Chicoloapan Viejo: a Rural Perspective on the Organization and Decline of the Teotihuacan State

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Sarah Clayton博士和来自美国和墨西哥的同事将从Chicoloapan Viejo的日常生活角度研究早期城市国家的区域组织和衰落。Chicoloapan Viejo是墨西哥盆地东南部的一个古老的农村定居点。Chicoloapan Viejo被占领了近两千年，经历了特奥蒂瓦坎（Teotihuacan）、托尔特克（Toltec）和阿兹特克（Aztec）三国相继的崛起和解体。它的悠久历史和位于这些社会边缘的地理位置，使它成为促进城市首都和农村社区之间社会政治和经济关系知识的战略地点。这项研究关注的是特奥蒂瓦坎（Teotihuacan）鼎盛和崩溃时期（公元前100年-公元650年）的农村家庭生活，以及随后在epic古典时期（公元650-850年）该地区的重组。特奥蒂瓦坎是一个强大的、多民族的城市社会，在北美没有先例，它是世界上最迷人的早期国家之一，但目前对它对该地区人口的管理知之甚少。例如，农村人口在经济上是否相对自给自足，还是与包括首都在内或由首都管理的区域交换网络紧密相连？农村的家庭是否像特奥蒂瓦坎的城市家庭一样有社会组织？在国家崩溃后，他们是如何变化的？这种戏剧性的政治转型是否像在首都那样严重扰乱了农村定居点的社会和经济实践，或者农村家庭是否有恢复力？本研究的核心研究问题需要有关家庭经济实践和社会组织的基本信息。将进行两个季节的挖掘，涉及国内建筑和活动区的横向暴露，每个季节之后都有一年的空间数据分析，挖掘的文物，动物和考古植物遗骸，以及地面沉积物。来自墓穴、房屋地板和墓葬等背景的数据将有助于研究家庭在社会、经济和仪式实践方面的多样性，以及这些实践随时间的变化。这项研究通过提供有关农村生活的必要信息，推进了对早期城市化社会政治景观的认识。该项目提供的纵向视角提供了重要信息，说明特奥蒂瓦坎等早期国家如何应对地区管理的挑战，以及它们为什么会解体。由于墨西哥城的城市扩张导致考古遗址的破坏，对古代农村社区的调查日益受到阻碍，因此这项研究是及时的。Chicoloapan Viejo本身受到新道路和新房屋建设的紧迫威胁，它是少数几个可以研究古墨西哥盆地农村组织问题的考古遗址之一。该项目为来自多个机构的研究生提供了生成数据用于自己的博士论文的机会，并为该地区未来的研究做出贡献。美国和墨西哥之间的学术交流通过与墨西哥同事的合作得到支持。最后，该项目通过提高当地对考古资源和文化遗产的认识，有助于保护墨西哥城地区的小型考古遗址。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Sarah Clayton and colleagues from the U.S. and Mexico will investigate the regional organization and decline of an early urban state from the perspective of daily life at Chicoloapan Viejo, an ancient rural settlement in the southeastern Basin of Mexico. Chicoloapan Viejo was occupied for nearly two thousand years, through the rise and dissolution of the successive Teotihuacan, Toltec, and Aztec states. Its longevity and location on the regional margins of these societies make it a strategic site for advancing knowledge of the sociopolitical and economic relationships among urban capitals and rural communities. This study concerns rural domestic life during the period associated with the height and collapse of Teotihuacan (100 BC-AD 650) and the subsequent reorganization of the region during the Epiclassic period (AD 650-850). As a powerful, multiethnic, urban society without precedent in North America, Teotihuacan is among the world's most fascinating early states, and yet a little is currently known of its administration of the regional population. For example, were rural populations relatively self-sufficient, economically, or tightly linked to regional exchange networks that included or were managed by the capital? Were rural households socially organized like those of urban Teotihuacan, and how did they change after the collapse of the state? Did this dramatic political transformation significantly disrupt social and economic practices among rural settlements, as it did in the capital, or were rural households resilient?The research questions central to this study necessitate basic information concerning household economic practices and social organization. Two seasons of excavation involving the lateral exposure of domestic architecture and activity areas will be conducted, each followed by one year of analysis of spatial data, excavated artifacts, faunal and archaeobotanical remains, and floor sediments. Data from contexts including middens, house floors, and burials will permit an examination of diversity among households in social, economic, and ritual practices as well as changes in these practices through time. This research advances knowledge of the earliest urbanized sociopolitical landscapes by providing needed information concerning rural life. The longitudinal view offered by this project contributes important information about how early states such as Teotihuacan met the challenges of regional administration and why they fell apart. This research is timely, as the investigation of ancient rural communities is increasingly hampered by the destruction of archaeological sites caused by Mexico City's urban sprawl. Chicoloapan Viejo itself is imminently threatened by the construction of new roads and houses, and it is one of only a few remaining archaeological sites where questions of rural organization in the ancient Basin of Mexico may be investigated.This project provides opportunities for graduate students from multiple institutions to generate data for use in their own doctoral dissertations and to contribute to future research in the region. Scholarly interaction between the U.S. and Mexico is supported through collaboration with Mexican colleagues. Finally, the project contributes to the conservation of small archaeological sites in the Mexico City area by increasing local awareness of archaeological resources and cultural heritage.