Political Organization at Teotihuacan, Mexico

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，乔治·考吉尔博士和他的同事将分析在墨西哥山谷特奥蒂瓦坎的羽蛇金字塔下埋葬的遗骸和相关的陪葬品。特奥蒂瓦坎在公元第一个千年期间被占领，拥有超过10万居民，是中美洲主要的城市中心之一。靠近它的中心是一个大院，每边长400米，具有重大的宗教和政治意义，有宫殿式的房间建筑群，平台和16级金字塔。羽蛇是其中最大的一种。最近的挖掘发现了130多名牺牲者和异常丰富的相关供品。有证据表明，这些都与神庙的建造有关。考吉尔博士和他的合作者将分析这些材料，以确定这些个体如何融入更大的社会，以及他们拥有什么样的地位。为了实现这一目标，他们将研究牙齿锉制和镶嵌的模式，通过骨骼和牙齿的稳定同位素特征、古饮食和DNA来证明来源。对这些以及非度量的骨骼和牙齿特征的分析可以为受害者与其他特奥蒂瓦坎和非特奥蒂瓦坎群体的遗传关系提供证据，对骨骼和牙齿压力标记的研究提供了社会地位的证据。这项研究的目的是了解这个前哥伦布时期大城市的政治组织。考古学家普遍认为，祭祀受害者是战争俘虏，但迄今为止对相关材料的分析表明，这些人是特奥蒂瓦坎社会的一部分。虽然史前中美洲人民有一种书写形式，这揭示了许多关于邻近玛雅群体的政治组织，但在特奥蒂瓦坎发现的铭文很少，考古学家希望了解统治者和统治精英实际上拥有多少权力。初步证据表明，受害者来自上层社会，如果是这样，就意味着这些群体的活动受到了相当大的限制。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为了解国家级社会是如何产生和维持的提供新的见解。它将提供许多考古学家感兴趣的数据，并有助于书写一个知之甚少的新世界史前史篇章。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. George Cowgill and his colleagues will analyze the physical remains and associated burial goods of individuals buried beneath the Feathered Serpent Pyramid at Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico. Occupied during the first millennium AD, Teotihuacan had more than 100,000 occupants and was one of the major urban centers of Mesoamerica. Near its center was a compound, 400 meters on a side, of great religious and political significance with palatial room complexes, platforms and 16 stepped pyramids. The Feathered Serpent is the largest of these. Recent excavation has uncovered over 130 sacrificial victims and exceptionally rich associated offerings. Evidence indicates that these were all associated with the construction of the temple. Dr. Cowgill and his collaborators will analyze these materials to determine how these individuals fit into the larger society and what status they held. To accomplish this they will study patterns of dental filing and inlay, evidence of provenance through stable isotope signatures of bone and tooth, paleodiet and DNA. Analysis of these as well as non-metric skeletal and dental traits can furnish evidence about the genetic relatedness of the victims to other Teotihuacan and non-Teotihuacan groups and studies of skeletal and dental stress markers provide evidence for social status. The goal of this research is to understand the political organization of this large precolumbian city. Archaeologists have generally believed that sacrificial victims are war captives but analysis to date of associated materials suggests that these individuals were part of Teotihuacan society. While prehistoric Middle American peoples had a form of writing and this has revealed much about the political organization of adjacent Mayan groups, very few inscriptions have been recovered at Teotihuacan and archaeologists wish to understand how much power rulers and ruling elites actually held. Preliminary evidence indicates that the victims were from upper classes and if this is so it implies that these groups functioned within considerable constraints. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide new insight into how state level societies arise and are maintained. It will yield data of interest to many archaeologists and help to write a poorly understood chapter of New World prehistory.