Dissertation Research: The Development of Social Complexity at El Dornajo: Conditions of Change in Southwestern Ecuador

在罗伯特·德伦南博士的指导下，萨拉·泰勒女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将在厄瓜多尔南部Zarumilla河上的El Dornajo遗址进行考古发掘。埃尔多纳霍很可能在公元前500年至公元1200年之间成为一个政治中心，并为深入了解安第斯地区政治复杂性的出现提供了一个背景。这一过程导致了一些最复杂的史前社会在新世界，如印卡人。El Dornajo位于厄瓜多尔南部热带森林和秘鲁沿海沙漠之间的环境过渡地区。它也是安第斯山脉北部复杂的酋长领地和安第斯山脉中部广阔的国家之间的文化过渡。传统上，该区域一直被视为区域间相互作用在社会变革中发挥强大作用的区域。与邻近更复杂的发达国家的互动，以及它们之间的贸易路线上的位置，可能会让一个精英统治集团通过控制产品的流动而出现。然而，对南美洲西海岸产生重大影响的厄尔尼诺现象也可能发挥了重要作用。该地区的史前人口在很大程度上依赖海洋和红树林资源，虽然厄尔尼诺事件会给大部分人口造成生存压力，但也会在通常干旱的地区开辟农业的可能性。随着降雨量恢复到正常的低水平，农民可能开发了其他技术，如灌溉，这使他们走上了社会复杂性的道路。为了检验这些选择，泰勒女士将在现场进行考古研究。这将包括一个分阶段的地表调查计划，随机抽样以恢复人工制品和生态事实组合，挖掘最大的土堆以评估其建设顺序，并确定其发生的速度和时间。最后将进行小型水平挖掘，以寻找家庭间的差异。这个项目还将促进一位有前途的年轻科学家的培养和事业发展。它将包括来自美国和厄瓜多尔的学生，从而加强两国之间的考古联系。

Under the direction of Dr. Robert Drennan, Ms. Sarah Taylor will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct archaeological excavation at the site of El Dornajo located on the Zarumilla River in southern Ecuador. El Dornajo very likely emerged as a political center between 500 BC and 1200 AD and provides a context within which to gain insight into the emergence of political complexity in the Andean region. This process led to some of the most complex prehistoric societies in the New World such as the Inka. El Dornajo is located in an environmentally transitional region between the tropical forests of southern Ecuador and the deserts of coastal Peru. It is also culturally transitional between the complex chiefdoms of the northern Andes and the expansive states of the central Andes. Traditionally the region has been seen as one in which inter-regional interaction played a strong role in social change. Interaction with adjacent more complexly developed polities and a position on a trade route between them may have allowed an elite governing group to emerge through control over the movement of products. However El Nino events which have a major impact on the western coast of South America may also have played a significant role. The prehistoric populations of the region would have been largely reliant on marine and mangrove resources and while El Nino events would have created conditions of subsistence stress for much of the population they would also have opened the possibility of agriculture in a normally arid area. As rainfall returned to normal low levels, farmers may have developed other techniques such as irrigation which set them on the path to social complexity. To examine these alternatives Ms Taylor will conduct archaeological research at the site. This will include a staged program of surface survey, random sampling to recover artifact and ecofact assemblages, and excavation of the largest mound to assess the sequence of its construction and determination of the pace and timing with which this occurred. Finally small horizontal excavations will be conducted to look for inter-household variation.This project will also further the training and career of a promising young scientist. It will include students from both the US and Ecuador and thus strengthen archaeological ties between these two countries.