Power, Craft Production, and Exchange in Southern Mesoamerica

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Patricia Urban和Edward Schortman将在洪都拉斯北部的Cacautapa山谷进行两季的考古调查和挖掘。在之前的调查工作中，Schortman和Urban在现代城镇Pueblo Nuevo附近发现了一个巨大的史前中心。它被称为“丛林狼”，大致分布在各地。75平方公里的高台地。虽然茂密的植被阻碍了对该中心的形式和尺寸进行清晰的评估，但它显然是一个主要场地。它的主体是位于其东北边缘的巨大核心，大量的石面平台向南延伸。在陡峭的西北斜坡脚下，建造了几个巨大的石头梯田来支持假定的居住群体。结构的集中意味着政治的高度集中，一个强大的精英能够将大量的下属安置在附近。根据洪都拉斯其他地区的生态和社会结构之间的相关性，这种人口集中是令人惊讶的，因为支持农业的土地位于相对较小的分散的斑块中，这将增加精英阶层在行使直接和严格的社会控制方面的困难。这项研究的目的是了解导致成核和集中化的过程，而La Coyota清楚地表明这些过程确实存在。调查人员认为，这是该地点的中心地理位置，与河流和山口有关，并通过控制贸易实现了政治集中化。为了评估这一假设，研究小组将对所有主要农业用地进行调查，以确定其分布和史前人类居住的性质。所有网站都将被记录并确定其规模。收集表面材料。将在拉科约塔和农村居民点进行大规模挖掘。将在天井组内进行广泛的横向清理，以增加样本量并确定活动的空间分布。通过考察工艺生产的分布和强度，可以深入了解中央控制的程度。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将揭示社会复杂性是如何产生和维持的。它将提供一个几乎不为人知的中美洲地区的数据，并将帮助培训许多本科生。

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Patricia Urban and Edward Schortman will conduct two seasons of archaeological survey and excavation in the Cacautapa Valley in Northern Honduras. In the course of previous survey work Schortman and Urban discovered a massive prehistoric center near the modern town of Pueblo Nuevo. Termed "La Coyota", it is spread over roughly .75 km square of high terrace. While dense vegetation has precluded making a clear assessment of the center's form and dimensions, it is clearly a major site. It is dominated by a monumental core located on its northeastern margin with sizable quantities of stone-faced platforms stretching out to the South. Several massive stone terraces were built to support putative residential groups against the foot of the steep northwestern slopes. The concentration of structures implies a significant degree of political concentration with a powerful elite able to settle large numbers of subordinates in close proximity. Based on correlations between ecology and social structure from other regions in Honduras, this concentration of population is surprising because supporting agricultural land is located in relatively small scattered patches which would increase the difficulty an elite would have in exercising direct and tight social control. The goal of this research is to understand the processes which led to the nucleation and centralization which La Coyota clearly indicates did exit. The investigators believe that it was the site's central geographic position in relation to rivers and mountain passes and its through control of trade that political centralization was achieved. To evaluate this hypothesis, the team will conduct a survey of all prime agricultural land to determine its distribution and the nature of prehistoric human habitation on it. All sites will be noted and their size established. Surface materials will be collected. Extensive excavation will be conducted at La Coyota and at a sample of rural settlements. Extensive lateral clearing will be conducted within patio groups both to increase sample size and to determine the spatial distribution of activities. Through examination of the distribution and intensity of craft production insight will be gained into the degree of central control. This research is important for several reasons. It will shed new light on how social complexity arises and is maintained. It will provide data on a virtually unknown region of Middle America and it will assist in training many undergraduate students.