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在萨尔瓦多的一个古老的玛雅村庄探索权威。他们将吸收来自两所萨尔瓦多大学的学生参与实地考察、实验室分析和研究成果的出版。研究人员将利用一次不同寻常的火山喷发，大约在公元600年，洛马火山口喷发，这在一个非凡的程度上保存了古老的塞伦村。考古学家第一次可以探索玛雅社会做出决定的水平，无论是由附近城市的精英阶层还是由塞伦村的普通人做出的。几十年来玛雅人的主要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、寺庙和精英的陵墓。人们对普通人知之甚少，尽管他们占总人口的90%左右。然而，Ceren网站最近的研究表明，玛雅普通人的生活质量出人意料地高，他们可能已经能够在精英权威之外的某些领域做出自己的决定。2011年，玛雅人发现了一条从Ceren村向南延伸的正式道路--“Sacbe”，这为探索决策层面提供了机会。SABE贯穿着玉米和块根作物的农田。如果圣安德烈斯是由圣安德烈斯建造和维护的，圣安德烈斯位于圣安德烈斯以南5公里处，收成被运往圣安德烈斯，研究人员将发现支持这一点的证据。或者，如果沙丘是由单个村庄的农民建造和维护的，他们的田地与沙丘相邻，那么土地的边界将与沙丘的差异一致。第三种选择是，当局是在Ceren村，那里的长老组织了Sacbe，大部分农业生产被带到村子里。火山灰保留了一些细节，比如相对的人流量，甚至还有塑造种植床和维护特色的手印。除了通过农业区检查SASCE外，确定其在村庄内的终点将具有指导意义。它可能会在3号结构及其广场结束，那里是政治决策的中心。或者，它可以在10号结构结束，这是村里的礼仪建筑。或者它可以拆分并连接这些地点，或者其他地点。村里的一个或多个终点将提供SABS功能或功能的证据，从而表明哪些人或团体有权建造、维护和使用它(S)。许多圣人在玛雅低地被人熟知，因为他们是用石灰石建造的，保存完好。在玛雅火山高地上找不到石灰岩，而萨克贝斯在这一发现之前是未知的。Ceren Sacbe是用压实的火山灰建造的，没有石头，因此在被遗弃后无法长期保存。2013年将建造一个复制品，并对其进行研究，看看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.