Investigations at Cerro Jazmin: A Study of Urbanism and the Terraced Landscape in the Mixteca Alta, Mexico

拟议中的考古研究将在墨西哥Mixteca Alta的一线城市中心Cerro Jazmin进行，这将增加我们对城市化和前西班牙裔城市如何运作的理解。在米克斯特卡阿尔塔地区，城市化发展得很早(约公元前300年)，而且是独立的，就像在邻近的墨西哥中部和瓦哈卡谷一样。在这一地区，没有一个单一的城市中心主导着社会政治格局；相反，政治由山顶城市主导，这些城市的腹地有较小的卫星社区。城市社区包括复杂的等高线梯田系统(沿着斜坡的自然等高线梯田)和喇嘛-波尔多梯田(毗邻排水系统中的检查坝梯田)。鉴于在梯田上的巨额投资，学者们提出，米克斯泰克城市是农业管理和生产的中心。本研究的问题是：1.Mixtec城市中心是如何构成的？2.等高线梯田和喇嘛-波尔多梯田在城市系统中起什么作用？3.Mixtec城市中心及其梯田对周围景观有什么影响？4.Mixtec城市中心是农业的吗？像Cerro Jazmin这样的Mixtec城市中心是否起到了农业管理和生产中心的作用？提出了一个分两个阶段的研究计划。这里描述的工作与第一阶段有关：第一阶段：Cerro Jazmin的测绘、密集调查和表面收集。地图绘制将记录网站的范围和布局。勘测和地面收集将确定场地的各种时间和功能组成部分。对周围地区的地貌调查将记录地层序列并收集土壤样本，以识别与土地利用变化、定居点扩张和废弃的文化时期有关的地貌事件并确定其日期。第二阶段：地层学的探索性挖掘，随后进行广泛的挖掘，以调查遗址不同部分之间的时间范围和功能差异，以获得随时间推移的遗址结构的整体视图(公元前300年-公元1521年)。智力上的优点。该项目将通过研究一座区域著名但未得到充分研究的前西班牙裔城市，为中美洲考古学和有关早期都市主义的性质及其环境影响的理论辩论做出贡献。它利用景观视角和尖端技术来研究Cerro Jazmin的结构，以了解该地点的农业功能及其对周围景观的环境影响。该项目将培训美国和墨西哥机构的研究生，培养新一代研究人员，促进国际合作和协同效应，并纳入科学界代表性不足的群体。它将支持教育公众有关考古学和文化资源管理的努力，特别是像Cerro Jazmin这样面临掠夺和侵蚀危险的资源。此外，Mixtec的环境对农业提出了特殊的挑战，目前正在失去农业土壤和人口，因为农民在其他地方寻找更好的机会。尽管如此，考古记录显示，前西班牙裔社区数千年来一直蓬勃发展。这项研究具有重要意义，因为它调查了古代Mixtec在具有挑战性的环境中养活人口所遵循的城市战略。这个问题的答案对于今天试图在该地区从事农业实践的学者和Mixtec社区将非常重要。

The proposed archaeological study at Cerro Jazmin, a first-tier urban center in the Mixteca Alta, Mexico, will increase our understanding of urbanism and how Prehispanic cities functioned. In the Mixteca Alta region, urbanism developed early (about 300 BC) and independently, just as it did in neighboring Central Mexico and the Valley of Oaxaca. In this region, no single urban center dominated the sociopolitical landscape; instead, polities were headed by hilltop cities that had smaller satellite communities in their hinterlands. Urban communities included complex systems of contour terraces (terraces following the natural contour of the slope) and lama-bordo terraces (check-dam terraces in adjoining drainages). Given the monumental investment in terracing, scholars have posited that Mixtec cities were centers of agricultural administration and production. This research asks:1. How were Mixtec urban centers structured?2. What functions did contour and lama-bordo terraces serve within the urban system? 3. What impact did Mixtec urban centers and their terracing have on surrounding landscapes?4. Were Mixtec urban centers agrarian? Did Mixtec urban centers like Cerro Jazmin function as centers of agricultural administration and production?A two-phase research program is proposed. The work described here relates to Phase I. Phase I: mapping, intensive survey, and surface collecting at Cerro Jazmin. Mapping will record the extent and layout of the site. Survey and surface collections will identify the various temporal and functional components of the site. A geomorphic survey of the surrounding area will record stratigraphic sequences and collect soil samples to identify and date geomorphic events that can be related to cultural periods of land use change, settlement expansion, and abandonment. Phase II: stratigraphic, exploratory excavations, followed by extensive excavations to investigate the temporal extent and functional differences among different sectors of the site to obtain a holistic view of site structure through time (300 BC-AD 1521). Intellectual merit. The project will contribute to Mesoamerican archaeology and theoretical debates on the nature of early urbanism and its environmental impacts by studying a regionally prominent yet understudied Prehispanic city. It employs a landscape perspective and cutting-edge technology to study the structure of Cerro Jazmin to learn about the site's agricultural function and its environmental impact on the surrounding landscape.Broader impacts. This project will train graduate students from US and Mexican institutions, cultivate a new generation of researchers, foster international collaboration and synergies, and include underrepresented groups in the sciences. It will support efforts to educate the public about archaeology and cultural resource management, especially resources in danger of looting and erosion, like Cerro Jazmin. In addition, the Mixtec environment presents special challenges to farming and is currently losing agricultural soils and people as farmers seek better opportunities elsewhere. Despite of this, the archaeological record shows that Prehispanic communities thrived for millennia. This study is significant in that it investigates: the urban strategies that the ancient Mixtec followed to feed dense populations in a challenging environment. The answer to this question will be of great importance to scholars and Mixtec communities trying to practice agriculture in the region today.