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。它主要由一个核心的纪念性建筑群组成，带有人行道、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，它在Maya序列中可以追溯到相对较晚的时间，只有后期的后经典组件和终端经典组件。这意味着可以将建筑布局视为基本上同步的，并且需要按时间段对功能进行最小限度的分离。其次，遗址本身和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废弃后，腹地都维持着大量和繁荣的人口。这在玛雅人的背景下是不寻常的。阿什莫尔、凯勒和其他团队成员研究了Xunantunich核心的空间组织，并将其与民族历史文献进行比较，这些文献描述了最初由西班牙人描述的玛雅村庄是如何安排的。他们认为，主要建筑和堤道是按照仪式线组织的，空间的安排反映了玛雅人对宇宙秩序的信仰。只挖掘了遗址的一部分，还没有完成详细的测绘。在NSF支持的实地考察的一个赛季中，凯勒女士将两者兼而有之。她已经确定了支持宇宙模型所需的数据配置，并将收集必要的信息来测试这一想法。考古学家希望了解玛雅文明是如何由生活在极其恶劣的环境中、拥有简单技术水平的人产生和维持的。如何可能将大量人口融入广泛的社会和经济系统？许多考古学家假设，政治权力和仪式权力本质上是同义词，通过控制重要的仪式，尺子能够行使相当大的权力。如果Xunantunich按照仪式线在空间上组织，这一事实将有力地支持这一假设。这项研究也很重要，因为它将有助于培养一位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.