The Uxbenka Archaeological Project

乌克斯本卡考古项目

• 批准号: 0620445
• 负责人: Keith Prufer
• 金额: $ 12.38万
• 依托单位: Wichita State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-08-01 至 2007-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0620445&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Uxbenka; Archaeological; Project

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Keith Prufer and his team of colleagues will conduct three field seasons of archaeological research in southern Belize. The team brings together specialists in archaeology and epigraphy to examine geopolitical relationships between large and small Maya cities that flourished between 200 and 900 AD. The project will combine the analysis of the hieroglyphic texts with intensive archaeological survey and excavations at Uxbenka, a small Maya capital founded sometime before 500 AD. Uxbenka is the earliest known site in southern Belize, an agriculturally rich region and situated near to coastal and inland trade routes. It is also located between several larger political centers. Texts from the Uxbenka suggest that it maintained close political ties to the large urban center Tikal, though the exact nature of their relationship remains unclear. Understanding how large and small centers interacted will contribute to knowledge of Maya political and economic organization. Competing models posit that large Maya polities functioned as central places and capitals, with coherent boundaries, holding sway over smaller centers or, alternately, that large and small Maya centers were, though economically integrated, politically autonomous rivals. More recent studies suggest that understanding geopolitical links and barriers also requires accommodating historical realities of rivalry and shifting relationships, and that single function models oversimplify prehistoric political landscapes. The project addresses several related sets of research questions. When first settled, what links did Uxbenka have with other regions? Did Uxbenka develop under the sway of Tikal, or did they merely emulate or memorialize historical figures or dynasties mentioned in native texts? Did the suspected relationship with Tikal continue to manifest itself as Uxbenka grew and interacted with other polities? Data from mapping, excavations, the analysis of ceramics and other artifacts, and architectural variation, combined with the study of hieroglyphic texts from the site, will illustrate Uxbenka's history and regional and long-distance economic and political ties over time. This research addresses theoretical debates regarding culture contact and the difficulty of distinguishing between types of interregional interactions. The intellectual merit of this project is in its approach, which integrates archaeological and historical data to improve our understanding Maya settlement and interaction over time, and in its theoretical perspective, which recognizes that political and economic organization is often based on uneven and asymmetrical networks between competing groups, subject to change over time. The resulting data will have implications for understanding similar developments across the Maya area and for understanding the development, behavior, and functioning of early complex polities in general. The broader impacts of this project are in education and community development. The results of this project will be disseminated widely to both scholars and the general public. The project will provide teaching, training, and learning opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students. Because Uxbenka is located in a modern Mayan community, the project will work closely with indigenous groups and the Belize government to insure that archaeological research and preservation activities benefit plans for co-managed sustainable development of the archaeological site.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，基思·普鲁弗博士和他的同事们将在伯利兹南部进行三个野外考古季节的研究。该团队聚集了考古学和金石学专家，研究公元200至900年间繁荣的玛雅大城市和小城市之间的地缘政治关系。该项目将把对象形文字文本的分析与对乌克斯本卡的密集考古调查和发掘结合起来，乌克斯本卡是玛雅的一个小首都，建于公元500年之前。乌克斯本卡是伯利兹南部已知的最早遗址，伯利兹南部是一个农业丰富的地区，靠近沿海和内陆贸易路线。它也位于几个更大的政治中心之间。来自乌克斯本卡的文字表明，它与大型城市中心蒂卡尔保持着密切的政治联系，尽管他们关系的确切性质尚不清楚。了解大小中心是如何互动的，将有助于了解玛雅的政治和经济组织。相互竞争的模型认为，大的玛雅政体充当着中心地点和首都，有着连贯的边界，控制着较小的中心，或者，大的和小的玛雅中心是政治上自治的竞争对手，尽管在经济上是一体化的。最近的研究表明，理解地缘政治联系和障碍还需要适应竞争和关系变化的历史现实，而单一功能模型过度简化了史前政治格局。该项目涉及几组相关的研究问题。最初定居时，乌克斯本卡与其他地区有什么联系？乌克斯本卡是在提卡尔的影响下发展起来的，还是仅仅是模仿或纪念当地文献中提到的历史人物或王朝？随着乌克斯本卡的成长和与其他政体的互动，与蒂卡尔的可疑关系是否继续表现出来？来自测绘、挖掘、对陶瓷和其他文物的分析以及建筑变化的数据，结合对遗址中象形文字的研究，将展示乌克斯本卡的历史以及随着时间的推移而产生的地区和远程经济和政治联系。这项研究解决了关于文化接触和区分区域间互动类型的困难的理论辩论。这个项目的学术价值在于它的方法，它整合了考古和历史数据，以提高我们对玛雅聚落和随着时间推移的互动的理解；从理论角度来看，它承认政治和经济组织往往建立在相互竞争的群体之间不均衡和不对称的网络之上，可能会随着时间的推移而变化。由此得到的数据将对理解整个玛雅地区的类似发展以及理解早期复杂政治的发展、行为和功能具有普遍意义。该项目在教育和社区发展方面产生了更广泛的影响。这一项目的成果将向学者和公众广泛传播。该项目将为研究生和本科生提供教学、培训和学习机会。由于Uxbenka位于现代玛雅社区，该项目将与土著团体和伯利兹政府密切合作，确保考古研究和保护活动有利于共同管理的考古遗址可持续发展计划。