Dissertation: The Structure of Ritual Practice: An Ethnoarchaeological Investigation of Community Ritual Activity Areas in the Maya Highlands

在Dr. Payson Sheets的指导下，MS Linda Brown将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将在危地马拉高地的Santiago Atitlan村对讲玛雅语的人进行人种学研究，并记录地方层面的信息、农村宗教习俗以及这些习俗的物质副产品。然后，她将使用这些信息来解释考古材料，并深入了解史前玛雅仪式。在美国中部工作的民族学家区分了“大”和“小”宗教传统。“大传统”指的是大规模的国家赞助的宗教，在西班牙殖民后成为天主教。“小传统”由植根于当地的传统习俗组成，除其他外，包括宴会、仪式醉酒、神社和埋葬习俗。这些有助于建立社区团结，并提供一套有助于规范当地生活的原则。因为这些做法被早期的西班牙观察者记录下来，并在玛雅地区广泛传播，它们可能相当古老，很可能在史前社会组织中发挥了重要作用。虽然考古学家们把大量的注意力放在了巨大寺庙的挖掘上，并对史前的大传统有了相当大的了解，但对其较小的同类却知之甚少。布朗的研究目标就是要纠正这种情况。由于不清楚“小传统”的考古特征可能是什么，布朗女士将从目前的民族志开始，在一个传统的玛雅村庄研究这种习俗。她将采访实践者，观察仪式产生的潜在物质特征。她将绘制出它们在景观上的空间位置，并在最近的遗址进行有控制的挖掘，以确定它们是如何被纳入考古记录的。有了这些信息，她将分析Ceren史前玛雅遗址的两个结构的材料。埋在灾难性的火山爆发中，Ceren为史前玛雅人的生活提供了无与伦比的洞察力。研究人员认为，遗址内的几个区域是小型传统仪式的焦点，但很难确定如何验证这一假设。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。考古学家希望了解史前玛雅社会组织的基础，这使得玛雅文明得以发展，而布朗女士的工作与这一目标直接相关。她收集的人种学数据将对许多玛雅遗址的解释具有潜在的价值。该奖项还将有助于培养一名有前途的青年科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Payson Sheets, MS Linda Brown will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct ethnographic research among Mayan speaking peoples in the highland Guatemalan village of Santiago Atitlan and record information on local level, rural religious practices as well as the material byproducts of these. She will then use this information to interpret archaeological materials and gain insight into prehistoric Mayan ritual. Ethnographers who work in Middle American has distinguished between "Great" and "Little" religious traditions. The "Great Tradition" refers to large scale state sponsored religion which after Spanish settlement became Catholicism. The "Little Tradition" consists of deeply rooted locally based traditional practices which involve, among other things, feasting, ritual intoxication, shrines and burial practices. These serve to forge community unity and provide a set of principles which help to order local life. Because these practices were recorded by early Spanish observers and were widespread in the Mayan region, they likely are of considerable antiquity and most probably played an important role in prehistoric social organization. While archaeologists have directed great attention to the excavation of monumental temples and gained considerable insight into the prehistoric Great Tradition, its smaller counterpart is poorly understood. The goal of MS Brown's research is to remedy this situation. Because it is unclear what the archaeological signatures of a Little Tradition might be, MS Brown will begin in the ethnographic present and study such practices in a traditional Mayan village. She will interview practitioners and observe the potential material signatures which rituals produce. She will map their spatial placement on the landscape and conduct controlled excavations at recent sites to determine how they are incorporated into the archaeological record. With this information she will then analyze materials from two structures at the prehistoric Mayan site of Ceren. Buried in a catastrophic volcanic eruption, Ceren provides unparalleled insight into prehistoric Mayan life. Researchers believe that several areas within the site were foci of Small Tradition ritual but it has been difficult to determine how such an hypothesis might be tested.This research is important for several reasons. Archaeologists wish to understand the bases of prehistoric Mayan social organization which allowed the development of this civilization and MS Brown's work is directly relevant to this goal. The ethnographic data she collects will be potentially valuable in the interpretation of many Mayan sites. This award will also assist in training a promising young scientist.