Dissertation Research: Building Chan Chan: Project Management Analysis of Ancient Architecture

在 Michael Moseley 博士的指导下，Richard Smailes 先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。 Smailes 先生拥有建筑承包背景，熟悉现代计算机辅助技术以协助设计、成本估算和调度。这些提供了现代建筑发生的框架。在这个高度创新的项目中，他将采用这套技术，对其进行调整，并回顾性地应用于在秘鲁 Chan Chan 遗址建造史前皇家建筑。这座古老的城市位于秘鲁干旱的北海岸，拥有许多纪念性建筑，这些建筑由围墙组成，周围环绕着多个建筑物和储藏室。考古学家认为，早期的建筑群被多个连续的规则所占据，而后来的建筑群只服务于一种：每个国王都建造了自己的建筑，并在他死后被遗弃。然而，鉴于现有的施工技术和劳工组织方法，尚不清楚这样的大院需要多长时间才能建成。秘鲁和世界其他地区此前曾尝试估算纪念性建筑所涉及的劳动力，但这些尝试都是初级的，并且仅基于建筑中涉及的泥土和其他材料的数量。所涉及的任务类型、人员规模和日程安排等问题尚未得到考虑。现代承包商拥有基于计算机的技术，有助于规划和管理施工以及估算成本。 Smailes 先生将使用这些来分析 Chan Chan 皇家建筑。该地点已被仔细绘制，斯迈尔斯先生将使用这些数据构建该院落的三维计算机模型。这将为进行估算提供基础。他还将在秘鲁进行民族考古学研究，以深入了解土坯砖制作等传统建筑实践。考古学家认为建筑的规模和复杂性与建造它的社会的复杂性和社会组织之间存在相关性，这一点并非无理。因此，他们经常尝试估计特定纪念性结构所需的劳动力量，并用它来推测社会的其他方面。斯迈尔斯先生的研究将对迄今为止所采用的方法做出重大改进，如果成功，将可能应用于世界许多地区的许多考古情况。因此，它的方法论影响可能会很大。这项研究将增加我们对文明摇篮之一的了解，并有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Michael Moseley, Mr. Richard Smailes will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Mr. Smailes has a background in construction contracting and is familiar with modern computer assisted techniques to aid in design, cost estimation and scheduling. These provide the framework within which modern building takes place. In this highly innovative project he will take this set of techniques, adapt them and apply the retrospectively to the construction of a prehistoric royal compound at the site of Chan Chan Peru. This ancient city located on Peru's arid North Coast contains a number of monumental structures consisting of walled enclosures which surround multiple buildings and storerooms. Archaeologists believe that early compounds were occupied by multiple successive rules while later ones served only one: each king constructed his own which was abandoned after his death. It is unclear however how long such a compound took to build given available construction techniques and methods of labor organization. Previous attempts in both Peru and other regions of the world to estimate labor involved in monumental construction have been rudimentary and based solely on amount of earth and other material involved in construction. Issues of the types of tasks involved, crew size and scheduling have not been considered. Modern contractors have computer based techniques which assist in planning and managing construction and in estimating costs. Mr. Smailes will use these to analyze a Chan Chan royal compound. The site has been carefully mapped and Mr. Smailes will use these data to construct a three dimensional computer model of the compound. This will provide the basis from which estimation will proceed. He will also conduct ethnoarchaeological research in Peru to gain insight into traditional construction practices such as adobe brick making.Archaeologists not unreasonably assume that a correlation exists between the size and complexity of a construction and the level of complexity and social organization of the society which built it. Therefore they often attempt to estimate the amount of labor required for a particular monumental structure and use this to speculate about other aspects of the society. Mr. Smailes' research will constitute a significant improvement to the methodologies employed to date and, if successful will likely be applied in many archaeological situations in many parts of the world. Thus its methodological impact will likely be significant. This research will increase our understanding of one of the cradles of civilization and assist in training a promising young scientist.