Political Geography of Mayan Peten

在国家科学基金会的支持下，唐·赖斯博士和他的 同事将进行两个考古季节， 在危地马拉的Peten地区进行研究。这项工作的目标是 去了解玛雅文明在大崩溃后发生了什么 “古典玛雅”“考古证据清楚地表明 社会的复杂程度达到了 玛雅文明的发展。祭司皇帝统治着大面积的 美国中部的低地。一种书写系统被发明出来， 纪念性建筑的重要性通过寺庙得以证明 这些土丘一直保存到现在。考古学和 文本数据表明， 单一的政治单位和传统的农业 在困难的低地提供足够食物的技术 热带环境然而大约在公元世纪 这个经典的玛雅社会“崩溃”了，原因是 知之甚少。 赖斯博士和他的同事们将重点研究 公元9世纪和17世纪，欧洲人征服了这一地区。 他们将从早期的西班牙文本中工作，这些文本描述了， 一般来说位于主要的玛雅城镇。通过对 地面调查，他们将试图找到这些，并通过有限的 考古发掘，提供日期。这些信息将 为一个大型挖掘工程提供框架， 让玛雅人的“衰落”可以追溯到一个800年 interval. 这个项目之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供 一段鲜为人知的史前时期的信息。数据 它所产生的东西会引起许多考古学家的兴趣， 增加我们对复杂社会如何产生的理解， 下降

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Don Rice and his colleagues will conduct two field seasons of archaeological research in the Peten region of Guatemala. The goal of the work is to understand what happened to Mayan cultures after the collapse of the "Classical Maya." Archaeological evidence clearly demonstrates the degree of social complexity which was achieved at the height of Mayan development. Priest emperors ruled over large areas of lowland Middle America. A writing system was devised and the importance of monumental architecture is demonstrated by temple mounds which survive to present times. Both archaeological and textual data indicate that large numbers of people were integrated into single political units and that traditional agricultural techniques served to provide adequate food in a difficult lowland tropical environment. In approximately the 9th century AD however this classic Mayan society "collapsed" and the reasons for this are poorly known. Dr Rice and his colleagues will focus on the time interval between the 9th and 17th centuries AD, when Europeans conquered this area. They will work from early Spanish texts which described, and located - in a general way - major Mayan towns. Through on the ground survey they will attempt to locate these and through limited archaeological excavation, provide dates. This information will provide the framework for a major excavation project which will allow the Mayan "decline" to be traced over a ca. 800 year interval. This project is important for several reasons. It will provide information on a little understood period of prehistory. The data it produces will be of interest to many archaeologists and it will increase our understanding of how complex societies arise, and also decline.