Archaeology of the Ceren Household, El Salvador

萨尔瓦多 Ceren 家族考古

• 批准号: 9120716
• 负责人: Payson Sheets
• 金额: $ 17.18万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1992
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1992-02-01 至 1995-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9120716&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Archaeology; Ceren; Household; El; Salvador

In ca. AD 600, a catastrophic eruption by the Laguna Caldera volcano in El Salvador completely buried a Mayan homestead and the fields which surrounded it. Preliminary excavations at this site of Ceren in 1978 indicated that the volcanic ash packed around and thoroughly preserved structures, wooden artifacts, trees, corn plants, a field with footprints, and human bodies. Subsequent geophysical prospection in 1979 confirmed the existence of intact houses which remain buried under five meters of ash. NSF funded research in 1989 and 1990 revealed extremely well preserved remains. Dr. Sheets and his colleagues will return to this site and continue their extensive excavation which will focus on a single structure and surrounding environment. Floral and faunal materials will be recovered and analyzed to reconstruct household subsistence, and expected skeletal materials will provide insight into family composition. Field excavation will allow reconstruction of agricultural techniques. Ceren is unique, even in comparison to Old World sites such as Pompeii, because the volcanic ash matrix is so fine that it preserves organic materials down to the cellular level. This virtually complete material culture record will allow for a detailed reconstruction of functioning households and important insights to human behavior, demography, nutrition, agriculture, and economics. Anthropologists have come to realize that in many societies the "household" - a group of individuals who live together in one place and closely cooperate on a daily basis- form an essential unit. However, archaeologically households are usually difficult to isolate and study. At Ceren it appears that just such a unit exists. This research is important because it will shed a new and important light on the development of complex Mayan society and help us to understand how complexity develops and is maintained.

于约公元600年，拉古纳火山口的灾难性喷发 萨尔瓦多的一座火山完全掩埋了玛雅人的宅基地， 周围的田野。初步挖掘在这个 1978年在塞伦发现的火山灰 周围和彻底保存的结构，木制文物， 树木、玉米、有脚印的田野和人体。 随后在1979年进行的地球物理勘探证实， 仍被埋在5米以下的完好房屋的存在 灰。 美国国家科学基金会在1989年和1990年资助的研究显示， 保存完好的遗骸。 Sheets博士和他的同事将 回到这里继续他们的大规模挖掘 将集中在一个单一的结构和周围环境。 将回收和分析植物和动物材料， 重建家庭生计，并预期 这些材料将使人们深入了解家庭组成情况。 领域 挖掘工作将使农业技术得以重建。 Ceren是独一无二的，即使与旧世界遗址相比， 庞贝城，因为火山灰基质非常精细， 将有机物质保存到细胞水平。 这 几乎完整的物质文化记录将允许 详细重建功能正常的家庭， 对人类行为、人口统计学、营养学、农业、 和经济学。 人类学家逐渐意识到，在许多 “家庭”-一群生活在 在一个地方，每天密切合作- 形成一个基本单位。 然而，从考古学的角度来看， 通常很难分离和研究。 在塞伦， 这样的单位存在。 这项研究很重要，因为它将产生一个新的， 复杂的玛雅社会发展的重要光， 帮助我们理解复杂性是如何发展和维持的。