Doctoral Dissertation Research: Izapa Archaeology Project

这个项目的基本目标是深入了解复杂的社会是如何从更简单的社会组织形式产生和发展起来的，比如州级组织。像这样可以在很长一段时间内追踪变化的考古项目有助于解释当今特有的社会现象。在罗伯特·罗森西格博士的指导下，丽贝卡·门德尔松将在位于墨西哥恰帕斯南太平洋海岸地区的中美洲早期城市伊萨帕(公元前800年-公元100年)进行家庭挖掘。伊萨帕是中美洲最大的形成期中心之一，有高达21米的土堆和250多座相关的纪念碑。该遗址以其艺术风格而闻名，考古学家建议将其作为连接中美洲两个占主导地位的早期文化群体--奥尔梅克人和玛雅人的重要纽带。尽管该遗址很重要，但进行的发掘相对较少，对该遗址的经济和环境知之甚少。该项目是伊萨帕使用现代挖掘技术进行的第一次家庭挖掘。该项目还将包括在2011年Rosenswig的Izapa区域定居点项目重新绘制遗址地图期间发现的第一个新土丘的挖掘。从Izapa收集的数据旨在阐明从酋长领地到国家和住区到城市的根本转变，并将对研究世界各地复杂社会的兴起的研究人员产生兴趣。就像今天一样，城镇或住区的城市化对社会的各个层面都有经济影响。这个项目着眼于过去，询问如何操纵社会制度和人际关系，以实现城市扩张和维持人口增长。通过记录不同职业阶段的家庭内容，这项研究旨在确定伊萨帕的城市化和社会经济等级的日益发展如何影响普通人的物质福祉。从发掘中收集的文物将用于重建早期经济，并调查新兴国王或国王般的领导人如何获得足够的社会和经济资本，以在遗址上组织纪念碑建设。该项目调查了如何使用监管名牌物品和远程贸易产品、控制工艺专业化以及操纵宗教象征等策略来拉大精英和普通民众之间的社会和经济差距。这些策略与中美洲和世界各地其他初创国家所采用的策略相同吗？除了所提供的研究之外，该项目还打算产生更广泛的影响。该项目在墨西哥进行研究，旨在促进墨西哥和美国在不同层面的国际合作，从当地农民到墨西哥大学的研究人员。在地方一级，该项目的目标之一是在学校和社区中心举办讲座，以提高当代伊萨帕社区对考古过程和保护考古遗址和材料的价值的认识。来自美国和墨西哥的学生和考古学家将参与挖掘和随后的材料分析。该项目的成果将编入门德尔松女士为纽约州立大学奥尔巴尼分校人类学系撰写的论文中，并通过美国和墨西哥的会议发言和同行评议出版物进行传播。

The fundamental goal of this project is to gain insight into how complex societies such as state-level groupings emerge and develop from simpler forms of social organization. Archaeological projects such as this one which can trace change over a long time span help to explain social phenomena characteristic of the present day.Under the guidance of Dr. Robert Rosenswig, Rebecca Mendelsohn will conduct household excavations at the early Mesoamerican city (800 B.C.- A.D. 100) of Izapa, located in the southern Pacific coast region of Chiapas, Mexico. Izapa is among the largest Formative period centers in Mesoamerica, containing mounds up to 21m high and over 250 associated monuments. The site is famous for its art style and has been proposed by archaeologists to be an important link between two of Mesoamerica's dominant early cultural groups, the Olmec and the Maya. Despite the site's importance, relatively few excavations have been conducted and very little is known about the economy and environment at the site. This project represents the first household excavations at Izapa using modern excavation techniques. The project will also include the first excavation of new mounds discovered during the 2011 remapping of the site by Rosenswig's Izapa Regional Settlement Project. Data collected from Izapa is intended to shed light on the fundamental transition from chiefdoms to states and settlements to cities, and will be of interest to researchers investigating the rise of complex societies around the world.Just as today, the urbanization of a town or settlement has economic impacts at every level of society. This project looks to the past and asks how social systems and human relationships are manipulated to achieve urban expansion and sustain population growth. By documenting household contents at different stages of occupation, the study aims to determine how the urbanization and increasing development of socioeconomic hierarchy at Izapa affected the material wellbeing of commoners. Artifacts collected from excavations will be used to reconstruct the early economy and investigate how emerging kings or king-like leaders gained enough social and economic capital to organize monumental construction at the site. The project investigates how strategies like the regulation of prestige items and long-distance trade products, control over craft specialization, and manipulation of religious symbols could be used to widen the social and economic gap between elites and commoners. Are these strategies the same as those employed in other incipient states in Mesoamerica and around the world?Beyond the research presented, this project also intends to have a broader impact. With research conducted in Mexico, the project aims to foster international collaboration between Mexico and the United States at various levels, from local farmers to researchers at Mexican universities. At the local level, one of the goals of the project is to deliver lectures at schools and community centers to increase awareness in the contemporary Izapa community about the process of archaeology and the value of preserving archaeological sites and materials. Students and archaeologists from both the United States and Mexico will be engaged in the excavation and subsequent analyses of materials. Results from this project will be compiled in Ms. Mendelsohn's dissertation for the Department of Anthropology at the University at Albany, SUNY, as well as disseminated through conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications in both the United States and Mexico.