Dissertation Research: The Ceramics of Piedras Negras, Guatemala

在T·帕特里克·卡尔伯特博士的指导下，阿图罗·穆尼奥斯将为他的论文收集数据。在过去的四年里，穆尼奥斯一直是考古队的一员，挖掘危地马拉皮德拉内格拉斯玛雅古城的废墟。皮德拉斯·内格拉斯位于北坛热带雨林的一个偏远角落，以其卓越的雕塑质量和由城市尺子在公元650至800年之间建造的异常完整的石碑而闻名。皮德拉斯·尼格拉斯是特别值得注意的，因为它非常强调当地制造的陶瓷的抗蚀剂装饰。这种技术在玛雅低地的其他地方几乎是闻所未闻的，但在皮德拉内格拉斯的晚期古典多彩陶瓷传统中占据主导地位。由于该遗址异常完整的历史记录，以及最近的发掘提供了极好的出处数据，因此有可能以罕见的精度跟踪抗蚀剂装饰陶瓷的发展和传播。抵抗装饰陶瓷首先出现在精英阶层的背景下。它们装饰得很仔细，烧得也很好。后来，更粗暴的抵抗类型变得普遍，并从各级定居点被回收。这些观察结果导致了几个假说，这些假说可以利用各种量化措施进行检验。总体而言，这项研究是对陶瓷风格变化的历时研究，首先是由于皮埃德拉内格拉斯的特殊历史和社会环境，其次是更广泛的结果，即将手工艺和文化产品的拥有与政治合法化过程联系起来的一般工艺的发展。除了极少数例外，美国主义考古学家很少考虑技术变革的社会组成部分，成为被描述为“梦游者”的人，他们的立场是，技术变革根据其自身不可避免的逻辑自动展开，独立于社会和文化过程。因此，大多数专注于技术变革的考古研究都强调了提高效率对缓解环境或其他条件变化的影响。如果这项研究成功，它将为理解技术变革的过程提供一个模型，强调社会过程不仅在决定新兴技术的内容方面的重要性，而且在决定它们的成败方面也是如此。出于各种原因，乌苏马辛塔盆地是最不被研究的部分之一，玛雅低地也是如此。这项研究将提供该地区的一些非常详细的数据，并将提供关于低地玛雅遗址之一的关键信息。这项研究不仅将为未来在该地区工作的考古学家提供有价值的参考，也将使任何对危地马拉古代历史好奇的危地马拉社会成员感兴趣。最后，这项研究将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. T. Patrick Culbert, Mr. Arturo Munoz will collect data for his dissertation. For the last four years Mr. Munoz has been a member of the archaeological team excavating the ruins of the Classic Maya city of Piedras Negras, Guatemala. Piedras Negras is located in a remote corner of the Peten rainforest and is renowned for the excellent quality of its sculpture and for the unusually complete sequence of dated stelae erected by the cities rulers between A.D. 650 and 800. Piedras Negras is particularly notable because of the heavy emphasis on resist decoration on locally made ceramics. This technique, virtually unknown in other parts of the Maya Lowlands, dominates the Late Classic polychrome ceramic tradition at Piedras Negras. Because of the unusually complete historical record for the site as well as the excellent provenance data available as a result of the recent excavations it is possible to track the development and spread of resist decorated ceramics with a rare degree of precision. Resist decorated ceramic appear first in elite contexts. They are carefully decorated and well fired. Later, more crudely executed resist types become common and are recovered from all levels of settlement. These observations lead to several hypotheses amenable to testing utilizing a variety of quantitative measures. In general terms, this research is a diachronic study of changing ceramic styles, framing the development of resist-decorated ceramics first as a result of particular historical and social circumstances at Piedras Negras and second, and more broadly, as a result if general processes linking crafting and the possession of cultural goods to processes of political legitimation. With very few exceptions, Americanist archaeologists rarely consider the social component of technological change, becoming what have been described as "somnambulists" adopting the position that technological change unfolds automatically according to its own inevitable logic and independently of social and cultural processes. As a result, most archaeological research focusing on technological change has emphasized the effects of increased efficiency on mitigating changing environmental or other conditions. If this research is successful, it will present a model for understanding processes of technological change emphasizing the importance social processes in determining not only the content of emerging technologies, but also their success or failure.For a variety of reasons the Usumacinta Basin is one of the most understudied part so the Maya Lowlands. This research will provide some of the very first detailed data for the region, and will provide key information on one of the preeminent Lowland Maya sites. This research will not only be a valuable reference for future archaeologists working in the area, it will also interest any member of Guatemalan society curious about their country's ancient past. Finally, this research will assist in the training of a promising young scientist.