Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Urban-Rural Relations in the Jequetepeque Valley, Peru: Deciphering the Ritualization of Power in Moche Political Systems

在Alan Kolata博士的指导下，Edward Swenson先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他的研究集中在位于秘鲁北部海岸的杰克特佩克山谷的史前晚期。虽然这个地区最著名的是印加文明，它将南美洲西部的大片地区统一在中央集权的政治统治之下，但印加人实际上只是一系列王国中的最后一个。莫切人的前身也取得了类似的成果，尽管规模较小。他们在杰克特佩克山谷的存在以土坯金字塔丘为特征，标志着初级和次级中心，技术先进，艺术精美的陶瓷和冶金制品，以及一个复杂的中央管理的农业系统和灌溉渠。从定居点的规模来看，帕卡特纳姆遗址很有可能是权力的焦点，并发挥了中央行政中心的作用。斯文森先生希望了解莫希王国内部的政治集中化程度以及用来整合其组成部分的机制。他提出了几种可供选择的模式：一种极端存在着将城市控制直接延伸到腹地的可能性，在那里，中级或二级站点充当了行政前哨，以加强精英城市主导地位。另一方面，有可能经济自治的社区保持了相当程度的独立性。为了评估这些备选方案，斯文森先生将利用这样一个事实，即许多这些遗址只有最低限度的埋藏和保存完好。事实上，我们可以追踪建筑物的墙壁，确定它们的大小和形状。根据它们的性质和它们所包含的人工制品，有证据表明，许多人服务于仪式和仪式功能，有了这些数据，人们可以比较各个次要中心之间以及这些中心与首都之间的形式相似性。更大的相似性将表明更高的统一程度，表明更大的集中控制。在美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的支持下，斯文森将绘制出山谷中15至20个已知次要遗址的数字地图。结果将是场地的平面图和三维建筑模型，允许对仪式建筑进行空间分析。提供遗址功能证据的考古材料将通过地面收集和有限挖掘两种方式收集。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为那些希望了解复杂社会如何产生和维持的考古学家提供感兴趣的数据。它还将帮助培训一名有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Alan Kolata, Mr. Edward Swenson will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. His research is centered on the late prehistoric period in the Jequetepeque Valley located on the northern coast of Peru. While this region is best known for the Inca civilization which united a large area of western South America under centralized political rule, the Incas were, in fact only the last in a series of kingdoms. A predecessor group, the Moche, achieved a similar result, although on a smaller scale, and their presence in the Jequetepeque Valley is characterized by adobe pyramidal mounds which mark primary and secondary centers, technically sophisticated and artistically exquisite ceramic and metallurgical artifacts and a complex centrally administered agricultural system with irrigation canals. Based on settlement size, it is highly likely that the site of Pacatnamu served as the focus of power and functioned as the central administrative center. Mr. Swenson wishes to understand both the degree of political centralization within the Moche kingdom and the mechanisms employed to integrate its constituent parts. He proposes several alternative models: on one extreme exists the possibility of a direct extension of urban control to the hinterland wherein intermediate or secondary level sites served as administrative outposts to enforce elite urban-based dominance. At the other, it is possible that economically autonomous communities that maintained a significant degree of independence. To assess these alternatives Mr. Swenson will take advantage of the fact that many of these sites are only minimally buried and well preserved. In fact it is possible to trace the walls of structures and determine their size and conformation. Based on their nature and the artifacts they contain, evidence indicates that many served ceremonial and ritual functions and with such data one can compare similarity of form among individual secondary centers and between these and the capital. Greater similarity will indicate a higher degree of unification indicative of greater centralized control. With National Science Foundation support Mr. Swenson will produce digital maps of the 15 to 20 known secondary sites in the valley. The result will be plan views of the sites and three-dimensional architectural models permitting a spatial analysis of ceremonial architecture. Archaeological materials which provide evidence of site function will be collected through both surface collection and limited excavation.This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to archaeologists who wish to understand how complex societies arose and were maintained. It will also assist in training a promising young scientist.