Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Regime Development in the Lake Patzcuaro Basin

该项目的基本目标是确定在小规模社会中创建综合社会群体的机制。它将提供对如何建立和维持控制的洞察，这一问题具有当代意义，因为当今世界存在许多具有类似复杂程度的社会。在Peter Lape博士的指导下，Anna Cohen将从私人和公共环境中评估陶瓷生产和消费的差异，以研究墨西哥古城Angamuco内普雷佩查(塔拉斯坎)政权发展的变化。该项目将通过考察居住在Pátzcuaro盆地帝国核心区的居民是通过代理人主导的社会政治实践还是通过自上而下的控制过程来检验普雷佩查开发模型的核心假设。这些假说将通过(1)新记录的Angamuco遗址的国内和公共建筑特征的挖掘，以及(2)从挖掘中发现的陶瓷文物的形态、风格和地球化学分析来验证。这项研究将使用陶瓷类型和放射性碳测年来产生局部年代学，这将有助于更广泛地区的时间序列。生产的阶段间和阶段内变化将与家庭和公共消费活动的变化进行比较。对古代政治发展和巩固的研究有助于理解政治制度是如何发展和维持权力的，这是整个社会科学中的重要主题，对于在世界一些地区正在进行政权更迭、革命和抵抗的普通公众来说尤其重要。该项目强调，考古学家在对政权行为作出宽泛的声明之前，必须评估政权与臣民关系的微观政治。对于墨西哥西部，这项关于普雷佩查政权发展的研究将极大地改变该地区现有的史前历史，并有助于更精确地确定占领和社会复杂性的年表。尽管普雷佩查在战斗中击败了更知名的阿兹特克人，他们的后代目前生活在墨西哥西部，但这个帝国仍然鲜为人知。通过关注Angamuco的当地陶瓷生产和消费过程，这项研究将检验关于Purépeha发展模式的一些基本假设，包括政治、经济控制和意识形态变化是如何发生的。Angamuco是帝国核心区发现的最大和最复杂的遗址之一。对陶瓷的详细研究可以使用建筑、地层和放射性碳数据来仔细测定年代，这将有助于Pátzcuaro盆地的年代学。这对墨西哥西部未来的研究至关重要，对在包括墨西哥盆地在内的附近地区工作的学者也很有用。该项目的更广泛影响包括在Pátzcuaro湖盆地和美国的社区开展教育和外展活动。该项目将继续与丰特祖拉斯ejido社区合作，寻求建议，并在当地小学介绍正在进行的研究。周末将向社区成员提供现场参观，Co-Pi将帮助根据项目研究为当地学童制作教材，这将增加Tzintzuntzan遗产理事会社区中心的保护努力。这项研究将有助于培训来自许多不同背景的年轻科学家，并将促进几个机构之间的国际关系。与复原力遗产项目(LORE-LPB)合作，科恩将继续与来自墨西哥、法国和美国的学生合作。这些合作的成果已经在国家会议上作了介绍，例如2011年由共同--非政府组织共同组织的美国考古学会会议，以及在科罗拉多州和法国举办的讲习班上。正在进行的实地考察的更新将发布在Lore-LPB博客上，结果将被用于华盛顿大学的本科生教材。

The fundamental goal of the project is to determine the mechanisms which, in small scale societies, serve to create integrated social groups. It will provide insight into how control is established and maintained, and this issue has contemporary relevance since many societies at similar levels of complexity exist in the world today. Under the guidance of Dr. Peter Lape, Anna Cohen will assess differences in ceramic production and consumption from private and public contexts to examine changes in Purépecha (Tarascan) regime development within the ancient city of Angamuco, Mexico. This project will test assumptions central to Purépecha development models by examining whether residents living in the Pátzcuaro Basin imperial core region were integrated through agent-led sociopolitical practices or through top-down processes of control. These hypotheses will be tested through (1) excavation of domestic and public architectural features at the newly documented site of Angamuco, and (2) the morphological, stylistic, and geochemical analysis of ceramic artifacts recovered from excavation. This research will produce a local chronology using ceramic typologies and radiocarbon dating, which will contribute to the temporal sequence for the wider region. Inter- and intra-phase variation in production will be compared to changes in household and public consumption activities. The study of ancient political growth and consolidation provides insight into understanding of how political regimes develop and maintain power, which are important topics throughout the social sciences and of particular importance to the general public where processes of regime change, revolution, and resistance are ongoing in several parts of the world. This project emphasizes that archaeologists must evaluate the micropolitics of regime-subject relations before making broad statements about regime behavior. For western Mexico, this study of Purépecha regime development will substantially alter the existing prehistory of the region and contribute to a more refined chronology of occupation and social complexity. Although the Purépecha defeated the better-known Aztecs in battle and their descendants currently live in western Mexico, the empire remains poorly understood. By focusing on local ceramic production and consumption processes at Angamuco - one of the largest and most complex sites uncovered in the imperial core region - this research will test some of the basic assumptions concerning Purépecha development models including how political economic control and ideological changes occurred on the ground. Detailed study of ceramics that can be carefully dated using architecture, stratigraphy, and radiocarbon data will contribute to the chronology for the Pátzcuaro Basin. This is vital for future research in western Mexico and useful for scholars working in nearby regions including the Basin of Mexico. The broader impacts of this project include educational and outreach activities in communities located in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin and in the U.S. This project will continue to work with the Fontezuelas ejido community for advice and to present ongoing research at the local primary school. Site tours will be given to community members on the weekends and the Co-PI will help to create teaching materials for local schoolchildren based on project research which will add to the conservation efforts at the heritage council community center in Tzintzuntzan. This research will aid in the training of young scientists from many different backgrounds, and will foster international relationships between several institutions. Working with the Legacies of Resilience Project (LORE-LPB), Cohen will continue to collaborate with students from Mexico, France, and the United States. Results from these collaborations have already been presented at national meetings, such as a 2011 Society for American Archaeology conference session co-organized by the Co-PI, and at workshops in Colorado and France. Updates from ongoing fieldwork will be posted on the LORE-LPB blog and the results will be used in undergraduate teaching material at the University of Washington.