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是玛雅大城市蒂卡尔附近的一个大型定居点，位于现代危地马拉。该项目将重点关注热带景观中早期纪念性建筑和定居点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，这就提出了一个问题：纪念性是大规模定居点的原因还是结果？El Palmar建于前古典时期中期（约公元前1000 - 300年），在规划网格内组织的早期纪念性建筑中投入了大量资金。研究将记录El Palmar遗址纪念性核心和外围住宅区的建筑顺序。El Palmar的主要纪念性建筑是所谓的“E群”，以附近Uaxactun遗址的E群中类似的建筑群命名。El Palmar“E-Group”广场西面有一个23米高的大金字塔，东面有一个100米长的平台，北部和南部边缘有较小的建筑。在前古典中期的主要聚落中，类似“e群”的频率和分布表明，纪念性结构和宽阔的广场形成了城市生活的组成部分。实地研究的中心假设是，纪念性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，非本地群体通过不朽的建筑行为迅速建立了定居点，然后成为促进人口增长的公民条件。此外，人们对中部低地地区前古典时期中期纪念性遗址中心以外的住宅知之甚少。除了时间数据外，对El Palmar居民群体的挖掘将提供有关该地区早期人民日常生活的信息，并为他们与定居点的巨大核心在时间上的关系提供关键证据。该遗址的中心位置和缺乏大量的古典时期（约公元250-900年）覆盖层，为研究中美洲新兴的社会政治复杂性提供了理想的机会。在解决关于中美洲一段鲜为人知的时期的关键问题的同时，该项目将为美国和危地马拉的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位于一个受保护的公园内，拥有丰富的生物和自然资源。由于中美洲这一农村地区经济的严酷现实，考古实地工作往往是许多挖掘和营地助理的唯一收入来源。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。反过来，这将加强与当地社区的联系，并促进对其考古和文化遗产的负责任的管理。

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.