Archaeology of the Formative Period in Oaxaca

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Charles Spencer博士和Elsa Redmond博士将在位于墨西哥瓦哈卡谷的今天的San Martin Tilcajete(SMT)镇附近的一个遗址进行为期三个季节的考古调查和挖掘。最后一季，我们将花时间分析收集到的材料。初步工作表明，该遗址由17个土丘组成，分成两个土丘群，大约在公元前700-200年被占领。斯宾塞博士和雷德蒙德博士将绘制该遗址的详细地图，并记录所有土丘、石基和其他文化特征。表面伪像将通过受控的密集表面收集进行采样。在第二个季节，将在土丘和非土丘位置进行试掘，具体位置将根据对地面收集的评估进行指导。在第三季中，将对公共建筑以及家庭环境进行水平挖掘。在此基础上，将有可能追踪该遗址在大约五千年期间的变化。将监测人口规模和政治集中化程度的变化。通过对材料遗迹的分析，还有可能确定该遗址与瓦哈卡谷其他遗址之间的关系。国家级组织在人类历史上只独立出现过几次，考古学家希望了解这一过程发生的机制。以瓦哈卡州阿尔班山为中心、公元前一千年出现的萨普特克国就是一个例子。虽然这一过程的后一阶段是通过在蒙特阿尔班的广泛挖掘而众所周知的，但对这一过程的早期部分知之甚少，因为相关的层仍然埋在墨西哥政府重建的建筑物下。在SMT网站上，这样的数据很容易获得。SMT似乎是一个区域副中心，因此将从省级角度提供独特的见解。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。许多考古学家都曾在瓦哈卡谷工作过，斯宾塞和雷蒙德博士收集的数据将填补一个重大空白。它还将增加我们对导致国家一级社会发展的力量的了解。

With National Science Foundation support Drs. Charles Spencer and Elsa Redmond will conduct three seasons of archaeological survey and excavation at a site near the present day town of San Martin Tilcajete (SMT), located in the Oaxaca Valley of Mexico. A final season with be spent analyzing the materials collected. Preliminary work indicates that the site consists of 17 mounds organized into two mound groups and that it was occupied from ca. 700-200 BC. Drs. Spencer and Redmond will make a detailed map of the site and note all mounds, stone foundations and other cultural features. Surface artifacts will be sampled with controlled intensive surface collection. In the second season, test excavations will be placed in both mound and non-mound locations with specific placements guided by an assessment of the surface collections. In season three horizontal excavation will occur on a sample of public buildings as well as in domestic contexts. On this basis it will be possible to trace changes in the site over approximately half a millennium. Variation in population size and degree of political centralization will be monitored. Through analysis of material remains it will also be possible to determine the relationships between this site and others in the Oaxaca Valley. State level organizations have independently arisen only a few times in human history and archaeologists wish to understand the mechanisms by which this process occurs. The Zaoptec state which was centered at the site of Monte Alban in Oaxaca and appeared during the first millennium BC provides one example. While the latter stage of this process is well known through extensive excavations at Monte Alban, relatively little is known about the early part of the process since the relevant layers remain buried under buildings which have been reconstructed by the Mexican government. At the SMT site, such data are readily available. SMT appears to be a regional subcenter and for this reason will provide unique insight from what is a provincial perspective. This research is important for several reasons. Many archaeologists have worked in the Oaxaca Valley and the data Drs. Spencer and Redmond collect will fill a major gap. It will also increase our understanding of the forces which led to the development of state level societies.