Dissertation Research: Social Power, Centralization, and Settlement Patterns: Late Classic Sociopolitical Organization in the Maya Mountains of Southern Belize

在Richard M博士的指导下，Leventhal，Andrew Kindon将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将继续参与玛雅山脉考古项目（MMAP），这是一个位于中美洲南部伯利兹的多学科科学研究项目，结合了考古学家，地质学家和生物学家的努力。 自1996年以来，MMAP将注意力集中在玛雅山脉上布莱登河流域的两个相当大的地点，称为Ek Xux和Muklebal Tzul。 这些地点包括发展良好的中央核心区，周围有大型土丘，周围有规模较小的住宅土丘和广场群。 有证据表明，这些遗址在古典时期（大约公元300年至公元900年）有人居住。这些遗址特别重要，因为虽然它们彼此相距仅3公里，但初步证据表明它们之间存在重大差异。 这些地点的埋葬模式明显不同，Ek Xux的居民将死者埋葬在地点周围的岩石掩体中，而Muklebal Tzul的居民将死者埋葬在他们房屋平台内的坟墓中。 此外，Kindon在1998年至2000年期间进行的初步调查工作表明，各社区的定居模式有很大差异。 据推测，这些差异是由于在两个网站的社会组织和控制的性质的差异。 然而，同时代性和不同发展阶段的问题也非常重要，两个网站之间的时间关系必须澄清。金顿的论文研究将调查Ek Xux和Muklebal Tzul的前西班牙定居系统。 结合建筑，人工制品和碳分析，对定居点分布的深入研究将解决三个主要研究目标：1。澄清两个地点之间的时间关系; 2.确定区域和地方的定居组织模式，并探索这些定居模式与社会组织和控制水平的关系; 3. Kindon的工作有可能为当前的人类学和考古学理论做出几个重要贡献。 首先，这项研究将增加目前对社会权力性质的理解，特别是因为它涉及到复杂政治的出现和运作。 通过相对简单的技术，史前玛雅人能够将大量的个人纳入功能性社会实体，金顿先生的研究将揭示其中的机制。该项目还将有助于培养一名有前途的青年科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Richard M. Leventhal, Andrew Kindon will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will continue his participation in the Maya Mountains Archaeological Project (MMAP), a multidisciplinary scientific research project based in southern Belize, Central America combining the efforts of archaeologists, geologists, and biologists. Since 1996, the MMAP has focused its attention on two sizable sites in the Upper Bladen River drainage of the Maya Mountains called Ek Xux and Muklebal Tzul. These sites include well-developed central core areas with large mounds surrounded by extensive settlement in the form of smaller residential mounds and plazuela groups. Evidence indicates that the sites were inhabited during the Classic period, about 300 AD - 900 AD.These sites are particularly significant because, while they are located only 3 kilometers away from each other, preliminary evidence suggests that there are major differences between them. Burial patterns at the sites differed markedly, with the residents of Ek Xux burying their dead in rock shelters surrounding the site and the residents of Muklebal Tzul burying their dead in tombs within their house platforms. In addition, initial survey work carried out by Kindon from 1998-2000 showed significant differences in the settlement patterns of the communities. It has been speculated that these differences are due to differences in the nature of social organization and control at the two sites. However, issues of contemporaneity and differential developmental stages are also very important, and the temporal relationship between the two sites must be clarified.Kindon's dissertation research will investigate the prehispanic settlement systems of both Ek Xux and Muklebal Tzul. Intensive study of settlement distribution combined with architectural, artifact, and carbon analysis will address three primary research goals: 1. the clarification of temporal relationships between the two sites; 2. the identification of regional and local patterns of settlement organization and the exploration of the way these settlement patterns relate to levels of social organization and control; 3. the evaluation of the degree to which kin-based and centralized elite social organization and power were elaborated within the communities, as well as the amount of variability that existed at both a regional and local level in terms of social organization and control.Kindon's work has the potential to make several important contributions to current anthropological and archaeological theory. First and foremost, the research will increase current understanding of the nature of social power, especially as it relates to the emergence and functioning of complex polities. With relatively simple technology prehistoric Mayans were able to incorporate large numbers of individuals into functioning social entities and Mr. Kindon's research will shed light on the mechanisms involved. The project will also contribute to training a promising young scientist.