Doctoral Dissertation Research: Exploring the Bases of Social Hierarchy in the Jamastran Valley, Southeastern Honduras

博士论文研究：探索洪都拉斯东南部贾马斯特兰山谷的社会等级基础

• 批准号: 0439711
• 负责人: Robert Drennan
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Pittsburgh
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-10-15 至 2006-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0439711&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Exploring; Bases

Under the supervision of Dr. Robert D. Drennan, Eva Martinez will carry out a full-coverage systematic survey of the Jamastren Valley, in southeastern Honduras to explore the bases of social inequality in the regions. It is useful to approach the emergence of social differentiation from the perspective of aspiring elites striving to improve their social positions through various political strategies. There is considerable debate over the extent to which such aggrandizers must achieve economic control over those they subordinate. Some argue that no substantial inequality emerges without firm economic control as its base, while others hold that exalted social positions can be based on prestige in the absence of much accumulation of wealth. This research attempts to contribute to the discussion by evaluating the relative importance of two kinds of strategy for gaining social rank: 1) those based on economic control over either basic agricultural resources or the production of utilitarian craft items, and 2) those focused on enhancing prestige by manipulating connections to elites in neighboring regions and symbolically-charged prestige goods.In order to evaluate the relative importance of these two kinds of strategy Ms. Martinez will focus on elite involvement in three activities: 1) agricultural production; 2) local craft production and exchange; and 3) interregional interaction. The Jamastran Valley provides an ideal setting to explore the functioning and interplay of these activities. For the first, it offers highly productive agricultural land, able to support large permanent human populations and potentially subject to elite control. Related to both the second and third, a rare source of obsidian, widely traded for making cutting tools in prehispanic times, is located close to the Jamastran Valley. This obsidian could have been exploited for local use and/or export by residents of the valley, with or without elite control. And pottery, textiles, and other craft goods manufactured from locally available resources might have been produced by practically every family or in much concentrated and specialized fashion, again with or without elite control. The proposed research will provide documentation of the nature and pacing of social change in the Jamastran Valley so that its relationship to these economic and potentially non-economic factors can be evaluated. It will then also be possible to compare the trajectory of social change in the Jamastran Valley to those of neighboring regions. This project will also have a broader impact in that it will be a crucial element in the training of the doctoral candidate, and it will further the training of Honduran students who will participate in the fieldwork. It will also provide documentation of cultural remains currently threatened with destruction by agricultural development, and will strengthen ties of international scholarly collaboration, since it will cooperate closely with salvage efforts in the region by the Instituto Hondures de Antropologia e Historia.

在罗伯特·D·德伦南博士的监督下，伊娃·马丁内斯将对洪都拉斯东南部的贾马斯特伦山谷进行全覆盖的系统调查，探讨该地区社会不平等的根源。从有抱负的精英通过各种政治策略努力提高其社会地位的角度来看待社会分化的出现是有用的。 对于这些扩张者必须在多大程度上实现对其下属的经济控制存在着相当多的争论。一些人认为，如果没有牢固的经济控制作为基础，就不会出现实质性的不平等，而另一些人则认为，在没有大量财富积累的情况下，崇高的社会地位可以建立在声望的基础上。本研究试图通过评估两种获得社会地位的策略的相对重要性来促进讨论：1）基于对基本农业资源或实用工艺品生产的经济控制的策略，以及2）专注于通过操纵与邻近地区精英的联系和具有象征意义的声望商品来提高声望的策略。为了评估这两种策略的相对重要性，马丁内斯女士将重点关注 精英参与三项活动：1）农业生产； 2）当地工艺品生产与交流； 3）区域间互动。贾马斯特兰山谷为探索这些活动的运作和相互作用提供了理想的环境。首先，它提供了高产的农业用地，能够养活大量的常住人口，并可能受到精英的控制。与第二个和第三个相关的是，黑曜石的稀有产地位于贾马斯特兰山谷附近，在前西班牙时代广泛用于制造切削工具。无论有或没有精英控制，这种黑曜石都可能被山谷居民开发供当地使用和/或出口。陶器、纺织品和其他利用当地现有资源制造的手工艺品可能是由几乎每个家庭生产的，或者是以非常集中和专业的方式生产的，同样有或没有精英控制。拟议的研究将提供贾马斯特兰山谷社会变革的性质和节奏的记录，以便评估其与这些经济和潜在非经济因素的关系。然后还可以将贾马斯特兰山谷的社会变革轨迹与邻近地区的社会变革轨迹进行比较。该项目还将产生更广泛的影响，因为它将成为博士生培训的关键要素，并将进一步培训参与实地考察的洪都拉斯学生。它还将提供目前因农业发展而受到破坏的文化遗迹的记录，并将加强国际学术合作的联系，因为它将与洪都拉斯人类学和历史研究所在该地区的抢救工作密切合作。