Evaluating Models of Political and Economic Integration at Pusilha, Belize

国家科学基金会的资金将支持杰弗里·E·布拉斯韦尔博士、詹妮弗·B·布拉斯韦尔博士和他们的同事在Pusilha进行三个季节的考古研究，Pusilha是史前经典时期(公元250-800年)的玛雅人口和政治中心，位于中美洲伯利兹的西南部。他们的研究将通过对象形文字纪念碑、陶瓷和石器以及聚落模式的联合研究，来测试古代国家政治和经济一体化的现有模式。第一阶段的研究将包括对9平方公里的街区覆盖范围进行调查，这些地区构成了该遗址的古代城市、住宅和农业区。这一阶段的数据将使测绘小组能够建立一个地理数据库，以审查自然资源如何影响居住模式，以及不同人口群体在这些资源方面的位置如何。第二阶段的调查将包括在住宅和特殊职能群体中进行测试，这些活动横跨所有占领时期和社会地位。在第二阶段收集的文物将被用来从历时的角度研究精英和普通民众的经济一体化水平，以及与位于西南部和东北部的更大、更强大的政体--特别是科潘和卡拉科尔--的互动。第三阶段的挖掘将包括在被认为是生产区的地区进行水平剥离作业。从这些密集的挖掘中收集的数据将使研究人员能够：(1)获得与建筑地层有关的细粒度时间信息；(2)通过测试-点蚀研究开发出关于生产地点的测试模型；以及(3)更全面地回答关于精英和普通家庭经济一体化的问题。目前，在所有三个阶段，项目成员将记录和分析普西哈象形文字纪念碑的大型语料库。这些纪念碑非常详细地描述了该遗址的建立及其王朝历史，并暗示普西哈--在一段时间内--可能已经被不断扩大的科潘国家或霸权所吞并。因此，对聚落模式和文物分布的分析将为研究古代文本中所讨论的政治事件的经济影响提供依据。这项研究将最直接地有助于理解玛雅外围东南部一个基本上不为人所知的地区的当地和区域政治经济进程。更广泛地说，它将对玛雅社会的组织、稳定和变化的现有模式做出新的贡献和改进，进而将与世界各地古代国家的研究相关。

Funding from the National Science Foundation will support Dr. Geoffrey E. Braswell, Dr. Jennifer B.Braswell, and their colleagues for three seasons of archaeological research at Pusilha, a prehistoric Classic period(A.D. 250-800) Maya population and political center located in southwestern Belize, Central America. Their investigations will test current models of the political and economic integration of archaic states through the conjunctive study of hieroglyphic monuments, ceramic and lithic artifacts, and settlement patterns. Phase 1 research will consist of block coverage survey of the 9 km2 that constitute the ancient urban, residential, and agricultural zones of the site. Data from this phase will allow the mapping team to build a geographic data base to examine how natural resources influenced settlement patterns, and how different segments of the population were situated in regard to those resources. Phase 2 investigations will consist of test-pitting operations in residential and special function groups that crosscut all periods of occupation and social status. Artifacts gathered during Phase 2 will be used to study the level of economic integration of elites and commoners from a diachronic perspective, as well as interaction with much larger and more powerful polities - particularly Copan and Caracol - located to the southwest and northeast. Phase 3 excavations will consist of horizontal stripping operations in areas thought to have been production zones. Data gathered from these intensive excavations will enable the researchers to: (1) obtain fine-grain temporal information linked to architectural strata; (2) test models regarding production loci developed through the test-pitting research; and (3) more fully answer questions about the economic integration of elite and commoner households. Current with all three phases, projectmembers will document and analyze the large corpus of hieroglyphic monuments from Pusilha. These monuments describe in great detail the founding of the site and its dynastic history, and hint that Pusilha -- for a time -- may have been absorbed by the expanding Copan state or hegemony. Analyses of settlement patterns and artifact distribution, therefore, will afford thestudy of the economic effects of the political events discussed in the ancient texts. This research will contribute most immediately to the understanding of local and regional political and economic processes in a largely unknown region of the southeastern Maya periphery. More broadly, it will contribute new and refine existing models of organization, stability, and change in Maya society, and - by extension - will be of relevance to the study of archaic states throughout the world.