Dissertation Research: The Prehistory of the Miskito Coast of Honduras: Interaction and the Rise of Complexity in a Frontier Area

9319784 Buikstra在Jane Buikstra博士的指导下，Christopher Begley先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将在洪都拉斯的米斯基托海岸地区进行考古田野工作。在三个阶段的过程中，他将对划定良好的河谷地区进行100%的地面测量。在第二阶段，他将进行试掘，试图找到没有地面建筑标志的掩埋地点，最后阶段将在选定的地区进行广泛的挖掘。他将对收集的陶瓷和其他文化材料进行分析，并通过放射性碳和黑铁矿水合测年构建该地区的年代序列。在项目结束时，他希望能够追溯该地区的聚落历史，并确定文化复杂性是如何发展起来的。一千多年来，玛雅人统治着美国中部的主要低地地区。直到不久前，贝格利将在洪都拉斯东部工作的地方似乎都不在玛雅人的势力范围之内，与南美洲的史前文化关系更为密切。然而，贝格利等人最近的研究表明，情况可能并非如此。大约在公元1000年，该地区出现了许多玛雅人的特征，如纪念性建筑。特别有趣的是，到了这一时期，玛雅文化正在衰落，贝格利先生希望将洪都拉斯东部的事件与玛雅心脏地带进行比较和联系。许多考古学家和历史学家假设核心地区和边缘地区是如何相互作用的，提出的模型差异很大。贝格利的研究将为检验其中几项提供数据。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供来自一个重要且几乎未知地区的考古数据。这将会引起许多考古学家的兴趣。这项工作还将增加我们对文化复杂性如何发展的理解，并有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。***

9319784 Buikstra Under the direction of Dr. Jane Buikstra, Mr. Christopher Begley will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological fieldwork in the Miskito Coast region of Honduras. In a three stage process, he will carry out a 100% surface survey of a well delimited river valley region. In the second phase he will conduct trial excavation in an attempt to locate buried sites which are not marked by surface architecture and in the final stage undertake broad scale excavation in selected areas. He will analyze the ceramics and other cultural material collected and through radiocarbon and obsidian hydration dating construct a chronological sequence for the region. At the conclusion of the project he hopes to be able to trace the settlement history of the area and determine how cultural complexity developed. For over a millennia the Mayan peoples dominated major lowland areas of Middle America. Eastern Honduras, where Mr. Begley will work has, until recently, appeared to lie outside the Mayan sphere of influence and relate more closely to prehistoric cultures of South America. However recent work by Mr. Begley and others suggests that such may not be the case. At ca. 1,000 AD a number of Mayan traits such as monumental architecture appear in the region. What is particularly interesting is that by this period Mayan culture was in its decline and Mr. Begley wishes to compare and relate events in the Eastern Honduras to the Mayan heartland. Many archaeologists and historians have postulated how core and periphery areas interact with each other and models proposed vary widely. Mr. Begley's research will provide data to examine several of them. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide archaeological data from an important and almost unknown region. and this will be of interest to many archaeologists. The work will also increase our understanding of how cultural complexity develops and assist in the training of a promising young scientist. ***