuador. Although such complex societies arose in the tropics many times in different parts of the world, the underlying processes are not well understood. Ecuador is known to be rich in prehistoric remains, but little archaeological research has been conducted there. This project will help to remedy that situation.