Dissertation Research: A Spatial Analysis of Classic Bonito Phase Chacoan Great House Communities

在Dr. Gwinn Vivian的指导下，Ruth Van Dyke女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将检查位于新墨西哥州查科峡谷地区的9个博尼托风格史前遗址的遗址规划。在其中的七个地点，大量的地表遗迹和建筑遗址已经被绘制出来，范戴克女士将把这些地点的平面图数字化。这将有利于空间分析。在剩下的两个地点，范戴克女士和助手们将使用激光传输系统产生可比较的数据。有了这些信息，她将搜索不同遗址之间的异同，并将其与查科峡谷中心遗址进行比较。在场地内，她将尝试确定居住者之间的社会关系，并了解是否存在等级制度。诸如房间大小、布置和可达性等因素将提供解决这个问题的方法。在与旧世界接触之前的几个世纪里，西南美洲土著社会发展了复杂的社会系统，建造了多层建筑的遗址，可以容纳数百人。这种发展的中心是新墨西哥州的查科峡谷。很明显，查科峡谷和100多个外围社区之间存在着密切的关系，因为一个史前道路系统连接了许多这些地点。然而，考古学家并不了解查科系统是如何运作的。他们不知道查科“中心”是否负责建立离群，或者本质上独立的社区是否合作，而外围实际上创造了核心。我们也不知道这些社区本质上是平等主义的还是等级主义的。这个问题很重要，因为它将揭示产生这个众所周知的社会的社会进程。通过建筑分析，范戴克女士可以解决这两个问题。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为许多考古学家提供感兴趣的数据。它将为社会复杂性的发展提供新的线索，并将有助于培养有前途的年轻科学家。

Vivian Under the direction of Dr. R. Gwinn Vivian, Ms. Ruth Van Dyke will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will examine site plans for 9 Bonito-style prehistoric sites which are located in New Mexico in the Chaco Canyon region. At seven of the sites, extensive surface remains and architectural ruins have already been mapped and Ms. Van Dyke will digitize the site plans. This will facilitate spatial analysis. At the remaining two sites Ms. Van Dyke and assistants will use a laser transit system to produce comparable data. With this information she shall search for similarities and differences between sites and compare these to central Chaco Canyon ruins. Within sites she will attempt to determine social relations among occupants and learn whether a hierarchical system existed. Factors such as room size, arrangement and accessibility will provide a means to address this question. In the centuries immediately preceding contact with the Old World, Southwest Native American societies developed complex social systems and built sites with multi-story architecture which accommodated hundreds of individuals. A center for such development was Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. It is clear that a strong relationship existed between Chaco Canyon and over 100 outlying communities since a system of prehistoric roads connects many of these sites. However archaeologists do not understand how the Chaco system functioned. They do not know whether the Chaco "center" is responsible for the establishment of the outlier or whether essentially independent communities cooperated and that the periphery, in effect, created the core. It is also not known whether these communities were essentially equalitarian or hierarchial. The question is important because it will shed light on the social processes which gave rise to this well known society. Through architectural analysis Ms. Van Dyke can address both of these issues. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will shed new light on the development of social complexity and will assist in the training of a promising young scientist.