Dissertation Research: Archaeological Excavation of the Xunantunich Maya

在温迪·阿什莫尔博士的指导下，安吉拉·凯勒女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。在过去的几年里，她参与了位于伯利兹低地的玛雅遗址Xunantunich的调查和挖掘工作。它主要由一组具有纪念意义的建筑组成，包括人行道，道路，公共广场和露台以及更大更令人印象深刻的寺庙土丘。这个网站之所以特别有趣，有几个原因。首先，它的年代在玛雅序列中相对较晚，只有后期经典和终端经典组件。这意味着架构布局可以被看作是基本上同步的，并且需要按时间段对功能进行最小隔离。第二，遗址本身与周围腹地之间存在着一种奇怪的脱节，在遗址被占领之前和被遗弃之后，周围腹地都保持着大量繁荣的人口。这在玛雅文化中是不寻常的。阿什莫尔、凯勒和其他团队成员研究了Xunantunich核心的空间组织，并将其与描述玛雅村庄的民族历史文献进行了比较，这些文献最初是由西班牙人描述的。他们认为，主要的建筑物和堤道是按照沿着仪式的路线组织起来的，空间的安排反映了玛雅人对宇宙秩序的信仰。该遗址只有部分被挖掘，详细的地图尚未完成。在一个赛季的NSF支持的实地考察MS凯勒将做这两个。她已经确定了什么样的数据配置是必要的，以支持一个“宇宙”模型，并将收集必要的信息，以测试这一想法。 考古学家希望了解玛雅文明是如何产生的，并由生活在极端恶劣环境中的人维持，他们拥有简单的技术水平。如何能够将大量的人纳入广泛的社会和经济制度？许多考古学家假设，政治和仪式权力基本上是同义词，通过控制重要的仪式，统治者能够行使相当大的权力。如果Xunantunich在空间上是沿着仪式线组织的，这个事实将有力地支持这个假设。这项研究也很重要，因为它将有助于培养一个有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Wendy Ashmore, MS Angela Keller will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. For the last several years she has participated in the survey and excavation of Xunantunich, a Mayan site located in lowland Belize. It consists primarily of a core cluster of monumental architecture with walkways, roads, public plazas and terraces as well as larger more impressive temple mounds. The site is particularly interesting for several reasons. First, it dates to relatively late in the Maya sequence with only Late Postclassic and Terminal Classic components. This means that the architectural layout can be viewed as essentially synchronous and minimal segregation of features by time period is necessary. Secondly, a curious disjunction exists between the site itself and the surrounding hinterland which maintained a large and prosperous population both before the site was occupied and after its abandonment. This is unusual in a Mayan context. Ashmore, Keller and other team members have examined the spatial organization of the Xunantunich core and compared it to ethnohistoric documents which describe how Mayan villages, when first described by the Spanish, were arranged. They believe that major buildings and causeways were organized along ritual lines and that the arrangement in space reflected Mayan beliefs about cosmic order. Only portions of the site have been excavated and detailed mapping has not been completed. During one season of NSF supported fieldwork MS Keller will do both. She has determined what configuration of data is necessary to support a `cosmic` model and will collect the necessary information to test this idea. Archaeologists wish to understand how the Mayan civilization arose and was maintained by people who lived in an extremely harsh environment and who possessed a simple level of technology. How was it possible to integrate large numbers of people into widespread social and economic systems? Many archaeologists have postulated that political and ritual power were essentially synonymous and through control of important rituals rulers were able to exercise considerable power. Were Xunantunich spatially organized along ritual lines, this fact would strongly support this hypothesis. This research is also important because it will assist in training a promising young scientist.