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

Demarest博士和他的团队将在危地马拉Peten雨林的上帕西昂河谷（Upper Pasion River valley）指导由美国国家科学基金会（nsf）赞助的两季考古和生态调查。这项多学科研究将是对该地区的第一次深入研究，该地区位于中美洲最大的热带雨林区和南部多山的火山高地的交界处。调查将从坎昆遗址开始，这是一个面积超过5平方公里的被毁的精英和住宅建筑区域。坎昆恰好位于帕西翁/乌苏马辛塔河系统的“导航之头”，这是古代玛雅世界的主要贸易和运输动脉。Demarest博士假设，高原玉石、黄铁矿、黑曜石和其他火山岩是通过高原向南的通道徒步运到坎昆的。从那里，这些材料或成品沿着帕西翁/乌苏马辛塔河的路线交换到古玛雅世界的其他地方。初步研究发现了支持这一假设的证据，包括在坎昆不朽的皇家宫殿周围用玉石、黑曜石、黄铁矿和其他硬石制作的家庭作坊。我们还发现了一个受保护的正式河流通道，通过堤道连接到宫殿和车间区域。2002-2003年美国国家科学基金会野外季节将调查整个坎昆的居民和活动区，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，这是由相关的人工制品、建筑特征、外来材料的比例和骨学研究决定的，包括同位素、显微病理学和营养和饮食的古病理学分析。对活动区域的广泛水平挖掘将探索车间，对回收的文物进行正式、统计和微磨损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区域的研究进行比较，以表征古代经济的性质，包括依附与独立专家，国家控制程度，工匠/生产者本身的经济策略，以及成品的整体组织结构和分布。与坎昆自给经济的相关性将建立在生态分析和重建的基础上。陶瓷、岩屑和雕像的数据将受到各种化学成分分析，以确定来源区域和交换系统。这些发现将阐明贸易和商品生产在古典玛雅文明的兴起、维持和衰落中所起的作用。反过来，这些结果有助于我们理解古代经济的本质，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.