Collaborative Research: Uci-Cansahcab Regional Intergration Project

UCí-Cansahcab地区一体化项目探索了北部玛雅低地(现在的墨西哥尤卡坦州)几个古代定居点的一体化如何改变了政治、经济、社会和礼仪生活。融合发生在古典时期(公元250-550年)之初，当时古代玛雅人修建了一条石堤，将乌尼市与位于东部18公里处的坎萨卡镇连接起来。这条堤道还连接了UCí和Cansahcab之间的另外两个城镇和几个小村庄。地区首府伊扎马尔的崛起也在这种一体化中发挥了作用。特别是，一种使用巨石的建筑风格起源于伊扎马尔，并蔓延到堤道沿线的所有遗址。该项目旨在衡量区域一体化对生活在堤道附近的人们的影响，以及这些人如何积极地塑造这种一体化的结果。国家科学基金会的资金将用于挖掘八个大小不一的遗址，以发现合并后发生的变化，并确定这些变化是否影响到UCí附近的所有遗址，还是只影响那些与堤道相连的遗址。对权力动态的认识促使考古学家认识到，人们不仅仅是对中央发出的政策做出反应。当地社区的动态历史和战略策略有助于形成这些政策和融合条件。考古调查的一个基本领域是研究区域一体化对当地社区的影响。这种方法有时被称为“自下而上”，在政治复杂性的多个层面上取得了丰硕成果，目前的研究将增加这一领域。然而，在所有社会成员，无论他们在权力关系领域的地位如何，都在历史的生产中发挥积极作用的概念之后，人们也必须认识到，“影响”是双向的。换言之，对历史变革采取“自下而上”的方法不仅必须注意到腹地社区如何受到中央集权当局的影响，而且必须注意1)非精英的战略如何制约和限制中央集权的行使；以及2)聚集在“非精英”这一笨拙类别中的行为者的广泛社会多样性如何导致分裂和运动，而这些分裂和运动本身就是变革的根源。这个项目有多个更广泛的影响。这些影响包括与后代社区的合作以及对各种技能水平的工人和考古学家的培训。合作涉及与UCí和其他村庄的居民以及移民社区合作，以促进文化遗产的保护。至于培训，肯塔基大学和尤卡坦自治大学的学生将有机会在国际和平协会和墨西哥合作者的指导下完成硕士论文、博士论文和执照论文。

The Ucí-Cansahcab Regional Integration Project explores the ways in which the integration of several ancient settlements in the Northern Maya lowlands (what is now the state of Yucatan, Mexico) transformed political, economic, social, and ritual life. Integration took place at the beginning of the Classic period (250-550 AD) when the ancient Maya built a stone causeway that linked the city of Ucí with the town of Cansahcab, located 18km to the east. The causeway also connected two other towns and a handful of hamlets in between Ucí and Cansahcab. The rise of Izamal, the regional capital, also played a role in this integration. In particular, a style of architecture using massive stones originated at Izamal and spreads to all of the sites along the causeway. This project seeks to gauge both the impact of regional integration on the people living near the causeway as well as the ways in which these people actively shaped the outcome of this integration. National Science Foundation Funding will be used to excavate eight ruins of various size to detect changes that occurred after the integration and to determine whether these changes affected all sites in the vicinity of Ucí or only those sites linked to the causeways. An appreciation of the dynamics of power has prompted archaeologists to recognize that people do not merely react to policies emanating from central authorities. The dynamic histories and strategic maneuverings of local communities help shape those policies and the terms of integration. A fundamental area of archaeological inquiry has been to study the impact of regional integration on local communities. This approach, sometimes referred to as "bottom up", has been fruitful at multiple levels of political complexity and the current research will add to this domain. However, following the notion that all members of society, regardless of their position in the field of power relations, play active rolls in the production of history, one must also recognize that "impact" goes both ways. In other words, a "bottom-up" approach to historical transformations must attend not only to how hinterland communities were impacted by centralized authorities, but 1) how the strategies of non-elites condition and circumscribe the exercise of centralized power; and, 2) how the extensive social diversity of actors grouped together in the unwieldy category of "non-elite" results in divisions and movements that are themselves a source of transformation. This project has multiple broader impacts. These impacts collaboration with descendant communities and training workers and archaeologists at various skill levels. Collaboration involves working with residents of Ucí and other villages as well as migrant communities in order to promote preservation of cultural heritage. As for training, students at the University of Kentucky as well as the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatan will gain opportunities to complete Masters theses, doctoral dissertations and licentiatura theses with the mentoring of the PI and Mexican collaborators.