Early Nasca Craft Economies

在国家科学基金会的支持下，凯文·沃恩博士将在秘鲁南海岸的南纳斯卡地区(SNR)进行为期三个季节的考古研究。该项目的重点将是了解与纳斯卡文化(约公元1-750年)有关的前殖民地美洲最精致的陶器类别之一的生产、销售和使用情况。近一个世纪以来，考古学家一直在研究博物馆收藏的纳斯卡彩陶，但相对较少的工作是关注这些陶器如何适应纳斯卡社会更广泛的社会政治和经济背景。简而言之，对纳斯卡手工艺经济的研究一直很有限。根据最近田野调查的初步证据，这件陶器虽然在考古学上是一种“工艺”，但并不容易适应考古学家提出的传统工艺专业化模式。尽管在某些情况下，多彩陶器似乎是为地位较高的个人保留的，但最近的研究表明，许多陶器都是社会上所有成员都可以获得的，无论他们的地位如何。尽管最近进行了这项研究，但关于手工艺经济的基本问题仍然存在。具体地说，陶器是在哪里生产的，在什么背景下生产，它是如何分配和/或交换的，它在多大程度上被区域使用，以及这种手工艺经济与早期纳斯卡社会新兴的领导层有什么关系？这个项目旨在通过在SNR的三个季节的实地考察来解决这些问题。为了确定对古代陶工有用的原材料的地区可获得性，第一季将包括在SNR进行材料调查，以确定用于生产纳斯卡陶器的粘土和矿物颜料。然后，这些材料的元素组成将通过仪器中子活化分析(INAA)确定，并与先前分析产生的组成数据相匹配，以确定陶器的生产是限于该地区的某个地区并由新兴精英控制，还是生产分散而不受控制。剩下的两个季节的重点将转向评估多彩的分布和使用。这将包括通过测绘和挖掘评估七个纳斯卡早期居住地。在这些季节收集的数据将决定多色染料从第一季划定的生产区流传的范围有多广。还将收集数据来评估住宅地点使用的多色染料的数量，这是否仅限于精英阶层，或者是否每个人都可以获得多色染料，以及这种情况在整个地区的变化情况。据假设，距离纳斯卡社会的区域核心越远，多色系在将当地精英与越来越异国情调的商品捆绑在一起方面的重要性就越大。拟议中的研究将增加我们对手工艺在前工业化社会中为什么重要，以及手工艺经济如何与这些社会中新兴领导层联系在一起的理解。这项研究还将增加我们对纳斯卡多色体如何适应纳斯卡社会更广泛的社会政治和经济领域的理解。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Kevin Vaughn will conduct three seasons of archaeological research in the Southern Nasca Region (SNR) of the south coast of Peru. The focus of the project will be understanding the production, distribution, and use of one of the most finely made classes of pottery in the Precolumbian Americas associated with the Nasca culture (ca. A.D. 1-750). For nearly a century archaeologists have studied Nasca polychrome pottery from museum collections, however relatively little work has focused on how the pottery fit into the wider sociopolitical and economic contexts of Nasca society. In short, research into what can be referred to as the craft economy of Nasca has been limited. Based upon preliminary evidence from recent fieldwork it appears that the pottery, although a "craft" in archaeological terms, is not one that fits easily into traditional models of craft specialization proposed by archaeologists. Although polychromes appear to have been reserved for individuals of high status in some contexts, recent work suggests that much of the pottery was available to all members of society regardless of their status. Despite this recent research, fundamental questions remain about this craft economy. Specifically, where was the pottery produced and in what contexts, how was it distributed and/or exchanged, to what extent was it used regionally, and how was this craft economy related to emerging leadership in Early Nasca society? This project is designed to address these questions in three seasons of fieldwork in the SNR. In order to determine the regional availablity of raw materials useful to ancient potters, the first season will consist of a material survey in the SNR to locate clays and mineral pigments used for the production of Nasca pottery. The elemental composition of these materials will then be determined through instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and matched with compositional data generated from previous analysis to determine if the production of pottery was restricted to a certain area of the region and controlled by emerging elites, or if production was dispersed and not controlled. Focus in the remaining two seasons will turn to evaluating polychrome distribution and use. This will consist of evaluating seven Early Nasca habitation sites through mapping and excavations. The data collected in these seasons will determine how widely polychromes were circulated from the production zones that are delineated in Season #1. Data will also be collected to assess the quantities of polychromes used at residential sites, whether this was limited to elites, or if polychromes were available to everyone, and how this varied across the region. It is hypothesized that the farther away from the regional core of Nasca society, the greater the importance that polychromes had in tying local elites to increasingly exotic goods. The proposed research will add to our understanding of why crafts are important in pre-industrial societies, and how craft economies articulate with emerging leadership in these societies. This research will also increase our understanding of how Nasca polychromes fit into the wider sociopolitical and economic domains of Nasca society.