The Creation and Management of the Southwest Amazon: Landscape and Sociopolitical Organization in the Llanos de Mojos, Bolivia

在国家科学基金会的支持下，约翰·沃克博士将与一个由考古学家、学生和其他利益相关者组成的国际团队合作，在玻利维亚亚马逊地区进行两个考古研究季节。该项目比较了农业景观中的聚落，并对其进行分析，以此作为社会如何组织的证据。每一处农业景观都反映了与其建设和维护相关的当地历史和社会政治组织。关于社会、政治和农业集约化的辩论往往集中在集中控制上，而对地方组织的细节研究较少。在最大规模上，由一个强大的、集权的权威组织农业，体现在一个强大的空间格局上。在中等规模上，农业与组织农业劳动力的社区相对应的定居点相联系。在最小的尺度上，农业组织与雾化的地貌相关联，受当地条件支配。要理解集约农业，重点必须转移到对当地空间和社会政治组织的分析上。莫霍斯是玻利维亚亚马逊地区季节性洪水泛滥的热带稀树草原，数百平方公里的农业特征仍然清晰可见。像世界各地的许多农民一样，莫伊尼奥斯将他们的土地雕刻成田地、运河、堤道和土丘，以改善土壤条件并控制水资源。在许多代人的时间里，他们建立了各种各样的环境，既限制了日常活动，也由他们创造了。这些景观是逐步建造的，反映了农业社会的历史和结构。该项目重点关注莫霍斯中部的两个研究区，该地区位于马莫雷河以西、圣安娜·德尔亚库马附近的一个土方工程地区。首先，区域挖掘被用来检查聚落，以寻找与防御、仪式和宴会相关的公共活动的证据。其次，使用实地调查、收集诊断陶瓷和测试挖掘来定位和确定两个农业景观中的每一个内的聚落。最后，实验室分析被用来建立陶瓷年表，重建环境，并获得陶瓷被用于烹饪、酿造和服务的证据。该项目的学术价值有三个：首先，它将有助于将考古学重新定位到更全面的研究个人和群体进行日常任务的地点。其次，这个项目关系到农业景观如何长期成功地管理(或不成功)。这些考古景观记录了创造、转化和管理资源的不同方式。第三，通过将聚落和农业的考古记录结合起来，它有助于将亚马逊盆地重新解释为一个人为景观网络。这项研究的更广泛影响包括发展一个国际研究社区。该项目将继续发展美国和玻利维亚机构之间的联系，包括大学、国家、部门、地方和市政府、博物馆和土著社区。与巴西和英国机构的潜在合作将为玻利维亚和美国的学生提供广泛的机会。

With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. John Walker will work with an international team of archaeologists, students and other stakeholders during two seasons of archaeological research in the Bolivian Amazon. This project compares settlement within agricultural landscapes and analyzes it as evidence for how society was organized. Every agricultural landscape reflects the local history and sociopolitical organization associated with its construction and maintenance. Debates about society, politics and agricultural intensification often focus on centralized control, leaving details of local organization understudied. At the largest scale, the organization of agriculture by a strong, centralized authority is reflected in a strong spatial pattern. At intermediate scales, agriculture is linked to settlements that correspond to the communities that organized agricultural labor. At the smallest scale, organization of agriculture is correlated with an atomized landscape, dominated by local conditions. To understand intensive agriculture, the focus must shift to the analysis of local spatial and sociopolitical organization. Mojos is a seasonally flooded tropical savanna in the Bolivian Amazon in which hundreds of square kilometers of agricultural features are still visible. Like many farmers around the world, Mojeños sculpted their landscape into fields, canals, causeways and mounds that improved soil conditions and controlled water. Over many generations, they built a variety of environments that both conditioned daily activities and were created by them. These landscapes were built incrementally, reflecting both the history and structure of farming societies.The project focuses on two study areas in Central Mojos, in a region of earthworks west of the Mamoré River, near Santa Ana del Yacuma. First, area excavations are used to examine settlement for evidence of communal activity associated with defense, ritual, and feasting. Second, on-the-ground survey, collection of diagnostic ceramics and test excavation is used to locate and define settlement within each of two agricultural landscapes. Finally, laboratory analyses are used to build ceramic chronology, reconstruct environment, and obtain evidence of the use of ceramics for cooking, brewing and serving.The intellectual merit of the project is threefold: First, it will help reorient archaeology towards to more comprehensive studies of the locations where individuals and groups carried out daily tasks. Second, this project is relevant to how agricultural landscapes were successfully managed (or not) over the long term. These archaeological landscapes are records of alternative ways to create, transform and manage resources. Third, by combining the archaeological record of settlement and agriculture, it contributes to the reinterpretation of the Amazon Basin as a network of anthropogenic landscapes.The broader impacts of the study include the development of an international research community. The project will continue to develop connections between institutions in the US and Bolivia including universities, national, departmental, local and municipal governments, museums and indigenous communities. Potential collaboration with institutions in Brazil and the UK will open a wide range of opportunities for both Bolivian and US students.