Dissertation Research: Pre-hispanic Argentinian Settlement Patterns

9312006厄尔在蒂莫西·厄尔博士的指导下，伊丽莎白·德马里亚斯女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将在位于阿根廷西北部安第斯山脉东坡的卡尔查基山谷进行考古研究。选择这个地点有几个原因。首先，德马里亚斯可以与目前在该地区的其他美国研究人员协调她的工作。然而，更重要的是，这个定义明确的地理实体包含了一个考古序列，从大约6000年前开始，一直延伸到印加时代晚期，直到西班牙人的出现。因此，该区域记录了从狩猎和采集向农业的转变，以及从小型流动人口群体向更大、更有组织的实体的转变，这些实体被并入国家社会。德马里亚斯对这一序列的后半部分很感兴趣，她想确定社会分层和政治权力集权是如何发生的。为了做到这一点，她将在该地区进行广泛的调查。在初步勘察之后，她和她的同事将注意到选定样本区域内的所有地点。将收集陶器和石器等表面材料，并绘制灌溉运河等建筑和农业特征地图。有了这些数据，DeMarrais女士将能够重建随着时间的推移不断变化的团队规模和组织。虽然考古学家认识到，在Calchaqui中观察到的一般情况在世界许多地方重复，随着农业的采用，群体变得久坐不动，规模和组织复杂性增加，但这些变化发生的机制还没有被很好地理解。特别是，不清楚权力是如何集中在有限数量的个人手中的。DeMarrais女士希望通过审查公共工程等中央集权的发展情况，并关注金属和其他贵重物品分配不均所反映的不平等证据，深入了解这一进程。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。它将为导致社会复杂性的过程提供新的线索，并最终将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。***

9312006 Earle Under the direction of Dr. Timothy Earle, Ms. Elizabeth DeMarrias will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct archaeological research in the Calchaqui valley which lies on the eastern slopes of the Andes in northwest Argentina. This location was selected for several reasons. First Ms. DeMarrias can coordinate her work with other U.S. researchers who are currently present in the area. Of greater importance however is that fact that this well defined geographical entity contains an archaeological sequence which begins approximately 6,000 years ago and extends up through late Inka times to the appearance of the Spanish. The region documents therefore the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture and the change from small mobile human grouping to larger more highly organized entities which were incorporated into a state society. Ms. DeMarrias is interested in the latter portion of the sequence and wants to determine how social stratification and centralization of political power took place. To do this, she will survey broadly within the region. Following an initial reconnaissance, she and her colleagues will note all sites which fall within selected sample areas. Surface materials such as pottery and stone tools will be collected and architectural and agricultural features such as irrigation canals mapped. With these data Ms. DeMarrais will be able to reconstruct changing group size and organization over time. While archaeologists recognize that the general picture observed in the Calchaqui is repeated in many parts of the world and that with the adoption of agriculture groups become sedentary and increase in size and organizational complexity, the mechanisms by which these changes take place are not well understood. In particular it is not clear how authority becomes concentrated in the hands of limited numbers of individuals. By examining the development of centralization such as public works and by focussing on evidence of inequality as reflected in differential distribution of metals and other valuable goods, Ms. DeMarrais hopes to gain insight into this process. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will shed new light on the process which leads to social complexity and finally it will assist in the training of a promising young scientist. ***