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

在佩森希茨博士的指导下，琳达布朗女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将在危地马拉高地圣地亚哥阿蒂特兰村的玛雅语民族中进行民族志研究，并记录有关地方层面、农村宗教习俗以及这些习俗的物质副产品的信息。然后，她将利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志学家区分了“大”和“小”宗教传统。“伟大的传统”指的是大规模的国家赞助的宗教，在西班牙定居后成为天主教。“小传统”包括根深蒂固的地方传统习俗，其中包括宴会、仪式中毒、神龛和埋葬习俗。这些措施有助于加强社区团结，并提供一套有助于维持当地生活秩序的原则。由于这些习俗被早期西班牙观察家记录下来，并在玛雅地区广泛传播，因此它们可能具有相当古老的历史，并且很可能在史前社会组织中发挥了重要作用。虽然考古学家对挖掘纪念性寺庙给予了极大的关注，并对史前的伟大传统有了相当深入的了解，但对其较小的对应物却知之甚少。布朗女士研究的目的就是要纠正这种情况。由于目前还不清楚什么是一个小传统的考古签名可能是，布朗女士将开始在民族志现在和研究这种做法在一个传统的玛雅村庄。她将采访实践者，观察仪式产生的潜在物质特征。她将绘制它们在景观中的空间位置，并在最近的遗址进行控制性挖掘，以确定它们如何被纳入考古记录。有了这些信息，她将分析史前玛雅遗址Ceren的两个结构的材料。埋在一个灾难性的火山爆发，Ceren提供了前所未有的洞察史前玛雅生活。研究人员认为，遗址内的几个区域是小传统仪式的焦点，但很难确定如何验证这种假设。考古学家希望了解史前玛雅社会组织的基础，这使得这个文明的发展和布朗女士的工作是直接相关的这一目标。她收集的人种学数据将在解释许多玛雅遗址方面具有潜在的价值。该奖项还将有助于培养一名有前途的年轻科学家。

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.