Dissertation Research: Residential Architecture and Warfare in the Northern Maya Lowlands

在大卫弗赖德尔博士的指导下，特拉维斯斯坦顿先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。在Freidel博士先前工作的基础上，Stanton先生将分析在位于墨西哥北北方地区的Yaxuna玛雅遗址考古发掘期间收集的材料。斯坦顿先生认为，通过分析建筑风格随时间的变化，可以确定场地布局和建筑技术在多大程度上反映了地区政治权力的组织。亚逊纳的核心区域占地约一平方公里，包括一座卫城、堤道和凸起的石头结构以及许多较小的土丘。虽然面积很大，但Yaxuna从来不是一个占主导地位的地区力量，在其漫长的史前史中，玛雅居民属于三个较大的政治团体。大规模的焚烧和建筑物的破坏表明这座城市不止一次被征服。斯坦顿先生希望确定在第一次征服之后，空间和物质结构在多大程度上得到了重组，并为实现这一目标，他将把该遗址的建筑布局和个别建筑的设计与征服国及其征服前的对应方进行比较。此外，对物质遗迹的分析将有助于深入了解征服前社会组织的发展以及随后的转变。 考古学家认识到，个别玛雅遗址被整合到更大的政治网络中，通过发现每个遗址的范围并追踪它们如何随着时间的推移而变化，可以了解政治组织的基本原则。在Yaxuna，非建筑数据有力地表明了网站统治如何随着时间的推移而变化，这提供了一个很好的控制背景，以确定建筑是否实际上反映了这些不断变化的权力模式。事实上，如果是这样的话，它将为考古学分析提供一个强大的工具。该项目还将协助培训一名有前途的青年科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. David Freidel, Mr. Travis Stanton will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Building on Dr. Freidel's prior work, Mr. Stanton will analyze material collected during archaeological excavation at the Mayan site of Yaxuna located in the Northern Peten region of Mexico. Through an analysis of changes in architectural style over time it will, Mr. Stanton postulates, be possible to determine the extent to which site layout and building techniques reflect the organization of regional political power. The core area of Yaxuna covers approximately one square kilometer and includes an acropolis, causeways and raised stone structures as well as numerous smaller earthen mounds. Although significant in size, Yaxuna was never a dominant regional power and over its long prehistory the Mayan inhabitants fell within the sphere of three larger political groups. Extensive burning and destruction of structures indicates that the city was conquered more than once. Mr. Stanton wishes to determine the extent to which the spatial and physical organization was reorganized after the first of these conquests and to accomplish this goal he will compare the architectural configuration of the site and the design of individual buildings to those of the conquering power as well as to its pre-conquest counterpart. In addition, analysis of material remains will provide insight into how social organization developed in pre-conquest times and how it was subsequently transformed. Archaeologists recognize that individual Mayan sites were integrated into larger political networks and that by discovering the extent of each and tracing how they changed over time it is possible to understand the principles which underlie political organization. At Yaxuna, non-architectural data strongly suggest how site domination changed over time and this provides an excellent controlled context to determine whether architecture in fact reflects these changing power patterns. If such, in fact, is the case, it will provide an powerful tool for archaeological analysis. The project will also assist in training a promising young scientist.