The Pachacamac Project: Social Foundations and Environmental Context of the Famed Religious Center

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Izumi Shimada博士和他的同事将于2003年夏天在秘鲁中部海岸利马市南部著名的前西班牙宗教中心Pachacamac进行为期10周的实地考察。帕查卡马克是安第斯地区最受尊敬、历史最悠久的前西班牙宗教中心之一，今天，与马丘比丘一起，是秘鲁最著名、最受欢迎的古迹之一。这个地方强大的守护神甚至连强大的印加人都非常害怕，他们经常咨询它的神谕。随着西班牙人征服安第斯山脉和天主教的强加，这位神变成了“紫色基督”，直到今天仍然指挥着数百万现代利马居民的狂热崇拜。在来自日本、秘鲁和美国的考古学家、地理学家、历史学家、植物学家和地质学家的参与下，本研究旨在阐明(1)这个邪教中心居民的身份、组织和角色，以及(2)环境条件在其非凡的长寿、恢复力和力量中所起的作用。此外，该团队将创建场地的第一张数字地图和一个更广泛的地理（GIS）数据库，这将允许对场地及其环境进行三维重建，以及它们随时间的变化。为了找到1500多年前西班牙人几乎连续占领期间建造的住宅和其他被掩埋的建筑，该团队将使用探地雷达（GPR）对该遗址的各个区域进行调查。为了确定雷达探测到的东西的确切性质，将进行一系列的试验挖掘。过去环境条件的记录将通过分析从场地西部边缘的小池塘中提取的沉积物岩心来实现。早期的西班牙文献将这个池塘描述为神圣的，是举行仪式的重要场所。据信在沉积物叠加层中的花粉、硅藻、沉积物和动植物遗骸的组成和相对频率应该允许重建当地气候和生态，包括干旱和厄尔尼诺事件的影响。鉴于秘鲁这一地区从未进行过沉积物岩心分析和探地雷达调查，2003年的实地工作可作为确定这两种方法可行性的试点研究。有希望的结果将为未来更大规模的现场应用打开大门。这项研究之所以重要，有以下几个原因：它将促进对前工业时代新大陆宗教制度和意识形态重要性的认识，并改进理解其运作和维护的方法，以及它们在政治制度和环境条件中的作用。这项研究对促进国际和跨学科合作以及培养美国和其他国家的学生也很重要。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Izumi Shimada and his colleagues will conduct 10 week long fieldwork during the summer of 2003 at the famed pre-Hispanic religious center of Pachacamac just south of the city of Lima on the central coast of Peru. Pachacamac was one of the most respected and long-lived pre-Hispanic religious centers in the Andean region and today, along with Macchu Picchu, is one of the best known and oft-visited monuments of Peru. The powerful patron deity of this site was much feared even by the mighty Inkas, who often consulted its oracle. Following Spanish conquest of the Andean world and the imposition of Catholicism, the deity transformed into the "Purple Christ' and continues today to command the fervent devotion of millions of modern Lima residents. With the participation of archaeologists, geographer, historian, botanists and geologists from Japan, Peru and the U.S., this research aims to illuminate the (1) identity, organization, and roles of the residents of this cult center, and (2) the role environmental conditions played in its remarkable longevity, resilience and power. In addition, the team will create the first digital map of the site and a broader geographic (GIS) database that will allow a three dimensional reconstruction of the site and its environment as well as their transformation over time. To locate residences and other buried architecture that was built during the 1500 plus years of nearly continuous pre-Hispanic occupation, the team will conduct a survey of various areas of the site using ground-penetrating radar (GPR). To determine the exact nature of what is detected by the radar, a series of test excavations will be conducted. The documentation of past environmental conditions will be achieved through analysis of sediment cores to be extracted from the small pond situated at the western edge of the site. Early Spanish documents describe the pond as sacred and an important site for rituals. Composition and relative frequencies of pollens, diatoms, sediments, and animal and plant remains that are believed to be in the superimposed layers of sediments should allow reconstruction of local climate and ecology, including the effects of droughts and El Nino events. Given that sediment core analysis and GPR surveys have never been conducted in this region of Peru, the 2003 fieldwork serves as a pilot study to determine the viability of these two methods. Promising results will open the door to future, larger scale application at the site. This research is important for a number of reasons: It will advance knowledge on the significance of religious institutions and ideology in the pre-industrial New World and refine approaches to understanding their operation and maintenance as well as their roles in relation to political institutions and environmental conditions. The research is also important in promoting international and inter-disciplinary collaboration, as well as the training of American and other students.