Dissertation Research: Regional Settlement Patterns in Prehistoric Oruro, Bolivia

在Marc Bermann博士的指导下，Timothy McAndrews先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将在玻利维亚的拉霍亚高原地区进行考古研究。他的项目有三个目的：对这个已知包含早期形成期土丘遗址的地区进行深入调查；收集地表材料，以便评估每个地点的可变性；在选定地点挖掘测试单元，以探索地层学和地表/地下关系。在实现这些目标的过程中，收集到的定居模式数据将有助于了解定居动态以及社会政治和经济组织的问题。为了实现这些目标，麦克安德鲁斯先生将采用15%的系统随机样条抽样策略，这将使推广到更广泛的区域。在这个海拔高度，很少有植被掩盖史前遗迹，因此调查可以迅速进行。系统地随机取样地表遗迹——主要是陶器碎片——将在所有可追溯到形成时期的地点采集。判断放置的测试坑将在选定的地点挖掘，以提供基于不同职业水平的诊断文物的相对年表。然后将使用地理信息系统直观地显示数据，将人口分布与生态变量联系起来，并确定这种情况如何随时间变化。安第斯山脉中南部的形成时期（公元前2000年-公元300年）的特点是第一次定居生活方式，马铃薯等植物的驯化，最早的陶器和金属技术，以及复杂社会组织的出现。正是在这一时期，为新世界最复杂的前哥伦布文明之一的发展奠定了基础，它将玻利维亚和厄瓜多尔等相距遥远的地区联合成一个单一的帝国。考古学家希望了解导致这种复杂性的过程，麦克安德鲁斯先生的研究应该阐明这一点。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。它将增进对文明发展早期阶段的了解，并将有助于培养有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Marc Bermann, Mr. Timothy McAndrews will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological research in the highland La Joya region in Bolivia. The objects of his project are threefold: to conduct an intensive survey of this area which is known to contain early Formative period mound sites; to collect surface materials which will allow the assessment of variability within each site; to excavate test units at selected sites to explore stratigraphy and surface/subsurface relationships. In fulfilling these objectives, the settlement pattern data thus collected will allow questions of settlement dynamics and sociopolitical and economic organization will be obtained. To accomplish these goals Mr. McAndrews will employ a 15% systematic random transect sampling strategy which will permit generalization to the broader area. At this altitude there is very little vegetation to obscure prehistoric remains, so survey can proceed rapidly. Systematic random samples of surfaces remains - mostly potsherds - will be taken at all sites which date from the Formative period. Judgementally placed test pits will be excavated at selected sites to provide a relative chronology based on diagnostic artifacts from distinct occupational levels. A geographic information system will then be employed to visually display the data, to relate population distributions to ecological variables and to determine how this changes over time. The Formative Period (2000 B.C. - 300 A.D.) in the south-central Andes is characterized by the first sedentary lifeway, the domestication of plants such as the potato, the earliest pottery and metal technologies and the emergence of complex social organization. It was during this period that the stage was set for the development of one of the most complex precolumbian civilizations in the New World which joined together regions as far separated as Bolivia and Equador into a single empire. Archaeologists wish to understand the processes which led to such complexity and Mr. McAndrews research should shed light on this. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will increase understanding of the earliest stages in the development of civilization and will assist in the training of a promising young scientist.