Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Archaeological Research in the Central Yucatan

在国家科学基金会的支持下，在Javier Urcid博士的指导下，Donald斯莱特先生将在他过去在墨西哥尤卡坦半岛中部的实地考察的基础上，绘制和挖掘史前玛雅人使用的一系列洞穴。这项工作将揭示玛雅文化中人们知之甚少的一个方面，并将增进人们对这一传统社会将大量个人结合在一起形成功能性社会单位的机制的了解。斯莱特和他的同事在该地区发现了70多个以前没有记录的洞穴-几乎所有这些都展示了古代仪式活动的迹象，包括岩画、祭品和祭祀工具，其历史可追溯到公元前500年至公元1600年。 根据目前的奖项，他将绘制和挖掘其中的八个洞穴。该研究旨在更好地了解古玛雅人的神圣景观和宇宙观的概念，以及精英阶层如何利用这些概念来生产和维护社会和宗教权力。 洞穴早在晚更新世（约公元前200年）就在古玛雅意识形态和宇宙学中扮演了重要角色。公元前10，000年）。 在玛雅人的信仰体系中，洞穴被视为地下世界，是创造过程中出现的地方，是降雨的场所，是强大的神和祖先的住所。 因此，洞穴可能被看作是强大的精神能量的地方，并可能被统治阶级用于仪式。斯莱特先生的研究将测试两个关于空间仪式使用的假设。 首先，他将考察精英阶层有能力控制定居点核心和内陆地区洞穴入口的概念。 第二，斯莱特假设，洞穴内自然多样的区域被用于各种形式的仪式。 他将比较和对比文物组合和非便携式文化材料（如岩画）从位于定居点内的洞穴与那些外面，以及从位于洞穴内的空间，特别是开放的地区，如嘴与狭窄的黑暗凹室。 这种分析将有助于更好地理解精英对内陆地区的控制范围，同时更深入地了解基于自然洞穴属性和文化构建的重要性概念的仪式空间的差异化使用。 除了对人类学领域的贡献外，该项目还将在教育方面产生影响。 自2002年以来，斯莱特先生一直担任菲利普斯学院的教育工作者，并将他的研究作为课堂和实地教学的工具，帮助从高中到研究生的学生。 该项目已经并将继续对工人进行技能培训，使他们能够在未来的项目中销售，并通过向当地人提供科学教育来增强他们的能力，补充他们玛雅遗产的传统知识。

With National Science Foundation support and under the direction of Dr. Javier Urcid, Mr. Donald Slater will build on his past field reconnaissance in the Central Yucatan, Mexico, to map and excavate a series of caves utilized by prehistoric Maya peoples. The work will shed light on a poorly understood aspect of Maya culture and will increase understanding of the mechanisms used by this traditional society to bind together large numbers of individuals into functioning social units.During fieldwork in 2009 and 2010, Mr. Slater and colleagues identified over 70 previously unrecorded caves in the region - virtually all of which exhibit signs of ancient ritual activity including the presence of petroglyphs, offerings, and sacrificial implements dating from 500 BC to 1600 AD. Under the current award he will map and excavate eight of those caves. The research seeks to develop a better understanding of the concepts of sacred landscape and cosmology among the ancient Maya, and how such notions were used by the elite class for the production and maintenance of social and religious power. Caves held a significant role in ancient Maya ideology and cosmology as early as the Late Pleistocene (c. 10,000 BC). In the Maya belief system caves were viewed as the underworld, the point of emergence during creation, the locus of rain production, and the abode of powerful deities and ancestors. Thus, caves would have been viewed as places of potent spiritual energy and would have been ceremonially utilized by the ruling class.Mr. Slater's research will test two hypotheses concerning the ritual use of space. First, he will examine the notion that the elite class had the ability to control access to caves both within the core of settlements and in hinterland areas. Secondly, Slater postulates that naturally diverse areas within caves were used for diverse forms of ritual. He will compare and contrast artifact assemblages and non-portable culture materials (e.g. petroglyphs) from caves located within settlements versus those outside, as well as from spaces located within caves, particularly open areas such as mouths versus constricted dark alcoves. This analysis will serve to develop a better understanding of the reach of elite control over hinterland areas, while simultaneously leading to greater insight into the differential use of ritual space based on both natural cave properties and culturally constructed notions of their importance. In addition to contributions to the field of anthropology, the project will have impact in terms of education. Mr. Slater has served as an educator at Phillips Academy since 2002 and has used his research as a pedagogical tool in both classroom and field settings with students from high school age to the graduate level. The project has and will continue to train workers in skills that render them marketable to future projects, and to empower locals by offering them a scientific education that complements traditional knowledge of their Maya heritage.