Geomorphological Investigations in the Naco Valley, NW Honduras

在国家科学基金会(NSF)的支持下，Edward Schortman博士、Patricia Urban博士和他们的同事在洪都拉斯的纳科山谷进行了考古调查和挖掘。这件作品揭示了一个复杂的史前政体的存在，它在公元1世纪蓬勃发展。拉塞拉的中心遗址包括大量不朽的平台以及较小的建筑。周围地区也有许多遗址，都比拉塞拉本身小得多。这表明，拉塞拉代表着覆盖整个纳科山谷的州级政体的首都，并可能超出这些地理界限。在公元950-1000年间，纳科山谷发生了戏剧性的变化。人口迅速减少，并发生了急剧的定居转移。Schortman博士和Urban博士希望了解这一现象的原因，并推测环境变化和资源枯竭可能是原因。因此，他们将通过地貌调查收集数据。他们将重建古老的土地利用、水文和侵蚀模式。实地和实验室研究将构建该地区的地质和土壤地图，评估古代农田中种植的肥力和作物，并确定史前山坡侵蚀的程度和强度。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。首先，它将增加我们对复杂社会如何发展、维持和最终崩溃的理解。该项目还将提供来自相对未知地区的数据，这些数据将引起大量考古学家的兴趣。最后，由于这项研究是在一所本科院校进行的，学生将被带到这个领域，它将提供如何进行科学的第一手介绍，并有望鼓励这些人在这一领域追求职业。

With National Science Foundation (NSF) support, Drs. Edward Schortman, Patricia Urban and their colleagues have conducted archaeological survey and excavation in the Naco Valley in Honduras. This work has revealed the presence of a complex prehistoric polity which flourished during the first millennium A.D. The central site of La Sierra contains large numbers of both monumental platforms as well as smaller constructions. The surrounding region also has many sites, all significantly smaller than La Sierra itself. This suggests that La Sierra represents the capital of a state level polity which encompasses the entire Naco Valley and possibly extends beyond these physiographic limits. Between ca 950-1000 AD, a dramatic change took place in the Naco Valley. Population rapidly declined and drastic settlement shifts occurred. Drs. Schortman and Urban wish to understand the reasons for this and speculate that environmental change and depletion may be the cause. They will thus collect data through geomorphological investigation. They will reconstruct ancient patterns of land use, hydrology and erosion. Field and laboratory studies will construct a geologic and soil map of the region, assess the fertility and crops grown in ancient agricultural fields and determine the extent and intensity of prehistoric hill slope erosion. The research is important for several reasons. First, it will increase our understanding of how complex societies develop, are maintained and eventually collapse. The project will also provide data from a relatively unknown area and these will be of interest to a large number of archaeologists. Finally, because the research is based at an undergraduate institution and students will be taken into the field, it will provide a first hand introduction to how science is conducted and hopefully encourage these individuals to pursue careers in this area.