Archaeological Investigation of Mayan Adaptation

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，丽莎·J·卢塞罗博士将组建一个多学科团队，其中包括考古学家、水下考古学家、探险潜水员、民族植物学家、热带树木专家和来自美国的古生物学家，墨西哥和伯利兹考察古代玛雅人的定居点如何与神圣的景观特征相结合，此外还考察降雨模式和景观变化。对玛雅人来说，地球上的开口，如洞穴和水池，是通往地下世界或Xibalba的门户。 玛雅人在这些入口处留下了无数的祭品，祈求神灵和祖先带来雨水和邦蒂富尔庄稼。 在伯利兹中部的卡拉布兰卡，地球上有25个以水池形式存在的开口（101 -25）。 它与中心的距离和相对稀疏但独特的定居点（例如，水庙和汗浴）表明它可能是一个朝圣中心。 以终端经典的形式不断增长的证据（c。公元800-900年）在1号水池的水神庙中有大量的水罐，这表明玛雅人在古典晚期结束时增加了对卡拉布兰卡的访问，也许是为了应对公元前200年至公元前200年之间袭击玛雅地区的一系列多年干旱。公元800和900年。 此外，之前在1号池的潜水已经发现了巨型动物化石、水下树木和淡水贝壳，这些化石可用于通过氧同位素分析、放射性碳测年和物种鉴定来评估古代气候和景观变化。（4月30日至6月30日）将在两个水池进行水下挖掘，继续挖掘1号水池的水庙，收集水下化石，化石基质（腹足类、木材、土壤）和树枝，绘制和探索总共五个未探索的水池，并收集水池附近的植物标本与水下树木进行比较。该项目的智力价值将是收集有关文化景观、水面和水中仪式生活以及仪式强化的信息。 这个项目的独特之处在于它的多学科方法，关注气候变化的文化和物质方面以及玛雅人如何应对气候变化。这个项目还将解决一个在南部低地玛雅研究中缺失的主题-关注水体作为门户。 这项研究的更广泛的影响是，研究结果将与今天有关，因为玛雅人在公元800年至900年之间面临的挑战。与目前全球气候变化加速的情况相似。 国际和多学科团队将包括来自伊利诺伊大学的研究生。 卡拉布兰卡的调查也为未来的实地考察奠定了基础，包括额外的潜水探险，以探索更多的25个游泳池，继续沿着沿着游泳池调查样带，挖掘汗浴，水神殿和其他有趣的定居点配置。 将通过主要的同行审查渠道（例如，拉丁美洲古代，古代中美洲，古代）和伯利兹在年度伯利兹考古研讨会。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Lisa J. Lucero will bring together a multidisciplinary team that include archaeologists, underwater archaeologists, exploration divers, an ethnobotanist, a tropical tree specialist, and a paleontologist from the U.S., Mexico, and Belize to examine how ancient Maya settlement articulates with sacred landscape features in addition to examining rainfall patterns and landscape transformation.Openings in the earth, such as caves and pools, were sacred to the Maya as portals to the underworld or Xibalba. The Maya left countless offerings in these portals to petition gods and ancestors to bring forth rain and bountiful crops. At Cara Blanca in central Belize, there are 25 openings in the earth in the form of pools (Pools 1-25). Its distance from centers and relatively sparse but unique settlement (e.g., water temple and sweatbaths) suggest it may have served as a pilgrimage center. Growing evidence in the form of a Terminal Classic (c. 800-900 C.E.) water temple at Pool 1 with a copious amount of water jars indicates that the Maya increased their visits to Cara Blanca at the end of the Late Classic, perhaps in response to a series of multiyear droughts that struck the Maya area between c. 800 and 900 C.E. Further, previous dives at Pool 1 have yielded megafauna fossils, submerged trees and freshwater shells that can be used to assess ancient climate and landscape change through oxygen isotope analysis, radiocarbon dating, and species identification.The major goals in 2014 (April 30-June 30) are to conduct underwater excavations at two pools, continue excavating the water temple at Pool 1, collect submerged fossils, fossil matrix (gastropods, wood, soil) and tree limbs, map and explore a total of five unexplored pools, and collect botanical specimens near pools to compare with submerged trees. The intellectual merit of this project will be to collect information about cultural landscapes, ceremonial life on the surface and in the water, and ritual intensification. This project is unique in both its multidisciplinary approach and focus on both the cultural and material aspects of climate change and how the Maya responded to it. This project also will address a topic that has been missing in southern lowland Maya studies - the focus on water bodies as portals. The broader impacts of the study is that results will be relevant today since the challenges the Maya faced between 800 and 900 C.E. are similar to the ones at present with accelerating global climate change. The international and multidisciplinary team will include graduate students from the University of Illinois. The investigations at Cara Blanca also set the stage for future fieldwork, including additional diving expeditions to explore more of the 25 pools, continuing to survey the transect along the pools, and excavating the sweatbaths, water shrines, and other interesting settlement configurations. Results will be disseminated through major peer review outlets (e.g., Latin American Antiquity, Ancient Mesoamerica, Antiquity) and in Belize at the annual Belize Archaeology Symposium.