Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Neighborhood Dynamics at Calixtlhuaca, Mexico

在迈克尔·e·史密斯博士的指导下，朱莉安娜·诺维奇将研究卡利克斯特拉瓦卡古城社区的社会构成。社会集群在今天的美国城市中很明显，如白人逃亡、少数民族社区和城市贫民区等现象。这些现象是现代社会独有的，还是有着深刻的历史轨迹？社会聚集在古代城市中发生过吗？诺维奇女士试图通过观察阿兹特克时期墨西哥卡利克斯特拉瓦卡（公元1100-1520年）的社会集群来回答这些问题。她将调查阶级、仪式、消费文化和资源获取如何影响卡利克斯特拉瓦卡社区的社会结构。很少有考古案例研究存在，研究人员能够检查社会集群的多个方面。2006年由美国国家科学基金会资助的一项地表调查对人工制品进行了物理、化学和矿物学研究，为统计评估社会聚集提供了数据。诺维奇利用陶器的物理和矿物学特征来识别生产者和风格。然后，她研究了人们在早期市场经济中购买的东西，确定这表明了消费者的社会特征，以及与社区组织的关系。化学分析可以精确地重建人们获得进口商品的地方。诺维奇女士可以研究邻里生活中阶级、仪式、消费者偏好和资源获取之间的相互关系。类似的关于阶级、宗教和经济之间关系的问题也被问及现代城市，而这个项目在对过去的城市提出这些问题方面是独一无二的。城市所走的历史道路受到以往城市形态的影响。了解前哥伦布时期城市的邻里构成可以帮助人们理解导致现代城市中类似形式的过程。这可以为寻求改善城市环境的规划者和发展组织提供信息。这个项目是高度跨学科的，结合了城市研究、社会学、经济学、地理学和考古学的见解。产生的新思想将反过来影响上述领域。卡利克斯特拉瓦卡的城市核心是独特的，有许多不同的寺庙分布，没有最高的寺庙。这与大多数中美洲城市不同，表明这个地方的仪式生活非常多样化。历史记录表明，这个城市有多种语言。如果社会集群发生在中美洲的城市，卡利克斯特拉瓦卡将是一个理想的地方。本研究将寻求在研究主题之外产生更广泛的影响。该项目让当地社区的妇女参与分析，从而为她们提供了学习技能和了解其历史的机会。现场实验室位于墨西克塞大学。这为学院学者和美国前哥伦布时期墨西哥研究人员之间的知识交流提供了机会。这个项目是诺维奇博士学位的最后一步。诺维奇是波多黎各人，这个群体在考古专业和整个学术界的代表性都很低。

Under the supervision of Dr. Michael E. Smith, Juliana Novic will examine the social composition of the neighborhoods of the ancient city of Calixtlahuaca. Social clustering is evident today in U.S. cities with phenomenon such as white flight, ethnic neighborhoods, and urban ghettos. Are these phenomena unique to modern society or do they have a deep historical trajectory? Did social clustering occur in ancient cities? Ms. Novic seeks to address these questions by looking at social clustering in the Aztec-period city of Calixtlahuaca, Mexico (AD 1100-1520). She will investigate the ways in which class, ritual, consumer culture, and resource procurement influenced the social fabric of Calixtlahuaca's neighborhoods. Very few archaeological case studies exist where the researcher is able to examine more than one facet of social clustering. Physical, chemical and mineralogical studies of artifacts from a NSF funded 2006 surface survey are used to provide data for statistically assessing social clustering.Ms. Novic uses physical and mineralogical characteristics of the pottery to identify producers and styles. She then examines what people were purchasing in this early market economy, determine what that indicates about the consumer socially, and the relationship to neighborhood organization. The chemical analysis allows a precise reconstruction of the places from which people obtained their imported goods. Ms. Novic can look at the interrelationships among class, ritual, consumer preference, and resource procurement in neighborhood life. Similar questions about the relationship among class, religion, and economics are asked about modern cities, and this project is unique in asking these questions about past cities. The historical path that cities take is influenced by previous urban forms. Understanding neighborhood composition in Precolumbian cities can help one to understand the processes that lead to similar forms in modern cities. This can inform planners and developmental organizations seeking to improve the urban environment. This project is highly transdisciplinary, combining insights from Urban Studies, Sociology, Economics, Geography, and Archaeology. The new ideas produced will in turn influence the above mentioned fields. The urban core of Calixtlahuaca is unique, with many different temples spread out and no paramount temple. This is different from most Mesoamerican cities and suggests that ritual life was highly varied at this site. Historical records state that many languages were spoken in the city. If social clustering occurred in Mesoamerican cities, Calixtlahuaca would be an ideal place to find it.This research will seek to have broader impacts beyond the research topics presented. The project involves women from the local community in the analysis, thus providing them with an opportunity to learn a skill and learn about their history. The field laboratory is located at the Colegio Mexiquense. This provides an opportunity for intellectual exchange between scholars at the Colegio and US researchers on Precolumbian Mexico. The project is the final step in Ms. Novic's doctoral degree. Ms. Novic is Puerto Rican, a group that is underrepresented in the archaeological profession and in academia as a whole.