Dissertation Research: Prehispanic Settlement Patterns in the Palenque Region, Mexico: The Organization of Agricultural Production in a Classic Maya Center

在Robert Drennan博士的指导下，Rodrigo Liendo先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将在墨西哥帕伦克的玛雅遗址进行考古研究，该遗址在古典玛雅文明的鼎盛时期繁荣。他的近期目标是重建定居模式和农业系统，为此，他将首先对65平方公里的地区进行系统的区域调查。这将包括地面收集和记录建筑数据，提供定居点组织和分布的同步视图。它还将确定精英和非精英家庭最可能的位置，并显示这些与行政中心之间的关系。将根据建筑质量指标以及相关建筑的大小和数量等数量指标，按照家庭状况对家庭进行分类。调查还将包括梯田等农业特征及其与精英和非精英住宅的关系的信息。将记录当地地形、家庭生态区位置、场地面积、坡度、土壤和植被特征，并将在地理信息系统中记录和处理数据。在第二阶段的工作中，将在12个住户中进行抽样挖掘，收集陶瓷和其他材料，以便确定住户身份。在此基础上，就有可能确定农业组织与精英控制之间的关系。 玛雅文明的一个胜利在于它是在一个今天只能养活有限人口的地区发展起来的。玛雅人发展了农业技术，使人口能够在相对敌对的环境中密集聚集，并将他们嵌入一个社会结构，使复杂的等级组织形式得以发展。正如农学家们所了解到的，在热带地区发展小规模农业系统的主要困难涉及“社会”因素，而不是“技术”因素。由于它是如此成功，考古学家希望重建玛雅农业系统发展的社会背景，并提出了非常不同的假设。有些人认为，它是高度集中的，从一个单一的中心或从较小的分散的行政中心管理。另一些人认为，纵向一体化的情况要少得多，小农在相对独立的环境中茁壮成长。Liendo先生的研究直接解决了这个问题。 这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供关于管理小规模热带农业系统的信息，这些信息可能被证明是实用的。它将产生许多考古学家感兴趣的数据，并有助于培养一名有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Robert Drennan, Mr Rodrigo Liendo will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological research at the Mayan site of Palenque, Mexico which flourished at the height of classic Maya civilization. His immediate goal is to reconstruct the settlement pattern and agricultural system and to accomplish this he will first conduct a systematic regional survey of an area of 65 square km. This will include surface collection and recording of architectural data that will provide a synchronic view of settlement organization and distribution. It will also identify the likeliest locations of elite and non-elite households and show the relationship between these and administrative centers. Households will be classified according to status on the basis of qualitative architectural indicators and well as quantitative indicators such as size and number of associated structures. The survey will also incorporate information on agricultural features such as terraces and their relation to elite and non-elite residences. Local topography, household ecological zone location, site area, slope, soil and vegetation characteristics will be noted and the data will be recorded and manipulated in a Geographic Information System. During a second phase of the work, excavation will be conducted in a sample of 12 households to collect ceramics and other materials which will permit determination of household status. On this basis it will be possible to determine the relationship between agricultural organization and elite control. One triumph of Maya civilization rests on the fact that it developed in a region which can support only limited populations today. The Mayans developed agricultural techniques which permitted dense population aggregations in a relatively hostile environment and embedded them in a social structure which allowed the development of a complex hierarchical form of organization. As agronomists have learned, the central difficulties in developing small scale agricultural systems in the tropics involve `social` rather than `technical` factors. Because it was so successful, archaeologists wish to reconstruct the social context within which the Mayan agricultural system developed and have proposed very different hypotheses. Some believe that it was highly centralized and administered from either a single central place or from smaller dispersed administrative centers. Others think that much less vertical integration was present and that small farmers thrived in a relatively independent context. Mr. Liendo's research directly addresses this question. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide information on the management of small scale tropical agricultural systems which may prove of practical use. It will yield data of interest to many archaeologists and assist in training a promising young scientist.