Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Environmental Variability, Settlement and Status Differentiation at Uxbenka

在Keith M. Prufer博士的指导下，Ethan K. Kalosky先生将对uxbenk<e:1>古典时期（约公元250 -900年）玛雅遗址的家庭决策策略和财富/地位不平等的起源进行研究。uxbenk<e:1>位于伯利兹南部，是开展这项研究的理想地点。uxbenk<e:1>正在进行的研究表明，该遗址拥有该地区最古老、最长的职业历史。大多数定居点由小的瓦砾堆组成，这些瓦砾堆是uxbenk<e:1>农业人口的家庭遗迹。Kalosky先生花了几个季节实地考察了uxbenk<e:1>的景观，以更详细地了解该地点的空间分布和定居程度。他的论文将研究可能影响家庭决定的社会和生态变量，这些决定对家庭之间明显的地位和财富差异的潜在影响。这个项目的知识价值在于它对正在进行的关于玛雅低地和全世界社会复杂性起源的论述的贡献。此外，由此产生的模型可能被证明对其他地方进行的类似环境解决研究具有实用价值。这项工作可以提供深刻的见解，并将其置于发展中国家许多地区当代背景下的小规模村庄组织中观察到的深刻的时间背景模式中。先前对玛雅低地社会复杂性起源的研究通常采用自上而下的方法，关注精英政治行动者在塑造社会结构中的作用。然而，更现代的研究表明，社会组织实际上可能更多地受到构成社会人口大多数的个人和家庭的总体决策的影响。该项目将结合持续的考古和景观调查、家庭遗迹挖掘和年表建筑，为uxbenk<e:1>景观中最适合居住的区域生成预测模型。这个模型反过来又可以让人们更好地理解影响家庭决定在空间和时间上定居的因素。因此，人们可以开始探索在整个古典时期占领该遗址的人口扩张背景下，定居地点如何成为家庭组织和地位变化的潜在来源。人们怀疑，景观的填充为以前公平的家庭创造了新的机会来区分他们的地位，从而在uxbenk<e:1>的古典时期增长中产生了更多的等级和层次分明的社会组织形式。其中一个主要假设是，已确定的占领和使用高度有价值的定居地点提供了一种手段，使家庭能够在动态的社会环境中获得更高的地位。确定某些变量如何影响不同定居地点的价值观，是更好地了解社会复杂性产生和维持的环境的关键组成部分。更广泛的影响包括帮助年轻学者的智力和专业发展。此外，该项目强调与玛雅祖先的现代后裔合作，直接参与与他们自己的文化遗产相关的教育项目。研究结果将通过同行评议的期刊出版物，以及在美国和国外的公共论坛上的演讲，传播给更广泛的受众。

Under the supervision of Dr. Keith M. Prufer, Mr. Ethan K. Kalosky will conduct a study of household decision-making strategies and the origins of wealth/status inequalities at the Classic Period (ca. AD 250 -900) Maya site of Uxbenká. Located in southern Belize, Uxbenká is an ideal site to undertake this study. Ongoing research at Uxbenká has revealed that the site possesses the oldest and longest occupational history in the region. Most settlements consist of small rubble mounds that are the household remains of Uxbenká's agricultural populous. Mr. Kalosky has spent a number of field seasons surveying the landscape at Uxbenká to produce a more detailed understanding of the spatial distribution and extent of settlement at this site. His dissertation will examine social and ecological variables that may have influenced household decisions regarding where to settle on the landscape, the potential impact of those decisions on status and wealth differences that are evident between households.The intellectual merit of this project resides in its contribution to ongoing discourse regarding the origins of social complexity in the Maya Lowlands and throughout the world. Furthermore, the resulting model may prove to have utility for similar environmental-settlement studies conducted elsewhere. The work can provide insight and place in deep chronological context patterns observed in small scale village organization in a contemporary context in many regions of the developing world.Previous research on the origins of social complexity in the Maya Lowlands has often taken a top-down approach, focusing on the role of elite political actors in shaping the fabric of society. More contemporary research, however, suggests that societal organization may in fact be more influenced by the aggregate decisions of individuals and households who make up the majority of a society's populous. This project will employ a combination of continued archaeological and landscape survey, excavation of household remains, and chronology building to generate a predictive model for the most suitable areas for habitation on the Uxbenká landscape. The model will in turn allow one to better understand factors that influenced household decisions regarding where to settle on the landscape across space and time. Consequently, one can then begin to explore how settlement location acted as a potential source for variation in household organization and status in the context of demographic expansion throughout the Classic Period occupation of the site. It is suspected that in-filling of the landscape generated new opportunities for previously equitable households to differentiate their status, leading to more hierarchical and heterarchical forms of social organization throughout Uxbenká's Classic Period growth. One of the primary hypotheses is that established occupation and use of highly valued settlement locations provided one means by which households could achieve increased status in a dynamic social environment. Determining how certain variables influenced the values placed on different settlement locations is a critical component for better understanding the circumstances in which social complexity emerges and is maintained.The broader impacts involve aiding in the intellectual and professional development of young scholar. Additionally, this project places emphasis on collaboration with modern descendants of the ancestral Maya to directly engage in educational programs related to their own cultural heritage. Results will be disseminated to broader audiences via peer-reviewed journal publications, and presentations at public forums in the US and abroad.