Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant:: Household Ritual and Ideology in the Classic Maya Polity of Yaxha, Northern Guatemala

在Olivier de Montmollin博士的监督下，Laura Gamez将研究与古代玛雅首都Yaxha的平民家庭有关的宗教意识形态和仪式习俗。在古典时期（公元300-900年），雅克夏领导着一个玛雅王国，位于现在的危地马拉北方。与当时的其他政治首都一样，亚克夏有着社会多元化的居民，从皇室到贵族再到平民。人们怀疑，社会多样性的一个关键因素涉及宗教意识形态和与1有关的仪式之间的差异和相似性。精英皇室和贵族（国教）和2。民间宗教（Folk Religion）民间宗教和国家宗教是如何融合在一起的，以及平民是如何积极参与王国的国家宗教的，这些都有待于研究。Yaxha的基本研究问题是：1。在不同等级的家庭中，有什么样的仪式活动？2.平民在国教的形成和维持过程中（通过同意、中立和抵制等策略）有什么样的参与和参与程度？3.是平民家庭都使用相同的战略，还是平民家庭之间存在战略多元化？对于Yaxha来说，NSF的资金支持在外部“大陆”进行考古调查和挖掘平民家庭。温纳-格伦基金会的资金正在支持一个居民区平民家庭的挖掘。早期的项目已经从核心区的贵族和皇家住宅中找到了证据。调查结果将是一个独特的信息样本，涵盖不同类型家庭的宗教信仰和习俗，允许系统地比较关注平民的宗教多样性及其对国教的参与。（与危地马拉文化和自然遗产总局合作完成）为政府在一个重要的自然和历史国家公园内的旅游开发和保护濒危考古地区的努力增加了一个有价值的研究层面。加强研究，保护和考古资源管理从业者之间的联系，该项目有助于加强危地马拉和世界遗产的方式，突出美国愿意（通过NSF的支持）与半球邻国合作共同遗产的关注。该项目还为从事实地和实验室工作的危地马拉和美国学生提供培训。最后，国家和民间宗教之间的紧张关系（从民间从业者的角度来看）的项目主题涉及一些令人着迷的问题，跨越过去到现在和未来。例如，在今天的危地马拉，古代玛雅人在世后裔的民间天主教与更官方的天主教形式相抗衡（自西班牙征服以来一直如此）。在其他许多地方，地位不高的人根据自己的地方和个人需要调整世界大国的官方计划，甚至将由此产生的想法作为全国范围政治动员的工具。显然，民间与国家宗教的问题与任何对宗教的过去、现在和未来及其与社会政治冲突和合作的关系感兴趣的人都有关。

Under the supervision of Dr. Olivier de Montmollin, Laura Gamez will study religious ideology and ritual practices related to commoner households at the ancient Maya capital of Yaxha. Yaxha headed a Maya kingdom during the Classic Period (AD 300-900) in what is now northern Guatemala. Like other political capitals of its time, Yaxha had socially diverse residents, ranging from royals to nobles to commoners. It is suspected that a key element in the social diversity concerned differences and similarities between religious ideology and rituals associated with 1. elite royals and nobles (state religion) and 2. commoners (folk religion). It remains to be learned how the folk and state religions meshed together and how the commoners might have been active participation in their kingdom's state religion. Basic research questions for Yaxha are: 1. What kinds of ritual activities took place within differently ranked households? 2. What kinds and degree of participation did commoners have in the formation and maintenance of their state religion (with strategies ranging through assent, neutrality, and resistance)? 3. Were commoner households all using identical strategies or was there strategic pluralism among commoner households?For Yaxha, NSF funds support archaeological survey and excavation of commoner households in an outer 'hinterland'. Wenner-Gren Foundation funds are supporting excavation of commoner household in a Residential Zone. Earlier projects have already recovered evidence from noble and royal residences in a Core Zone. The results will be a uniquely informative sample covering religious beliefs and practices of different kinds of households, allowing a systematic comparative focus on commoners' religious diversity and their participation in state religion.The project (done in collaboration with Guatemala's Direccion General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural) adds a valuable research dimension to government efforts in tourist development and protection of endangered archaeological areas within a key natural and historical national park. Enhancing connections among research, conservation, and archaeological resource management practitioners, the project helps to strengthen the Guatemalan and World heritage in ways that highlight U.S. willingness (through NSF support) to co-operate with hemispheric neighbors on shared heritage concerns. The project also provides training for Guatemalan and U.S. students engaged in field and laboratory work.Finally, the project theme of variably tense relations between state and folk religions (from the perspective of folk practitioners) touches on some enduringly captivating issues, spanning past to present and future. For example, in Guatemala today, the Folk Catholicism of the living descendants of ancient Mayas is counterpoised to more official forms of Catholicism (and has been since the Spanish conquest). In many other places, people of modest status tailor the official programs of great World Religions to their own local and personal needs, and even use the resulting ideas as tools in national-scale political mobilizations. Evidently, folk vs. state religion issues are relevant for just about anyone who takes an interest in the past, present, and future of religion and its relation to socio-political conflict and co-operation.