Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Technology, Society, and Change: Shell Artifact Production among the Manteno (A.D. 800-1535) of Coastal Ecuador

在大卫·l·布朗曼（David L. Browman）博士的指导下，本杰明·卡特（Benjamin Carter）将分析来自曼特诺人（Manteno）曾经居住过的一系列遗址的贝壳文物。曼特诺人大约从公元800年到1535年居住在厄瓜多尔的北部和中部海岸。这些人是类似腓尼基人的商人，他们经营着一个从南智利到北墨西哥的贸易网络。尽管他们交易许多不同的商品，其中最重要的商品是由海洋双壳类动物Spondylus制成的彩色贝壳珠。Spondylus的自然栖息地从加利福尼亚湾延伸到瓜亚基尔湾，这也是Manteno地区的南部边界。因此，他们几乎垄断了与南部安第斯山脉早熟帝国的Spondylus贸易，在那里，它在宗教和政治上都是必不可少的。虽然在这些消费社会中已经研究了Spondylus，但在生产社会中没有完成关于Spondylus的制造和使用的研究，其中Manteno特别重要。没有这样的研究，我们就不能充分了解脊柱病在南美洲太平洋地区的作用。本研究将通过利用链操作方法对壳生产进行分析来弥补这一遗漏。这种方法在方法上和理论上都是严格的，需要收集大量有关生产技术的数据，以便将生产技术与整个社会重新联系起来。超过5000件工件将被测量、分类量化和编目。该物品被恢复的背景将有助于将其重新连接到史前的生活和活动空间，因此，它是一个活生生的存在。将对先前挖掘的六个考古遗址中的文物进行调查，每个遗址代表了Manteno时期的三个不同时期和两个地理区域中的一个。这个广泛的样本确保了该项目将通过时间和空间紧密地代表Manteno的壳生产。Spondylus珠在贸易中发挥了重要作用，但其他贝壳制品则供当地消费。因此，所有的shell工件以及相关的工具都将被分析。链操作方法还没有被用于研究贝壳工艺品的生产，因此，它将有助于该方法的方法论和理论方面，以及一般工艺生产的研究。这项研究对其他社会科学家来说具有明显的重要性。此外，它将通过科学分析国家遗产的一个方面，为厄瓜多尔的文化遗产做出贡献。这对厄瓜多尔海岸的人们来说尤其重要，他们是曼特诺人的后裔，在殖民统治中失去了很多历史。这不是小事；Spondylus被用来象征厄瓜多尔和秘鲁之间最近达成的和平协议。传播这一信息的一种方式是通过与厄瓜多尔国家文化遗产研究所协调的公开介绍。该项目还将包括研究生培训，从而有助于科学考古学的继续发展。

Under the supervision of Dr. David L. Browman, Benjamin Carter will analyze shell artifacts from a series of sites once occupied by the Manteno, who lived on the north and central coasts of Ecuador from approximately A.D. 800 until 1535. These people were Phoenician-like merchants who managed a trade network extending from Chile in the south and Mexico to the north. Although they traded many different wares, among the most important goods were colorful shell beads made from the marine bivalve, Spondylus. The natural habitat of Spondylus extends from the Gulf of California to the Gulf of Guayaquil, which is also the southern limit of the Manteno area. They had, therefore, a near monopoly on Spondylus trade to the precocious empires of the Andes to the south where it was religiously and politically essential. Although Spondylus has been studied in these consumer societies, no study has been completed on the manufacture and use of Spondylus in producing societies, of which the Manteno were of particular importance. Without such a study we cannot adequately understand the role of Spondylus in Pacific South America. This research will remedy this omission through an analysis of shell production utilizing an approach known as the chaine operatoire. This approach is both methodologically and theoretically rigorous, requiring collection of significant numbers of relevant data on the technology of production in order to reconnect it to society in general. Over 5000 artifacts will be measured, categorically quantified, and cataloged. The context from which the object was recovered will serve to reconnect it to prehistoric living and activity spaces and, therefore, to a lived existence. Artifacts from six previously excavated archaeological sites, each representing one of three different time phases of the Manteno period and one of two geographic areas, will be investigated. This broad sample ensures that the project will closely represent shell production among the Manteno through time and space. Spondylus beads served an important role in trade, but other shell artifacts were for local consumption. Therefore, all shell artifacts, as well as associated tools, will be analyzed. The chaine operatoire approach has not been used to study shell artifact production and will, therefore, contribute to both the methodological and theoretical aspects of this approach as well as to studies of craft production in general. The research will have evident importance for fellow social scientists. In addition, it will contribute to the cultural heritage of the Ecuador by scientifically analyzing one aspect of the national patrimony. This is especially important for the people of the Ecuadorian coast, who are descendants of the Manteno and have lost much of their history through colonial rule. This is no small matter; Spondylus has been used to symbolize a recent peace accord between Ecuador and Peru. One means this information will be disseminated is through a public presentation coordinated with the Ecuadorian national Institute of Cultural Patrimony. This project will also include graduate student training, thereby contributing to the continuance of scientific archaeology.