Dissertation Research: Settlement Organization of a Major Pre-Columbian Polity: Archaeological Survey at Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala

在Arthur Demarest博士的指导下，Oswaldo Chinchillia先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。在先前工作的基础上，他将在危地马拉太平洋沿岸的山前地区进行一项定居点调查。这一地区以古典时期（公元500-1000年）的科祖马瓜帕文化遗址以及与之相关的精美雕塑和文字系统而闻名。尽管自19世纪以来，人们就开始关注这一领域，但目前的知识仅限于年表、建筑和雕塑。很少有人致力于理解社会和政治组织。钦奇利亚先生将在三个已知最大遗址的邻近地区进行系统的区域调查。他将从较小的中心定位和记录数据，绘制它们的位置和大小，并根据所得分布重建住区和社会系统。他还将进行有限的挖掘，以比较地表和地下的材料。通过这一过程，他将确定地表分布反映埋藏物质的精确程度，以及地表数据可能包含的潜在偏差。中美洲以其复杂的社会而闻名，这些社会往往是在不适宜居住的热带环境中发展起来的。考古学家希望了解导致这些复杂实体出现和发展的过程，并最终导致它们的垮台。在危地马拉山前进行的系统工作很少，尽管考古遗迹的复杂和精细的性质表明值得这种注意。钦奇利亚的研究将为复杂社会的兴起提供新的视角。它将提供许多考古学家感兴趣的数据，并协助培训一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Demarest Under the direction of Dr. Arthur Demarest, Mr. Oswaldo Chinchillia will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Building on previous work he will conduct a settlement survey in the piedmont area of the Pacific coast of Guatemala. This region is well known for the classic period (500-1000 AD) sites ascribed to the Cotzumalguapa culture and for the elaborate sculptures and writing system associated with it. Although attention has been drawn to this area since the nineteenth century, current knowledge is restricted to chronology, architecture and sculpture. Little effort has been devoted to understanding social and political organization. Mr. Chinchillia will conduct a systematic regional survey in the immediate environs of the three largest known sites. He will locate and record data from smaller centers, map their position and qize, and based on the resultant distributions reconstruct both settlement and social systems. He will also conduct limited excavations in order to compare surface and subsurface materials. Through this process, he will determine how accurately suface distributions mirror buried materials and what potential bias surface data might contain. Middle America is famous for the complex societies which developed in an often inhospitable tropical environment. Archaeologists wish to understand the processes which led to the emergence and development of these complex entities and which ultimately resulted in their downfall. Very little systematic work has been done in the piedmont of Guatemala even though the complex and elaborate nature of archaeological remains indicates that such attention is merited. Mr. Chinchillia's research will shed new light on the rise of complex society. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and assist in the training of a promising young scientist.