Doctoral Dissertation Research: Pre-Columbian Societies of Southern Manabi (Ecuador) and the Role of Shell Export

在Robert D. Drennan，亚历山大马丁将在厄瓜多尔南部的马纳比进行考古定居点研究，以重建该地区社会变革的大致轮廓，通过在十六世纪西班牙征服之前的数千年的定居人类占领。考古学家长期以来一直对复杂社会的形成原因感兴趣，这些社会融合了大量人口，包括几个地方社区，并且经常涉及大量的社会等级。 这些类型的社会已经在世界许多地方发展起来，许多因素被认为是造成这些转变的原因。一个经常被引用的因素是，用于出口的奢侈品的生产是使一些社会变得更加复杂的关键变量。例如，一些社会发展模型认为，这类物品的制造提供了一条剩余积累的途径，支持了不平等的上升，从而促进了复杂性的上升。同样，也有人认为，奢侈品贸易使精英们得以垄断深奥的物品，从而证实了他们作为特殊个体的地位，并有助于维持社会不平等。虽然这类模式很常见，但出口部门是社会发展的一个重要因素这一观点并不普遍，许多社会发展模式还认为，生产供出口的奢侈品在很大程度上与不平等的加剧无关。 沿海南部马纳比提供了一个理想的机会来研究复杂的社会发展，特别是出口奢侈品在这一过程中的作用，因为该地区的人口在考古文献中以制造和交易Spondylus贝壳物品而闻名，秘鲁国家从公元600-800年开始大量消费。 这种交通被认为是史前贸易的一种特别强烈和大规模的表达，许多学者认为它是该地区社会变革的关键。如果这些学者是正确的，那么南部马纳维是一个理想的地方，以调查它是如何工作的。另一方面，如果有证据表明，已知存在的大量出口贸易对社会变革的影响微乎其微，那么用来支持这种模型的最有希望的案例之一就会受到破坏。 这一评估的关键将是通过系统的考古定居点研究重建南部马纳维社会发展的广泛进程。通过绘制史前占领地点的地图，并确定这些定居点在不同时期的变化，我们就有可能看到重大的社会变化是否与对脊椎动物物品的外部需求大幅增加的时期相对应（如公元800年后奇穆国家的巩固）。 拟议研究的更广泛影响包括博士候选人的培训。它还将为其他考古学学生提供实地经验，他们将在实地收集数据时提供协助。将与当地社区合作开展研究，这些社区是传统的农民合作社，其目的是公平地重新分配当地生产的资源。 各市镇还积极参与激发当地人对本区域文化遗产的自豪感。他们的成员将参与该项目，其结果将通过与地方当局和当地学校教师协调的会谈，通过社区在当地传播。这项研究还将有助于为社区管理的当地博物馆的展览提供信息。

Under the supervision of Dr. Robert D. Drennan, Alexander Martin will carry out an archaeological settlement study in southern Manabi, Ecuador, to reconstruct the broad outlines of social change in the region through the several millennia of sedentary human occupation prior to the Spanish Conquest in the sixteenth century. Archaeologists have long been interested in the causes that contribute to the formation of complex societies that integrate large populations, encompass several local communities, and that frequently involve substantial social hierarchy. These types of societies have developed in many parts of the world and many factors have been suggested as responsible for these transformations. One often cited factor is that production of luxury items for export was the key variable that made it possible for some societies to grow in complexity. For example, some models of social development propose that the manufacture of these kinds of items promoted the rise in complexity by offering an avenue of surplus accumulation which supported the rise in inequality. Likewise, it has also been argued that the trade of luxury goods allowed elites to gain monopoly over esoteric items that validated their status as special individuals and helped maintain social inequality. While models such as these are common, the view that export sectors were an important factor in social development is not universally held and many models of social development also argue that production of luxury items for export was largely inconsequential to the rise of inequality. Coastal southern Manabi offers an ideal opportunity to investigate complex society development, and especially the role of exported luxury goods in this process, because the populations of that area are well known in the archaeological literature for the manufacture and trade of Spondylus shell items, which Peruvian states consumed in large quantities beginning at around A.D. 600-800. This traffic is considered to be an especially intense and large-scale expression of prehistoric trade and many scholars have seen it as pivotal in social change in the region. If these scholars are correct, then southern Manabi is an ideal place to investigate how it worked. If, on the other hand, the evidence suggests that the substantial export trade known to exist had little impact on social change, one of the most promising cases used to support such models will have been undermined. The key to this evaluation will be reconstructing the broad course of social development of southern Manabi through a systematic archaeological settlement study. By mapping the locations of prehistoric occupations and determining how these settlements changed at different periods it will be possible to see whether or not major social change corresponds to periods of substantially increased external demand for Spondylus items (as with the consolidation of the Chimu state after A.D. 800). The broader impacts of the proposed research include the training of the doctoral candidate. It will also provide field experience to other archaeology students who will assist during the collection of data in the field. Research will be carried out in collaboration with local comunas, which are traditional peasant cooperatives formed in order to redistribute locally produced resources equitably. The comunas are also actively engaged in fomenting local pride in the cultural heritage of the region. Their members will participate in the project and its results will be disseminated locally through the comunas by talks that will be coordinated with local authorities and local schoolteachers. The research will also help to inform the displays of the local museum run by the comuna.