Dissertation Research: Elite Control and Chiefdom Development in the Eastern Caribbean

在James Richardson博士的指导下，John Crock先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将在安圭拉岛进行考古研究。安圭拉岛是一个相对平坦的石灰岩小岛，面积为55平方公里，最高海拔为65米。它是小安的列斯群岛最北端的岛屿，一直是密集考古调查的主题。因为沉积率低，耕地被广泛耕作，所以很可能所有的考古遗址都是已知的。大多数加勒比岛屿早在公元前一千年就被占领，并在大约公元一千年末经历了重大变化。后萨拉多文化的特点是，与早期文化相比，居住在更多更大地点的人口更多。大量奇异和稀有物品的出现，如磨石斧和铜饰品，以及它们在空间上的不均匀分布，表明了一个以等级为主的社会的出现。克罗克先生在安圭拉找到了几个跨越萨拉多德前后时期的地点，以及过渡时期之后的许多其他地点。他的研究目标是寻找潜藏在这种变化之下、使权力集中在主要人手中的机制。由于该岛既小又缺乏自然资源，因此比较容易确定进口的是什么，从而构成了高地位的商品。这使克罗克先生能够相对容易地描述不同场址之间和同一场址内不同居住区域之间的地位差异。由于岛屿有明确的边界，它们构成了许多人类学和生物学分支领域比较研究的基础。加勒比海提供了一个几乎是实验室的环境，因为许多岛屿大约在同一时间居住着相对较少的语言群体，因此开始他们的史前人口相对同质。整个区域的岛屿在大小、地质、可耕地和其他自然资源方面差别很大。因此，有可能比较岛屿之间文化序列的差异，然后试图将这些差异与环境变量联系起来。与安圭拉和其他背风岛屿相比，波多黎各和迎风岛屿的考古研究要先进得多。这项研究应该有助于提供必要的平衡。它之所以重要，是因为它将提供对等级社会出现的洞察，而且它还将有助于培养有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. James Richardson, Mr. John Crock will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological research on Anguilla, a small relatively flat limestone island with an area of 55 square km and a maximum elevation of 65 m. It is the northernmost island in the Lesser Antillean chain and has been the subject of intensive archaeological survey. Because deposition rate is low and arable land extensively plowed it is likely that all archaeological sites are known. Most Caribbean islands were occupied as early as the first millennium BC and underwent significant change at roughly the end of first millennium AD. The post Saladoid cultures are characterized by larger populations who inhabited both more and larger sites in comparison to their earlier counterparts. The appearance of large numbers of exotic and rare items such as ground stone axes and copper ornaments and their unequal distribution over space suggests the emergence of a hierarchical chiefly society. On Anguilla Mr. Crock has located several sites which span the pre and post Saladoid period as well as many others which follow the transition. The goal of his research is to search for the mechanisms which underlay the change and which allowed power to become concentrated in chiefly hands. Because the island is both small and poor in natural resources it is relatively easy to determine what was imported and thus constitutes a high status good. This gives Mr. Crock the ability to characterize with relative ease the status differences both between sites and between different habitation areas within a single site. Because islands have clearly demarcated boundaries they have formed the basis for many comparative studies in both anthropology and may subfields of biology. The Caribbean provides an almost laboratory setting since many islands were inhabited at roughly the same time by relatively few linguistic groups and thus started their prehistories with a relatively homogeneous population. Across the region islands vary greatly in terms of size, geology, arable land and other natural resources. It is therefore possible to compare differences in cultural sequences between islands and then attempt to relate these to environmental variables. Archaeological research is considerably more advanced in Puerto Rico and windward islands compared to Anguilla and other leeward island counterparts. This research should help to provide the necessary counterbalance. It is important because it will provide insight into the emergence of hierarchical societies and it will also contribute to training a promising young scientist.