Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Maya Marketplaces: A New Perspective on Interpreting a Classic Period Plaza at Buenavista del Cayo, Belize

在Jason Yaeger博士的监督下，Bernadette Cap将对在伯利兹的Buenavista del Cayo古玛雅遗址收集的文物和土壤样本进行考古调查和分析。布埃纳维斯塔是伯利兹河谷上游的一个主要中心，靠近现在的莫潘河河岸。约瑟夫·鲍尔（Joseph Ball）和詹妮弗·塔切克（Jennifer Taschek）进行的研究表明，该遗址最初于公元前960年左右被占领，在公元240-950年期间，它的规模和重要性不断扩大，同时作为当地举行皇室仪式和行政活动的场所，吸引了大量观众。卡普女士的研究将通过调查场地上最大的广场空间之一来确定它是否曾作为一个市场，从而解决布埃纳维斯塔的经济功能。市场是一个特定的地点，人们同意在预定的时间见面交换物质商品。因为考古学家不能直接观察个人之间交换的实际行为，所以他们寻找反映这些交换的物质痕迹，比如与物质商品相关的摊位。一些研究人员已经开始在玛雅人中寻找市场的迹象，但对于在公元240年至950年之间玛雅低地是否存在市场，学术界仍然没有共识。它们的考古表现也不清楚。早期的市场研究最初集中在诸如建筑模式之类的证据线上，以确定它们的存在和位置，但最近的研究开始检查人工制品和土壤化学模式，以做出解释。本研究试图进一步完善史前市场的考古研究，通过开发经验可测试的相关性，并使用专注于细粒度分析的数据恢复技术，包括微文物（小于4毫米）和微地层学，这些在以前的市场研究中没有使用过。古玛雅市场的成功鉴定将使我们能够理解市场是如何在空间上组织的，包括交通流量的模式、交换的商品类型、不同种类商品的供应商的空间安排，以及组织随时间的稳定程度。这些新数据对于发现其他玛雅遗址的市场很重要，但也有助于对玛雅经济系统集中化程度的辩论。布埃纳维斯塔市场的存在意味着一个更集中的交换系统，可能有更多的精英参与商品的分配，尤其是日常商品，而不是大多数玛雅学者所假设的那样。这个项目还将在科学领域之外产生几个更广泛的影响。首先，布埃纳维斯塔周围的当地伯利兹社区将通过就业和培训机会从这个项目中受益。作者在这些社区内以及每年在伯利兹举行的伯利兹考古会议上所作的介绍将有助于进一步了解伯利兹的古代玛雅历史。伯利兹有当地和外国考古学家、学生和一般公众参加。这项研究的结果还将通过在线出版实地报告、在期刊上发表出版物和在专业会议上发表报告等方式传播给更广泛的受众。最后，该项目将与威斯康星大学考古田野学校合作，从而为美国本科生提供考古培训和体验不同文化的机会。

Supervised by Dr. Jason Yaeger, Bernadette Cap will conduct archaeological investigations and analysis of artifacts and soil samples collected at the ancient Maya site of Buenavista del Cayo, Belize. Buenavista is a major center located in the upper Belize River valley near the present bank of the Mopan River. Work conducted by Joseph Ball and Jennifer Taschek has documented that the site was first occupied around 960 BC and grew in size and importance from AD 240-950 while serving as a local venue for regal-ritual and administrative activities geared towards large audiences. Ms. Cap's research will address the economic function of Buenavista by investigating one of the largest plaza spaces at the site to determine if it served as a marketplace. A marketplace is a specific location where people agree to meet at pre-set times to exchange material goods. Because archaeologists cannot directly observe the actual action of exchange between individuals they look for material traces that reflect these exchanges, such as stalls with associated concentrations of material goods. Some researchers have begun to search for indications of marketplaces among the Maya but there still is no scholarly consensus as to whether marketplaces existed between AD 240 and 950 in the Maya lowlands. It is also unclear what their archaeological manifestations might be. Early marketplace research initially focused on lines of evidence such as architectural patterns to identify their existence and location but more recent studies have started to examine artifact and soil chemical patterns to make interpretations. This study attempts to refine the archaeological study of prehistoric marketplaces further by developing empirically testable correlates and using data recovery techniques focused on fine-grained analysis, including microartifacts (those less than 4 mm) and microstratigraphy, not used in previous marketplace studies. The successful identification of an ancient Maya marketplace will permit an understanding of how marketplaces were spatially organized, including patterns of traffic flow, the types of goods exchanged, the spatial arrangement of vendors of different kinds of goods, and the degree of stability in organization over time. This new data will be important for the discovery of marketplaces at other Maya sites but will also contribute to the debate on the degree to which Maya economic systems were centralized. The presence of a marketplace at Buenavista would imply a more centralized exchange system and potentially more elite involvement in the distribution of goods, especially every-day goods, than assumed by most Maya scholars.This project also will have several broader impacts beyond the scientific realm. First, the local Belizean community around Buenavista will benefit from this project through employment and training opportunities. Presentations made by the author within these communities and at the Belize Archaeological Conference, held annually in Belize and attended by local and foreign archaeologists, students and the general public, will help to build further understandings of Belize's ancient Maya past. The results of this research also will be disseminated to a wider audience through online publication of field reports, publications in journals, and presentations at professional conferences. Finally, this project will be working in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin archaeological field school, thus offering American undergraduates archaeological training and the opportunity to experience a different culture.