Dissertation Research: Prehispanic Urbanism and Community Expression in the Chicama Valley, Peru

在查尔斯·斯坦尼什博士的指导下，克里斯托弗·阿塔里安先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。考古学家认为秘鲁是文明的发源地之一，虽然印加人因为被西班牙人观察和征服而是这一地区最著名的例子，但他们是一系列复杂的安第斯社会中的最后一个。大约2000年前，在秘鲁干旱的北部海岸，莫切人作为一个可识别的群体首次出现，考古学家可以追溯到他们在近1000年的时间里发展成为一个复杂的城市社会。莫契人参与了金字塔和其他纪念性建筑的建造，并发展了高度集权的政府形式。然而，人们对莫切文明的起源知之甚少，这一过程构成了阿塔里安先生研究的基础。阿塔里安先生和其他调查人员先前的工作表明，在莫切之前的时代，小群体生活在莫切山谷边缘的防御工事上。他们随后聚集在谷底本身标志着莫切传统的开始。阿塔里安先生希望回答的具体问题涉及为将以前独立的团体合并为一个有凝聚力的城市单位而发展的机制。为了解决这个问题，他将研究6个莫切族前村庄的陶瓷和其他遗骸，然后将这些材料与从莫切族早期中心莫科洛普发现的材料进行比较。他的初步工作表明，虽然每个原始村庄的陶瓷风格相似，构成了单一传统的一部分，但个别村庄有特定的设计元素，使他们的陶器独一无二。阿塔里安将对每个村庄进行额外的挖掘，以更准确地定义个别风格。然后，他将从Mocollope收集表面陶瓷，并在选定的地区进行挖掘。有了这些数据，他应该能够确定这些风格是否在莫科洛普继续存在，并在空间上被隔离在遗址内--这表明了“种族隔离”和持续的多种族群体--或者它们是否被泛城市风格所取代。通过使用陶瓷和其他材料遗迹，他还将研究社会/财富分化的兴起，以及这种分化是如何与种族相互作用的。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供许多考古学家感兴趣的数据。它将增加对复杂社会崛起的理解，并有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Charles Stanish, Mr. Christopher Attarian will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Archaeologists identify Peru as one of the hearths of civilization and although the Inca, because they were observed and conquered by the Spanish, are the best known example from this region, they were the last in a succession of complex Andean societies. The Moche first appear as a recognizable group ca. 2,000 years ago on the arid northern coast of Peru and archaeologists can trace their development into a complex urban society over the span of almost 1,000 years. The Moche peoples were associated with the construction of pyramids and other monumental architecture and developed a highly centralized form of government. The origins of Moche civilization however are poorly understood and this process forms the basis for Mr. Attarian's research. Prior work both by Mr. Attarian and other investigators indicates that in immediate pre-Moche times small groups lived in defensible positions on the edge of the Moche Valley. Their subsequent aggregation on the valley floor itself marks the start of the Moche tradition. The particular question which Mr. Attarian wishes to answer concerns the mechanisms which developed to integrate previously independent groups into a single cohesive urban unit. To address this question he will study ceramics and other remains from 6 pre-Moche villages and then compare these with materials recovered from Mocollope, an early Moche center. His preliminary work has shown that while ceramics styles from each of the precursor villages are similar and constitute part of a single tradition, individual villages had specific design elements which made their pottery unique. Mr. Attarian will conduct additional excavation at each of these villages to define individual styles more precisely. He will then collect surface ceramics from Mocollope and excavate in selected areas. With these data he should be able to determine whether these styles continue at Mocollope and are spatially segregated within the site - an indication of "barrios" and continued multi-ethnic groups - or whether they are replaced by a pan-city style. Through the use of ceramics and other material remains he will also examine the rise of social/wealth differentiation and how this interacts with ethnicity.This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will increase understanding of the rise of complex societies and assist in training a promising young scientist.