Dissertation Research: Symbolism and Ritual at Teotihuacan

在George Cowgill博士的指导下，杉山三郎先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。墨西哥和美国考古学家在墨西哥中部的特奥蒂瓦坎遗址进行了多年的挖掘，发现了许多人类祭祀的墓葬。最近，考吉尔博士和他的同事们对大型羽蛇金字塔进行了挖掘，并发现了更多。尽管这些材料有可能为了解特奥蒂瓦坎人的政治、社会和仪式组织提供线索，但对它们的研究相对较少。杉山先生的项目将有助于解决这个问题。有证据表明，这些墓葬与金字塔的关系是精心安排的。许多坟墓里都有丰富的石雕和黑曜石工具。作为第一步，杉山将绘制出这些坟墓的空间分布，然后确定它们与随葬品的关联。然后，他将寻找材料排列的模式，并将坟墓按时间顺序排列。在此基础上，他希望重构相关的仪式。由于这些祭祀是国家仪式，仪式被直接或间接地用于政治目的，对这些仪式的理解也将有助于了解特奥蒂瓦坎国家的组织和维护。特奥蒂瓦坎是前哥伦布时代中美洲最大、最有影响力的城市之一。大约在公元1世纪到8世纪之间，它在墨西哥中部蓬勃发展，在其鼎盛时期，面积约为20平方公里，人口至少为10万。对生态环境、政治、经济、贸易体系、技术、宗教和意识形态的其他方面进行了研究，以了解社会及其历史本身，并在世界范围内研究古代国家演变的理论。现在人们知道，这座城市是新世界古代城市化的一个独特例子。然而，人们对政府的具体形式以及国家发展和运作过程中意识形态项目的性质仍然知之甚少。杉山先生的研究将探讨这些问题。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为许多考古学家提供感兴趣的数据。它将增加我们对复杂社会如何发展的理解，并将有助于培养有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. George Cowgill, Mr. Saburo Sugiyama will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Over the course of many years of excavation by both Mexican and U.S. archaeologists at the site of Teotihuacan in central Mexico, many sacrificial human burials have been uncovered. Recently Dr. Cowgill and his colleagues conducted excavations at the large Feathered Serpent Pyramid and discovered a number more. Although these materials have the potential to provide insight into Teotihuacan political, social and ritual organization they have been relatively little studied. Mr. Sugiyama's project will help to remedy this. Evidence indicates that the burials were carefully placed in relation to the pyramid. Many contain rich grave offerings of carved stone and obsidian tools. As a first step, Mr. Sugiyama will plot the spatial distribution of the graves and then determine associations with burial objects. He will then search for patterns in the arrangement of materials and place the graves in a chronological context. On this basis he hopes to reconstruct the rituals involved. Since these sacrifices were state ceremonies and ritual was manipulated directly or indirectly for political goals, understanding of these ceremonies will also shed light on the organization and maintenance of the Teotihuacan state. Teotihuacan was one of the largest and most influential cities in Mesoamerica in Pre-Columbian times. It flourished in central Mexico between approximately the first century A.D. and the eighth, covering about 20 km2 with a population of at least 100,000 during its peak. The ecological setting, the politics, the economy, the trade system, the technology, religion and other aspects of ideology have been studied for an understanding of the society and its history per se and for theories about the evolution of ancient states in worldwide contexts. It is now known that the city was a unique example of ancient urbanization in the New World. However, still poorly understood are the specific form of the government and the nature of the ideological programs in the development and functioning of this state. Mr. Sugiyama's research will investigate these questions. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will increase our understanding of how complex societies developed and it will assist in the training of a promising young scientist.