Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Cause or Consequence? Planned Monumentality and Population Growth in the Middle Preclassic Maya Lowlands

作为El Zotz考古项目(S.Houston，主任)的一部分，James Doyle将在El Palmar遗址进行考古调查，El Palmar是现代危地马拉靠近玛雅大城市蒂卡尔的一个广泛定居点。该项目将重点研究热带景观中早期纪念性建筑和聚落增长之间的时间关系。纪念性建筑涉及大规模的土地和劳动力管理，以及广泛的规划和工程。然而，它们背后的社会过程是难以捉摸的，这引发了一个问题，即纪念性是大规模定居的原因还是结果。建立于中世纪前古典主义时期(约公元前1000-300年)的El Palmar展示了在规划的网格内对早期纪念性建筑的大量投资。研究将记录El Palmar在该遗址不朽的核心和外围住宅群中的建设顺序。埃尔帕尔马最重要的纪念性建筑是一个所谓的“E组”，以附近UaxActin遗址的E组中类似的建筑群命名。El Palmar“E-Group”广场的西边是一座23米高的大金字塔，东边是一个100米长的平台，北边和南边是较小的建筑。在中期前古典时期，类似的“E群”在主要聚落中的频率和分布表明，纪念性的建筑和宽阔的广场构成了市民生活不可或缺的一部分。田野调查的中心假设是，宏伟的建筑是人口增长的结果，当地人民随着时间的推移逐渐建造了定居点。另一种解释是，非本地团体通过纪念性建筑行为迅速建立了定居点，然后形成了人口增长的公民条件。此外，人们对低地中部不朽的中世纪前经典遗址中心以外的住宅知之甚少。除了年代数据外，对El Palmar居民群的挖掘还将提供关于该地区早期人民日常生活的信息，并提供他们与定居点不朽核心的时间关系的关键证据。遗址的中心位置和缺乏实质性的古典时期(约公元250-900年)该项目将为美国和危地马拉考古学学生提供培训，并促进El Palmar附近地区的社区发展。El Palmar遗址位于一个受保护的公园内，拥有广泛的生物和自然资源。由于中美洲这个农村地区的严酷经济现实，考古田野工作往往是许多挖掘人员和营地助理唯一的收入来源。El Zotz考古项目和El Palmar论文工作将允许通过挖掘和数据处理与当地项目助理合作，不仅有助于短期经济发展，而且有助于作为合格挖掘者的长期职业前景。这反过来将加强与当地社区的联系，并促进负责任地管理其考古和文化遗产。

As part of the El Zotz Archaeological Project (S. Houston, Director), James Doyle will undertake archaeological investigations at the site of El Palmar, an extensive settlement in modern Guatemala near the large Maya city of Tikal. The project will focus on the chronological relationship between early monumental architecture and settlement growth in a tropical landscape. Monumental buildings involve large-scale management of land and labor, as well as extensive planning and engineering. Yet the social processes behind them are elusive, raising the question of whether monumentality was a cause or consequence of large settlements.Founded during the Middle Preclassic period (ca. 1000 - 300 B.C.E), El Palmar shows heavy investment in early monumental architecture organized within a planned grid. Research will document the sequence of construction at El Palmar in the site's monumental core and outlying residential groups. The dominant monumental architecture at El Palmar is a so-called "E-Group," named after a comparable cluster of buildings in Group E at the nearby site of Uaxactun. The El Palmar "E-Group" plaza is bounded to the west by a large pyramid of 23m in height, an eastern 100-m long platform, and smaller buildings on the northern and southern edges. The frequency and distribution of similar "E-Groups" at major settlements during the Middle Preclassic suggest that the monumental structures and wide plaza formed an integral part of civic life. The central hypothesis of the field research is that monumental constructions were a consequence of population growth, that local peoples gradually constructed the settlement over time. The alternative interpretation is that non-local groups rapidly founded the settlement through acts of monumental construction, which then became fostered the civic conditions of population growth. Furthermore, little is known about the residences outside of monumental Middle Preclassic site centers in the central Lowlands. In addition to chronological data, excavations in El Palmar residential groups will provide information about the daily lives of early peoples in the region and provide key evidence of their relation in time to the monumental core of the settlement. The central location of the site and the lack of a substantial Classic Period (ca. 250-900 C.E.) overburden provide an ideal opportunity to investigate emerging sociopolitical complexity in Mesoamerica.While addressing key questions about a poorly understood time period in Mesoamerica, the project will provide training for American and Guatemalan archaeology students and promote community development in the area near El Palmar. The site of El Palmar is located within a protected park with extensive biological and natural resources. Because of the harsh reality of the economy in this rural part of Central America, archaeological fieldwork is often the only source of income for many of the excavation and camp assistants. The El Zotz Archaeological Project and the El Palmar dissertation work will allow for collaboration with local project assistants through excavation and data processing, contributing not only to short-term economic development, but also long-term career prospects as qualified excavators. This, in turn, will strengthen connections with the local community and promote the responsible stewardship of its archaeological and cultural heritage.