Production and Exchange at Cancuen: Reconstructing the Classic Maya Political Economy

德马雷斯特博士和他的团队将在危地马拉佩登雨林的上帕西翁河谷指导两个季节的国家科学基金会赞助的考古和生态调查。 这项多学科研究将是对该地区的首次深入研究，该地区位于中美洲最大的雨林区和南部多山火山高地的交界处。 调查将开始在Cancuen的网站，一个地区的废墟精英和住宅建筑，占地超过5平方公里。 Cancuen正好位于帕西翁/乌苏马辛塔河系统的“导航头”，这是古代玛雅世界的主要贸易和运输动脉。 德马雷斯特博士推测，高地玉、黄铁矿、黑曜石和其他火山岩是通过向南的高地通道徒步运送到坎昆的。 从那里，这些材料或成品，沿着帕西翁/乌苏马辛塔河路线交换到古代玛雅世界的其他地方。 初步的研究已经发现了支持这一假设的证据，包括在坎昆纪念性的皇家宫殿周围的玉石、黑曜石、黄铁矿和其他坚硬石头的家庭作坊。 我们还发现了一个受保护的正式河流港口，通过堤道连接到宫殿和车间区。2002-2003年国家科学基金会的实地调查季节将调查整个Cancuen的住宅和活动区域，允许对经济活动及其与地位水平和群体关系的相关性进行统计评估，这些相关性由相关文物、建筑特征、外来材料的比例和骨骼学研究（包括营养和饮食的同位素、微病理学和古病理学分析）确定。 对活动区域的广泛水平挖掘将探索车间，对恢复的文物进行正式的、统计的和微磨损的研究将用于评估生产技术和组织，以及工匠的地位和其他活动。 反过来，这些结果将与整个城市地区的研究进行比较，以描述这种古老经济的性质，包括附属与独立的专家，国家控制的程度，工匠/生产者本身的经济战略，以及整体组织结构和成品的分布。 将在生态分析和重建的基础上与Cancuen的生计经济建立联系。 陶瓷，石器和雕像数据将进行各种化学成分分析，以确定源区和交换系统。 这些发现将阐明贸易和商品生产在古典玛雅文明的兴起、维持和衰落中所发挥的作用。 反过来，这些结果有助于我们理解古代经济的性质以及经济因素对复杂社会发展和衰落的影响。

Dr. Demarest and his team will direct two seasons of NSF-sponsored archaeological and ecological investigations in the Upper Pasion River valley of the Peten rainforest of Guatemala. This multidisciplinary research will be the first intensive study of this region, which is located at the interface of Central America's largest rainforest zone and the mountainous volcanic highlands to the south. Investigations will begin at the site of Cancuen, an area of ruined elite and residential architecture that covers over five square kilometers. Cancuen was located precisely at the "head of navigation" of the Pasion/Usumacinta River system, the major trade and transport artery of the ancient Maya world. Dr. Demarest hypothesizes that highland jade, pyrite, obsidian, and other volcanic rock were transported by foot to Cancuen through the highland passes to the south. From there these materials, or finished products, were exchanged along the Pasion/Usumacinta River route to the rest of the ancient Maya world. Preliminary research has uncovered evidence supporting this hypothesis, including domestic workshops in jade, obsidian, pyrite, and other hard stone surrounding Cancuen's monumental royal palace. We also uncovered a protected formal river portage connected by causeways to the palace and workshop zones. The 2002-2003 NSF field seasons will investigate residences and activity areas throughout Cancuen, allowing statistical assessment of economic activities and their correlation to status levels and group affiliations, as determined by associated artifacts, architectural features, proportions of exotic materials, and osteological studies, including isotopic, micropathology, and paleopathology analyses of nutrition and diet. Extensive horizontal excavations of activity areas will explore workshops, and formal, statistical, and microwear study of recovered artifacts will be used to assess production technologies and organization, as well as the status and other activities of the artisans. In turn, these results will be compared to studies throughout the urban zone to characterize the nature of this ancient economy, including attached versus independent specialists, degree of state control, and the economic strategies of the artisan/producers themselves, as well as overall organizational structure and distribution of finished products. Correlations with the subsistence economy of Cancuen will be based on ecological analyses and reconstruction. Ceramic, lithic, and figurine data will be subjected to a variety of chemical compositional analyses to determine source areas and exchange systems. The findings will clarify the role that trade and production of goods played in the rise, maintenance, and decline of Classic Maya civilization. In turn, the results contribute to our understanding of the nature of ancient economies and the impact of economic factors in the development and decline of complex societies.