Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Early Postclassic Period Households At Rio Viejo, Oaxaca, Mexico

本研究通过对微量残留物的细致研究，考察了墨西哥沿海瓦哈卡里约维耶霍早期后古典时期（公元800-1100年）遗址的家庭社会组织和经济活动。 该项目不仅是对瓦哈卡早期后古典时期家庭的首批主要研究之一，而且对在世界其他地区和其他地方工作的考古学家也很有用，他们有兴趣将微观尺度方法应用于家庭研究。 家庭考古学通常使用建筑，墓葬和文物来重建家庭活动。 但是，文物提出了理解家庭活动的问题，因为他们通常是在垃圾场或填充回收，可能远离他们被使用的地方。 相比之下，微残留物，包括微小的植物残留物、土壤沉积的细微变化以及有机废弃物的化学残留物，则不太可能从其使用地点传播。 古民族植物学、微形态学和土壤化学的技术检测食物加工和烹饪活动，这是很重要的，因为分享食物往往定义了家庭社会群体的成员资格。 在里奥别霍，在两个朴素的单间住宅区对12座建筑物的挖掘揭示了文物和建筑的相似之处，表明“平民”的地位，但每个地区的埋葬方式和其他特征都不同。 这项研究将探讨传统数据无法单独回答的国内活动组织方面的异同问题。 文物和建筑的一致性可能掩盖了这两个地区之间真实的差异，与食物相关的活动的分布可能比建筑本身更能反映家庭的划分。 此外，由于住宅环境中的生产活动与更大规模的政治和经济目标相关联，本项目将考虑在城市中心“崩溃”之后，里约维耶霍早期后古典居住者如何在新的政治框架内进行经济合作。

This research examines household social organization and economic activities at the Early Postclassic (A.D. 800-1100) site of Rio Viejo in coastal Oaxaca, Mexico, through a meticulous examination of micro-residues. The project not only serves as one of the first major studies of Early Postclassic period households in Oaxaca, but should also prove useful for archaeologists working in other regions and other parts of the world who are interested in applying micro-scale methods to household research. Household archaeology conventionally uses architecture, burials, and artifacts to reconstruct domestic activities. But artifacts present problems for understanding household activities, because they are normally recovered in trash deposits or fill, potentially far removed from where they were used. Micro-residues, including microscopic plant remains, fine-scale changes in soil deposition, and chemical residues of organic debris, in contrast, are less likely to have traveled from their locations of use. The techniques of paleoethnobotany, micromorphology, and soil chemistry detect food processing and cooking activities, which are important because sharing food often defines membership in household social groups. At Rio Viejo, excavations of twelve buildings in two neighborhoods of modest, single-roomed houses revealed similarities in artifacts and architecture that suggest "commoner" status, yet burial practices and other features differ in each area. The research will address questions about similarities and differences in the organization of domestic activities that traditional data alone cannot answer. Uniformity in artifacts and architecture could mask real differences between the two areas, and the distribution of food-related activities might better reflect household divisions than the buildings themselves. Also, since productive activities in residential settings are linked with larger-scale political and economic goals, this project will consider how Rio Viejo's Early Postclassic occupants cooperated economically within a newly reconceived political framework following the "collapse" of urban centers.