Collaborative Research: Geochemical Detection of Ancient Maya Exchange Environments

古典玛雅人在古代国家经济的比较研究中明显缺席，尽管他们是研究最深入的古代国家之一。长期以来，玛雅人一直是通过对前资本主义复杂经济的过时视角来看待的。还有一种普遍的坚持认为，经济交换几乎完全是通过征收苛捐杂税和贡品来进行的，并将它们重新分配给社会阶层，作为对服务的奖励等，主要是在通常与宴会有关的公共仪式上。由于绝大多数玛雅文物，包括那些通过贸易获得的，都是由易腐烂的材料制成的，因此在考古记录中失踪，这一事实也使情况变得复杂。本研究项目将通过分析人工制品和生态制品分解后留下的永久土壤残留物来解决后一个问题。土壤的地球化学分析有助于描绘家庭内的活动区域，但这种有限的背景不能告诉我们如何获得土壤残留物所代表的人工制品；在文物到达他们的家庭目的地之前，必须分析它们被带到市场的土壤表面。绘制其他公共空间土壤化学残留物的模式也将有助于确定通过再分配和盛宴实现的经济交流。在现代市场进行的初步研究开发了市场活动的地球化学特征；然后在三个选定的古玛雅遗址中发现了几乎相同的地球化学分布模式。这些地点的吉祥仪式地点的地球化学模式被区分和解释为再分配和盛宴活动。目前的研究将把地球化学技术的应用扩展到三个最大和城市化程度最高的玛雅城市（Calakmul, Chichen itz<e:1>和cob<e:1>）和一个城镇规模的遗址（Sayil）；如果时间允许，伯利兹的卡拉科尔和马马克斯纳也将进行抽样调查。重点将放在磷上，因为它是所有生物物质的一个组成部分，它在土壤中的残留物是永久的，它代表了史前人口使用并可能通过交换获得的最大份额的商品。采样单元将是无损的，因为代表性的化学痕迹保留在最上面的10厘米。网格样本将放置在选定的广场上，并围绕有趣的特征，如让人想起亭的岩石排列。磷和金属的背景值将从现场和非现场的土壤剖面坑中得到。沉积后可能影响土壤富集的因素，如古代和历史上的土地使用方式，将通过与当地农民和我们的现场合作者的访谈、土壤地层学分析以及可能的后续挖掘（如果后者似乎有必要）来控制。与传统观点相反，市场交换可能在维持玛雅人口、刺激工艺专业化和将人们从国内自给自足中解放出来方面发挥了关键作用。市场还有助于塑造社会和政治制度，这是再分配无法做到的。因此，市场的积极地球化学识别有望取得重要突破。文物保存不佳并不是玛雅人所独有的，因此这种方法有可能有助于理解其他古代国家的经济制度。该项目将把美国和墨西哥科学家聚集在一起，在跨学科研究方面进行合作。学生将受益于在现场和实验室获得重要的研究经验。

The Classic Maya are remarkably absent from comparative study of archaic state economies, despite them being one of the most intensively studied archaic states. The Maya have long been perceived through the lens of an outmoded perspective on pre-capitalist complex economies. There is also generally an insistence that economic exchanges were almost exclusively transacted by exacting taxes and tributes and redistributing them back down the social ladder, as rewards for service etc., primarily in public ceremonies often associated with feasts. The picture is also complicated by the fact that the overwhelming majority of Maya artifacts, including those obtained through trade, were made of perishable materials and are therefore missing in the archaeological record. This research project will address this latter problem by analyzing permanent soil residues left by artifacts and ecofacts after they decomposed. Geochemical analyses of soils have helped delineate activity areas within households, but this limited context cannot tell how artifacts which the soil residues represent were obtained; soil surfaces must be analyzed where artifacts were brought - marketplaces - before they reached their household destinations. Mapping patterns of soil chemical residues in other public spaces will also help identify economic exchanges effected through redistribution and feasting. Pilot studies at a modern market developed geochemical signatures of marketplace activities; almost identical geochemical distribution patterns were then found at three select ancient Maya sites. Geochemical patterns in auspicious ritual loci at these sites were then discriminated and interpreted as redistribution and feasting activities. The current research will extend use of geochemical techniques to three of the largest and most heavily urbanized Maya cities (Calakmul, Chichen Itzá, and Cobá) and one town-sized site (Sayil); if time permits, Caracol and Maax Na in Belize will also be sampled. Emphasis will be placed on phosphorus as it is a component of all living matter, its residues in soils are permanent, and it represents the greatest share of goods that prehistoric populations used and possibly obtained through exchange. Sampling units will be nondestructive as representative chemical traces remain in the uppermost 10 cm. Grid samples will be placed over select plazas and around interesting features such as rock alignments reminiscent of kiosks. Background values of phosphorous and metals will be developed from on- and off-site soil profile pits. Post-depositional factors that might affect soil enrichment, such as ancient and historic land use practices, will be controlled through interviews with local farmers and our on-site collaborators, analyses of soil stratigraphy, and possibly subsequent excavation if the latter seems warranted. Contrary to conventional wisdom, market exchange may have been critical in sustaining Maya populations, stimulating craft specialization, and freeing people from domestic self-sufficiency. Markets also help shape social and political institutions in ways that redistribution could not. Therefore, positive geochemical identification of marketplaces promises an important breakthrough. Poor artifact preservation is not unique to the Maya, and thus the methodology has the potential to contribute to an understanding of economic systems in other archaic states. The project will bring together U.S. and Mexican scientists to collaborate in interdisciplinary research. Students will benefit by gaining important research experience in the field and laboratory.