Doctoral Dissertation Research: Craft Production, Exchange, and the Development of Complex Society in the Volcan Baru Region of Western Panama

在Robert D. Drennan博士候选人Scott Palumbo将在巴拿马西部山区Volcan巴鲁地区的Barriles遗址和几个较小的遗址进行表面收集和测试挖掘，以评估工艺生产和交流在公元前350年至公元1520年社会不平等的出现和发展中的重要性。以前的研究人员认为，这一地区的新兴精英建立了对森林砍伐所需的地面石器和木材加工工具生产的控制，从而使越来越多的人口依赖于它们。其他人则认为，控制奢侈品的生产是精英获得威望和影响力的另一种方式。之前在火山巴鲁地区的研究已经表明，在几个大型社区中存在生产磨石斧和相关工具的考古证据。Palumbo先生将收集更详细的证据，以评估这些生产是否由这些中心的新兴社会精英控制或以其他方式与之相关。他从更受控的环境中收集的更大的人工制品样本也将揭示是否有专门生产其他类型的实用物品和/或奢侈品或象征性物品。他的样本中也将包括较小的定居点，以便能够评估这些定居点是否不存在这种专门化生产。这样的结果将导致这样的结论，即这些附属地区依赖于更大的生产中心来生产这些商品。这些模式是否以及何时在两千年的社会变革中出现，将是理解在该地区日益等级化的社会组织中，对专业化经济生产的控制作用有多重要的关键。Palumbo先生的分析所依据的人工制品样本将从广泛分布在几个定居点的住宅区的数千个小型挖掘单元中恢复，从而可能全面阐述生产组织及其与社会等级的关系。最终，这项研究的结果将用于将火山巴鲁地区与世界其他地区进行比较，以更好地了解社会不平等在过去是如何发展和持续的。这项研究还将产生超出其科学发现的更广泛的影响。它将为博士候选人以及将从事实地和实验室工作若干方面的巴拿马、哥斯达黎加、哥伦比亚和北美学生提供基本培训。通过这种方式，该项目还将加强国际科学合作。将通过向当地学校和大学进行社区宣传，提高公众对考古研究的性质和相关性以及保护考古记录的重要性的认识。调查结果将在奇里基省的沃尔坎镇和蓬塔山镇公布，以便向当地居民介绍调查结果，从而了解本地区的文化遗产。

Under the supervision of Dr. Robert D. Drennan, doctoral candidate Scott Palumbo will carry out surface collections and test excavations at the site of Barriles and several smaller sites in the Volcan Baru region in the mountains of western Panama, in order to evaluate the importance of craft production and exchange in the emergence and development of social inequality between 350 B.C. and A.D. 1520. Previous researchers have argued that emerging elites in this region established control over the production of ground stone tools necessary to forest clearance and wood working tools and thereby made an ever larger population dependent upon them. Others have argued that control over the production of luxury items was another way by which elites gained prestige and influence.Previous research in the Volcan Baru region has already shown that archaeological evidence for the production of ground stone axes and related tools is present at several large communities. Mr. Palumbo will collect more detailed evidence to evaluate whether this production was controlled by or otherwise connected to emerging social elites at these centers. His larger samples of artifacts from more controlled contexts will also reveal whether there was specialized production of other sorts of utilitarian items and/or of luxury or symbolic items. Smaller settlements will also be included in his sample, making it possible to assess whether such specialized production was absent there. Such a result would lead to the conclusion that these subsidiary places were dependent upon larger centers of production for such goods. Whether, and when, these kinds of patterns emerged during the two millennia of social change to be studied will be the key to understanding how important was the role of control over specialized economic production in the increasingly hierarchical social organization of the region. The artifact samples Mr. Palumbo's analysis will be based on will be recovered from thousands of tiny excavation units widely distributed through the residential sections of several settlements, making possible comprehensive statements about the organization of production and its relationship to social ranking. Ultimately, the results of this research will be used to compare the Volcan Baru region to other regions in the world to understand better how social inequality developed and persisted in the past.This research will also have broader impacts beyond its scientific findings. It will provide essential training for the doctoral candidate, as well as for Panamanian, Costa Rican, Colombian and North American students who will be engaged in several aspects of the field and laboratory work. In this way, the project will also strengthen international scientific collaboration. Public appreciation of the nature and relevance of archaeological research, as well as the importance of protecting the archaeological record, will be enhanced though community outreach to local schools and universities. Results will be presented in the towns of Volcan and Cerro Punta, Chiriqui Province, to inform local residents about the findings, and thus about the cultural heritage of their region.