Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Precarious Power: Ritual, refuse, and reuse at El Zotz, Peten, Guatemala

在斯蒂芬·休斯顿博士的指导下，莎拉·纽曼将在位于危地马拉佩滕省大城市蒂卡尔附近的古玛雅遗址埃尔佐茨调查仪式和垃圾之间的关系。该项目的焦点是在El Zotz的宫殿建筑群中发现的一个神秘的“有问题的存款”，可以追溯到终端经典时期（公元850-1000年）。 这个大规模的存款代表了一个不寻常的和广泛变化的组合，人类，动物，陶瓷和石器遗骸，质疑传统的二分法之间的仪式和世俗，精英和平民，浪费和价值。 为了更好地了解负责这一复杂的考古组合的人类活动，该项目采用了创新的方法来检查沉积和沉积后的过程，这些方法来自骨骼学研究，但扩展到本研究中的所有人工制品类别。详细的组合和埋藏分析，在这个项目中使用将有助于澄清在定义和研究沉积行为，通过他们的痕迹在考古记录。本研究的主要目的是研究不同类型的考古废弃物中的特定材料及其沉积历史，从而识别仪式和垃圾沉积物的“签名”。这些将提供具体的标准，可以帮助考古学家解释困难的存款，减少忽视或过度识别仪式习俗遗迹的可能性，并使考古存款之间的内部和内部比较依赖于定性假设或直觉。此外，该项目突出了考古学家经常未充分利用的方法，包括对组合规模的分析以及将埋藏技术应用于骨骼遗迹之外的人工制品类型。 因此，本项目将提供一种方法，通过这种方法可以重新评估当前的类别，也许可以对纠缠过去物体、人和地点的宗教仪式和仪式行为的连续体有一个更明智的看法。本项目将调查三个主要假设：（1）Terminal Classic“问题存款”在El Zotz是由家庭或仪式垃圾的结构化沉积和物体和建筑的故意终止产生的;（2）这种存款代表了一种独特的和中介类型的古代废弃物（垃圾的仪式性再利用）;（3）这是一个很大的例子，在埃尔佐茨的宗教仪式上进行了大规模的投资，以在潜在的不稳定时期重申政治权威和社会融合（无论是真实的还是感知的）。 为了检验这些假设，纽曼将使用考古学和埋藏学分析，以评估特定的材料和沉积历史所代表的垃圾和仪式存款在埃尔佐茨地区，比较与存款的问题。个别标本的属性，包括沉积前的磨损，破碎，风化，和其他自然和文化的修改，将被用来确定“签名”的组合与明确的行为相关（如垃圾堆或缓存），并比较这些与不那么简单的存款，使其在古玛雅提供，丢弃和仪式的做法，使其作用的评估。仪式存款的更广泛的背景下也将探讨，以评估其在重申政治权威和维持社会融合的作用，在不稳定时期，国际合作是这项研究的一个重要组成部分，在实地考察，分析和出版物，以及为美国和危地马拉考古学生提供培训。该项目还代表El Zotz考古项目在大力开展公共宣传和教育工作方面发挥了作用，包括为Cruce Dos Aguadas当地社区的成员提供El Zotz遗址的导游图尔斯，并举办培训班和解说牌，向当地导游和游客介绍该遗址及其在玛雅历史中的地位。由于El Zotz地区的遗址长期遭受严重抢劫，最近在2010年发生的事件，让当地社区在遗址管理中发挥作用，促进考古资源的管理和通过生态旅游可持续利用遗址。 最后，重新考虑从拒绝到仪式的沉积行为谱迫使重新评估垃圾作为一种文化类别，无论是在过去还是现在。这些问题不仅与当前对废物管理和环境意识的关注产生了深刻的共鸣，而且还突出了垃圾的隐藏潜力，以提供对意义和价值的文化体系的洞察。

Under the guidance of Dr. Stephen Houston, Sarah Newman will investigate the relationship between ritual and refuse at the ancient Maya site of El Zotz, located near the large city of Tikal in the modern Department of Peten, Guatemala. The focal point of this project is an enigmatic "problematic deposit" found in the palace complex at El Zotz and dating to the Terminal Classic period (AD 850-1000). This large-scale deposit represents an unusual and widely variable combination of human, faunal, ceramic, and lithic remains, questioning traditional dichotomies between ritual and secular, elite and commoner, and waste and value. In order to gain a better understanding of the human actions responsible for this complex archaeological assemblage, this project employs innovative methods for the examination of depositional and post-depositional processes, drawn from osteological studies but extended to all artifact categories in this research. The detailed assemblage and taphonomic analyses employed in this project will contribute to clarifications in defining and studying depositional behaviors through their traces in the archaeological record. The major aims of this research are to examine how specific materials and their depositional histories vary among types of archaeological discard and thereby recognize "signatures" of ritual and refuse deposits. These will provide concrete criteria that can aid archaeologists in interpreting difficult deposits, decrease the likelihood of either ignoring or over-identifying the remains of ritual practices, and enable inter- and intrasite comparisons between archaeological deposits that rely on more than qualitative assumptions or intuition. Moreover, this project highlights methods that have often been under-utilized by archaeologists, including analysis at the scale of the assemblage and the application of taphonomic techniques to artifact types beyond osteological remains. As such, this project will offer a means by which current categories may be reevaluated, perhaps allowing for a more informed view of the continuum of quotidian and ritual actions that entangles past objects, people, and places.The project will investigate three main hypotheses: (1) that the Terminal Classic "problematic deposit" at El Zotz was produced by the structured deposition of domestic or ceremonial refuse and intentional terminations of objects and architecture; (2) that this deposit represents a unique and intermediary type of ancient discard (the ritual reuse of refuse); and (3) that this example of large-scale investment in ritual practice at El Zotz was employed to reassert political authority and social integration during periods of potential instability (whether real or perceived). In order to test these hypotheses, Newman will use archaeological and taphonomic analyses to evaluate specific materials and depositional histories represented by refuse and ritual deposits in the El Zotz region, for comparison with the deposit in question. Attributes of individual specimens, including pre-depositional wear, fragmentation, weathering, and other natural and cultural modifications, will be used to identify the "signatures" of assemblages with clear behavioral correlates (such as middens or caches) and compare these with the less straightforward deposit, enabling an evaluation of its role in ancient Maya offering, discard, and ritual practices. The broader contexts of ritual deposits will also be explored to assess their role in reasserting political authority and maintaining social integration during periods of instability.International cooperation represents a major component of this research, in terms of fieldwork, analysis, and publications, as well as training provided for both American and Guatemalan archaeology students. This project also plays a part in strong public outreach and education efforts on behalf of the El Zotz Archaeological Project, including guided tours of the ruins of El Zotz for members from the local community of Cruce Dos Aguadas and training sessions and interpretive signs to inform local tour guides and visitors about the site and its place in Maya history. As the sites in the El Zotz region have suffered a long history of heavy looting, with incidents known from as recently as 2010, embracing the role of local communities in site management promotes stewardship of archaeological resources and the sustainable use of the ruins through eco-tourism. Finally, reconsidering the spectrum of depositional behaviors from refuse to ritual forces a reevaluation of trash as a cultural category, in both the past and the present. These issues not only resonate deeply with current concerns over waste management and environmental awareness, but also highlight the hidden potential of trash to offer insight into cultural systems of meaning and value.