Dissertation Research: The Classic Maya Collapse and Changing Ceramic Production and Distribution in the Petexbatun Region

9311836德马斯特在阿瑟·德马斯特博士的指导下，安东尼亚·福伊斯女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将分析从危地马拉北天的佩特克斯巴顿地区收集的陶瓷材料，这些陶瓷材料的时间跨度约为公元650-950年。正是在这段时间里，该地区的玛雅社会达到了发展的顶峰，然后崩溃。通过德马雷斯特博士和他的合作者之前在这个玛雅中部地区所做的大量工作，人们已经知道了主要遗址，建立了陶瓷年代学，并出土了大量材料。在为期10个月的实地考察期间，FOIAS女士将继续她对陶瓷遗骸的持续分析。她将根据类型/品种系统对作品进行分类，以确定相对年龄。然后，她将记录一些观察结果，以确定课堂内的标准化程度，并了解这一点如何在时间和空间上发生变化。这些数据将让我们深入了解生产的背景。FOIAS女士希望了解商业化和大批量生产--以标准化程度衡量--是否随着时间的推移而增加，以及这一过程是否导致较小的竞争中心。她还将确定可能表明入侵的非本地材料的频率。FOIAs女士还将在史密森研究所对选定的材料进行中子活化分析。由此产生的微量元素数据将提供与标准化和外国影响的问题有关的信息。早在哥伦布到达新大陆之前，玛雅文明就在中美洲低地荒凉的热带环境中蓬勃发展。玛雅人建造大型寺庙和礼仪建筑群的许多地区今天只支持较低的人口密度。在公元第一个千年达到顶峰后，纪念碑的建造停止了，人们放弃了城市中心，分散到更小的群体中。考古学家S希望了解这一“坍塌”的原因，并提出了一些假说来解释它。这些问题的范围从环境耗尽到外国征服。Foais女士将使用陶瓷数据来评估其中的一些选择。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供许多考古学家感兴趣的数据。它还将阐明复杂社会是如何产生、运行和衰落的。最后，它将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。***

9311836 Demarest Under the direction of Dr. Arthur Demarest, Ms. Antonia Foias will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will analyze ceramic materials collected from sites in the Petexbatun region of the Peten, Guatemala and which span the period from ca. 650 - 950 A.D. It was during this time that the Mayan societies in this region reached their highest point of development and then collapsed. Through extensive previous work by Dr. Demarest and his collaborators in this central Mayan region, the major sites are known, a ceramic chronology established and a large amount of material excavated. Over a 10 month field period Ms. Foias will continue her ongoing analysis of the ceramic remains. She will categorize pieces according to a type/variety system to establish relative ages. She will then record a number of observations to determine the degree of standardization within classes and learn how this changes over both time and space. These data will give insight into the context of production. Ms. Foias wishes to learn whether commercialization and mass production - as measured by degree of standardization - increased over time and whether this process resulted in smaller competing centers. She will also determine the frequency of non-local materials which may indicate invasion. Ms. Foias will also conduct neutron activation analysis of selected materials at the Smithsonian Institution. The resultant trace element data will provide information relevant to questions of both standardization and foreign influence. Well before the arrival of Columbus in the New World the Mayan civilization flourished in the inhospitable tropical environment of lowland Middle America. Many of the areas in which Mayans constructed large temples and ceremonial complexes support only low population densities today. After reaching a peak in the first millennium A.D. monumental construction ceased and people abandoned urban centers to disperse into smaller groups. Archaeologist s wish to understand the causes of this "collapse" and have proposed a number of hypotheses to account for it. These range from environmental depletion through foreign conquest. Ms. Foais will employ ceramic data to evaluate a number of these options. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will also shed light on how complex societies arise, function and decline. Finally, it will assist in the training of a promising young scientist. ***