Non-elite Political Economy, Agriculture, and a Sacbe at Ceren, El Salvador

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Payson Sheets博士和David Lentz博士以及他们的研究生将探索萨尔瓦多古玛雅村庄的权威。他们将邀请萨尔瓦多两所大学的学生进行实地考察、实验室分析和发表研究成果。研究人员将利用公元600年左右洛马火山口的一次不寻常的火山喷发，这次火山喷发在很大程度上保护了古老的塞伦村。考古学家第一次可以探索玛雅社会的决策层面，无论是附近城市的精英还是Ceren村的平民。几十年来，玛雅主义者的主流理解是，精英控制着一切，包括政治、经济、宗教和农业。这成为了标准，因为几乎所有的研究都是在大城市进行的，重点是宫殿、金字塔、寺庙和精英的坟墓。人们对平民知之甚少，尽管他们占人口的90%。然而，最近在Ceren遗址的研究表明，玛雅平民的生活质量高得惊人，他们可能已经能够在精英权威之外的某些领域自己做决定。2011年发现了一条“Sacbe”，这是一条正式的玛雅道路，从Ceren村向南延伸，为探索决策水平提供了机会。萨贝河穿过玉米和块根作物的农田。如果Sacbe是由南部5公里外的圣安德烈斯建造和维护的，并将收成运到那里，研究人员将发现支持这一说法的证据。或者，如果Sacbe是由其田地毗邻Sacbe的个别村庄农民建造和维护的，那么田地的边界将与Sacbe的差异一致。第三种选择是，权力在Ceren村，长老们组织Sacbe，大部分农业生产都被带到村里。火山灰保留了一些细节，比如相对的人流量，甚至是塑造种植床和维护特征的手印。除了通过农业区检查Sacbe外，确定其在村庄内的终点也很有指导意义。它可以在3号楼及其广场结束，那里是政治决策的所在地。也可以在10号楼结束，这是村里的仪式建筑。或者它可以将这些位置分开并连接起来，或者可能是其他位置。村落内的一个或多个终点将为村落的功能提供证据，从而表明哪些人或团体有权建造、维护和使用村落。许多Sacbes在玛雅低地为人所知，因为它们是由石灰石建造的，保存得很好。在这个发现之前，石灰岩在火山爆发的玛雅高地是不可用的，而Sacbes是未知的。Ceren Sacbe是用压实的火山灰建造的，没有石头，因此在被遗弃后不会保存很长时间。2013年将建造一个复制品，并研究自然过程如何影响其保存。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Payson Sheets and Dr. David Lentz and their graduate students will explore authority in an ancient Maya village in El Salvador. They will incorporate students from two Salvadoran universities in fieldwork, laboratory analyses, and publication of research results. Researchers will take advantage of an unusual volcanic eruption, of Loma Caldera at about AD 600, which preserved the ancient village of Ceren to an extraordinary degree. For the first time archaeologists can explore the level in Maya society where decisions were made, whether by the elite in the nearby city or by commoners in the village of Ceren.The predominant understanding for decades among Mayanists is that the elite controlled everything, including politics, economics, religion, and agriculture. That became standard because virtually all research was done in the big cities, focusing on the palaces, pyramids, temples, and tombs of the elite. Little was known about commoners, even though they made up some 90% of the population. However, recent research at the Ceren site is indicating that the quality of life of Maya commoners was surprisingly high, and that they may have been able to make decisions on their own, in certain domains beyond elite authority. The discovery in 2011 of a "Sacbe," a formal Maya roadway, leading southward from the Ceren village, provides an opportunity to explore the level of decision-making. The Sacbe runs through agricultural fields of corn and root crops. If the Sacbe was constructed and maintained by San Andres, the city 5 km to the south, and the harvests hauled to it, researchers will discover evidence supporting that. Or, if the Sacbe was built and maintained by individual village farmers whose fields adjoined the Sacbe, the field boundaries will coincide with differences in the Sacbe. The third alternative is that authority was at the Ceren village, where elders organized the Sacbe, and the bulk of agricultural production was brought into the village. The volcanic ash preserved details such as relative amounts of foot traffic and even hand-marks of shaping planting beds and maintenance of features. In addition to examining the Sacbe through the agricultural area, it will be instructive to determine its endpoint within the village. It could end at Structure 3 and its plaza, which was the locus of political decision making. Or it could end at Structure 10, the village ceremonial building. Or it could split and connect those locations, or perhaps others. The end point or end points within the village will provide evidence of the function or functions of the Sacbe, and thus indicate what people or groups had authority over its construction, maintenance, and use(s). Many Sacbes are known in the Maya lowlands because they were constructed of limestone and have preserved well. Limestone is unavailable in the volcanic Maya highlands and Sacbes were unknown before this discovery. The Ceren Sacbe was constructed of compacted volcanic ash, with no stone, and thus would not preserve for long after it was abandoned. A replica will be constructed in 2013 and studied to see how natural processes affect its preservation.