Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Communal Feasting and the Social Order at Late Classic El Coyote, Northwestern Honduras

博士论文改进补助金：洪都拉斯西北部经典晚期 El Coyote 的公共宴会和社会秩序

• 批准号: 0108742
• 负责人: Ben Nelson
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-06-01 至 2003-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0108742&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Communal

Under the direction of Dr. Ben Nelson, Mr. Christian Wells will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will continue ongoing archaeological research at the prehispanic site of El Coyote, located in the Cacaulapa Valley of northwestern Honduras. This research will investigate the relationship between community feasting and the political organization of the polity that formed and collapsed between the seventh and tenth centuries AD. Archaeologists wish to understand the processes that integrate and differentiate individuals in ancient communities, with the greater goal of reconstructing past systems of government and their effects on the growth and change of societies. Mr. Wells' previous excavations in the main civic-ceremonial plaza at the site have revealed abundant evidence for food production and consumption on a large scale, suggesting that communal feasts were a central practice in the rulership of El Coyote. Such events would have served as a mechanism for polity integration, as well as a context in which exotic items were publicly displayed to enhance the social prestige and political authority of local leaders. With NSF support, Mr. Wells' doctoral dissertation research will examine the organization of feasting in the plaza, including what material culture was employed, where food consumption took place in relation to the temples that delimit the plaza, and which social segments of the polity participated. His research will incorporate archaeological excavation of the plaza and adjacent buildings, as well as trash middens that accumulated on the margins of the plaza. In addition, he will chemically characterize soil samples from the plaza to study the distribution of phosphorous and heavy metals, which will indicate the locations of activity areas. His research will also examine the composition of ceramic vessel remains from the trash areas in order to illuminate the different social groups that participated in plaza-oriented activities. Archaeologists are interested in the practice of feasting and the social relations that are reproduced during feasts. The examination of material culture and soil chemistry at El Coyote is a direct method for the study of this phenomenon, and will yield new information on the organization of feasting in ancient complex societies and the degree to which this practice was involved in the political and economic administration of El Coyote. In addition, the research will enhance our knowledge of the material signatures of feasting in the archaeological record and will assist in training a promising young scientist.

在本·纳尔逊博士的指导下，克里斯蒂安·威尔斯先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将继续在洪都拉斯西北部卡考拉帕山谷的El Coyote领悟遗址进行正在进行的考古研究。这项研究将探讨公元7世纪至10世纪之间形成和瓦解的政体的政治组织与社区宴请之间的关系。考古学家希望了解在古代社区中整合和区分个人的过程，更大的目标是重建过去的政府系统及其对社会发展和变化的影响。威尔斯之前在该遗址的主要民间仪式广场进行的挖掘显示，有大量证据表明大规模的食物生产和消费，这表明集体宴会是El Coyote统治时期的核心做法。这类活动将作为政体融合的机制，以及公开展示异国物品以提高当地领导人的社会声望和政治权威的背景。在NSF的支持下，威尔斯的博士论文研究将考察广场上宴请的组织，包括使用了什么物质文化，食物消费与界定广场的寺庙有关，以及政体中的哪些社会阶层参与了进来。他的研究将包括对广场和邻近建筑的考古挖掘，以及堆积在广场边缘的垃圾堆。此外，他将对广场上的土壤样本进行化学表征，以研究磷和重金属的分布，这将指明活动区的位置。他的研究还将检查垃圾区陶器残骸的组成，以阐明参与广场活动的不同社会群体。考古学家对盛宴的实践以及在盛宴期间再现的社会关系感兴趣。对El Coyote的物质文化和土壤化学的研究是研究这一现象的直接方法，并将提供关于古代复杂社会中宴会的组织以及这种做法在El Coyote的政治和经济管理中的程度的新信息。此外，这项研究将增进我们对考古记录中宴请的物质特征的了解，并将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。