Dissertation Research: The Site of Naranjal and the Interaction Spheres of the Late Preclassic to Early Maya Lowlands

在Scott Fedick博士的指导下，MS Jennifer Mathews将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将在位于墨西哥尤卡坦半岛的纳兰贾尔玛雅遗址进行考古研究。根据过去的研究，纳兰加尔似乎早于古典玛雅时期。共有21个主要建筑被确定，最具特点的是“巨石风格”，在建筑中使用了大块精心装饰的石头。许多石块呈楔形或馅饼状，长度超过一米。饰面石头上残留的石膏表明，它们被厚厚的涂层覆盖，表面光滑，这种风格与玛雅地区不同地区的其他风格在外观上明显不同。马修斯的工作将集中在这一现象上。她将挖掘几个结构，以便详细描述施工技术和成品。石膏样本将被收集，其中的木炭内含物将被提取出来进行放射性碳测年。最后将与该区域其他地点的类似结构进行比较。玛雅地区长期以来一直是考古研究的焦点，因为它见证了大型复杂社会在恶劣的低地热带环境中的兴起。虽然许多遗址已经被仔细挖掘，但研究人员仍然没有详细了解这些遗址之间的相互关系，区域相互作用的程度以及遗址间尺度上的政治整合。单个单位在多大程度上被组合成区域联盟和更大的功能团体？如果它们存在，它们是在玛雅史前的哪个阶段发展起来的？Mathews女士在北玛雅地区进行了她的研究，那里人们对该地区的了解相对较少，她希望解决这个基本问题。她注意到似乎是一种独特的区域建筑风格，似乎反映了这样一个区域互动领域，她将决定她的猜测是否正确。通过她收集的放射性碳样本，将为这些结构提供绝对的日期。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将使人们对复杂社会的发展过程有新的认识。它将有助于开创放射性碳定年法的一种新用途，这种方法可以应用于世界许多地方的考古遗址，最后它将有助于培训一名有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Scott Fedick, MS Jennifer Mathews will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct archaeological research at the Mayan site of Naranjal which is located in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. Based on past research it appears that Naranjal predates the Classic Maya period. A total of 21 major structures have been identified, most characterized by a `megalithic style` which employed large well-dressed stones in construction. Many of the blocks are wedge or pie-shaped and over a meter in length. Remains of plaster on facing stones indicate that they were thickly coated to from a smooth exterior surface and this style is distinctly different in appearance from others in different parts of the Mayan area. MS. Mathews' work will focus on this phenomenon. She will excavate several structures in order to describe in detail both construction techniques and finished product. Plaster samples will be collected and the charcoal inclusions they contain will be extracted for radiocarbon dating. Finally comparisons will be made with similar structures in other sites in the region. The Mayan region has long constituted a focus for archaeological study because it witnessed the rise of large complex societies in a hostile lowland tropical environment. While many sites have been carefully excavated, researchers still do not understand in detail how these related to each other, the extent of regional interaction and political integration at the inter site scale. To what extent were individual units grouped together into regional alliances and larger functional groupings? If they exist, at what stage in Mayan prehistory did they develop? MS Mathews conducts her research in the Northern Mayan region where relatively little is known and she wishes to address this basic question. She has noted what appears to be a distinct regional architectural style which appears to reflect such a regional interaction sphere and she will determine whether or not her guess is correct. Through the radiocarbon samples she collects, absolute dates will be provided for these structures. This research is important for several reasons. It will shed new light on the process of the development of complex societies. It will help to pioneer a new use for radiocarbon dating which may be applied to archaeological sites in many parts of the world and finally it will assist in training a promising young scientist.