Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Leadership and Political Change at the End of the Formative Period in the Nepena Valley, Peru

在Marc Bermann博士的指导下，Hugo Ikehara将研究秘鲁Nepeña山谷晚期和最后形成时期（公元前1200- 200年）前西班牙人定居模式和精英活动的变化。这一时期被认为是前西班牙时期秘鲁北海岸显著的社会转型时期之一，包括主要的Cupisnique-Chavín宗教传统的瓦解，该传统被认为是地方和区域政治领导的意识形态基础之一。然而，在公元前750年之前，海岸地区和公元前500年左右的高地地区都放弃了与这种崇拜有关的习俗。接下来的一段时期是冲突加剧和社会重组的时期。研究将探讨这样一个命题，即在这种相对的政治和意识形态“真空”中，随着雄心勃勃的领导人寻找建立权威或权力的最有效的新手段，植根于意识形态、经济进程或军事力量的各种和可替代的权力战略将迅速出现。作为更好地理解考古“崩溃”的一种方式，这项研究旨在确定在这种情况下可能形成不同政治轨迹的因素。虽然这项研究的重点是考古学，但在史前秘鲁观察到的社会组织水平与当今发展中国家的许多地方有很大的相似之处。该项目提供了洞察如何，从长远来看，政治和社会组织的变化，以应对中央权威的崩溃。对Nepeña山谷的研究表明，这一过程的一部分是大型公共建筑中心的放弃和建设。池原的研究将包括对Nepeña上游山谷进行为期四个月的100%考古调查，绘制主要中心的地图，以及一个密集的地表收集计划。所产生的数据将用于解决以下问题：(1)区域政治组织；(2)公共仪式的性质及其在地方和区域社会整合中的作用；(3)精英追求的权力战略的形式和变异性；(4)人口趋势和人地关系的变化。最近在调查方法和当地陶瓷年表方面的改进将允许对精英活动从晚期到最后形成期的连续性和变化进行多尺度研究。因此，拟议的研究旨在更好地理解安第斯山脉过去的社会政治流动，并探索如何在不挖掘的情况下研究这种流动。这项研究的更广泛影响包括：实施长期研究，将作为一个框架，整合山谷中不同地点的当前研究，以及过去几十年的考古研究成果；一种在中国、哥伦比亚和世界其他地区被证明有效的调查方法的安第斯测试。项目结果将在美国和秘鲁的同行评议出版物中传播，数据将通过匹兹堡大学比较考古学网站数据库向全球公众在线提供。来自不同大学的秘鲁学生将参加实地考察，并接受当前调查技术方面的培训。该项目的特别报告将分发给秘鲁的文化遗产当局，以协助规划遗址保护和旅游业。

Under the supervision of Dr. Marc Bermann, Hugo Ikehara will investigate changes in prehispanic settlement patterns and elite activities during the Late and the Final Formative Periods (1200- 200 B.C.) in the Nepeña Valley, Peru. This time period has been identified as one of marked societal transformation on the prehispanic Peruvian North Coast, including the disintegration of the overarching Cupisnique-Chavín religious tradition, considered one of the ideological foundations for local and regional political leadership. However, practices related to this cult were abandoned before 750 B.C. in the Coast and around 500 B.C. in the Highlands. The following period has been characterized as a time of intensified conflict and social reorganization. The research will explore the proposition that in this relative political and ideological "vacuum," varied and alternative power strategies, rooted in ideology, economic processes, or military force will quickly arise, as ambitious leaders search for the most effective new means of establishing authority or power. As a way of better understanding archaeological "collapse," this research aims at identifying the factors that might shape different political trajectories in such settings. Although the focus of this research is archaeological, the level of social organization observed in prehistoric Peru bears significant resemblance to many parts of the present day countries in the developing world. The project provides insight into how, over the long term, political and social organization changes in response to collapse of central authority.Research in the Nepeña Valley has shown that part of this process was the abandonment and construction of large public architecture centers. Mr. Ikehara's research will involve a four-month, 100% archaeological survey of the Upper Nepeña Valley, mapping of major centers, and a program of intensive surface collection. The data generated will be used to address issues of: (1) regional political organization; (2) the nature of public ceremony, and its role in local and regional social integration; (3) the forms and variability in power strategies pursued by elites, and (4) demographic trends and changes in man-land relationships. Recent improvements in survey methods and in local ceramic chronology will permit multiscalar study of continuity and change in elite activities from the Late through the Final Formative Period. The proposed research therefore aims at producing a better understanding of sociopolitical flux in the Andean past, and exploring how such flux can be studied without excavation. The broader impacts of this research include: the implementation of long-term research that will serve as a framework for integrating current research at different sites in the valley, as well as the results of archaeological research from decades past; an Andean test of a survey methodology that has proven effective in China, Colombia, and other regions around the world. Project results will be disseminated in peer-review publications in the United States and in Peru, and the data will be made available to a global public online through the University of Pittsburgh data base in comparative archaeology website. Peruvian students from different universities will participate in the fieldwork, and will be trained in current survey techniques. Special reports from the project will be disseminated to cultural heritage authorities in Peru to aid in planning for site conservation and tourism.