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

在奥利维尔·德·蒙莫林博士的指导下，劳拉·加梅兹将在玛雅古都雅克哈研究与平民家庭相关的宗教意识形态和仪式习俗。雅克哈在古典时期(公元300-900年)在现在的危地马拉北部领导着一个玛雅王国。像当时的其他政治首都一样，雅夏有不同社会背景的居民，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仪式之间的差异和相似之处，这些宗教思想和仪式与1.精英王室和贵族(国家宗教)和2.平民(民间宗教)有关。民间宗教和国家宗教是如何结合在一起的，普通民众是如何积极参与他们王国的国家宗教的，这还有待研究。雅夏的基本研究问题是：1.不同等级的家庭中发生了什么样的仪式活动？2.普通人在他们国家宗教的形成和维护中有什么类型和程度的参与(通过同意、中立和抵抗的策略)？3.平民家庭是否都使用相同的策略，或者平民家庭之间是否存在战略多元化？对于雅夏来说，NSF基金支持考古调查和对偏远腹地的平民家庭的挖掘。温纳-格雷恩基金会的资金正在支持对居民区平民家庭的挖掘。早些时候的项目已经从核心区的贵族和皇家住宅中找到了证据。结果将是一个独特的信息丰富的样本，涵盖了不同类型家庭的宗教信仰和实践，使人们能够系统地比较关注普通人的宗教多样性和他们对国家宗教的参与。该项目(与危地马拉文化和自然总局合作完成)为政府在重点自然和历史国家公园内发展旅游和保护濒危考古区的努力增加了宝贵的研究层面。该项目加强了研究、保护和考古资源管理从业人员之间的联系，有助于加强危地马拉和世界遗产，强调美国愿意(通过NSF的支持)在共同的遗产问题上与西半球邻国合作。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，项目主题国家和民间宗教之间的紧张关系(从民间从业者的角度)触及了一些经久不衰的问题，从过去到现在和未来。例如，在今天的危地马拉，古代玛雅人活着的后代的民间天主教与更多官方形式的天主教相抗衡(自西班牙征服以来一直如此)。在许多其他地方，地位平庸的人根据自己的地方和个人需求定制世界伟大宗教的官方计划，甚至将由此产生的想法用作全国范围的政治动员的工具。显然，民间宗教与国家宗教的问题几乎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.