Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Local Mining in the Atacama Desert, Chile

史前帝国与当今世界上许多国家一样，都面临着如何将往往不同种族的“边远”社区融入一个有效运作的社会体系的问题。从相反的角度来看，如果“边远”社区能够决定如何最好地利用融入更广泛的社会体系的优势，它们就能最成功地发挥作用。考古研究有可能在很长一段时间内检验这种相互作用，这就是本研究项目的目标。在马克·伯曼博士的指导下，弗朗西斯科·加里多将探索古印加帝国成功的两个因素：帝国的基础设施（著名的道路系统），以及它对臣民领地的家庭和地方层面的影响。从“自下而上”的角度来看，印加征服对智利阿塔卡马沙漠采矿的影响，该研究将调查与帝国制度对接的局部反应。本研究将通过调查印加之路与最近发现的、孤立在阿塔卡马沙漠中的非印加采矿营地之间的关系来解决这个问题。初步研究表明，如果没有附近印加公路的使用，这个营地就不可能存在，这导致了两个相互关联的研究目标：(1)评估印加公路作为一个未被认识的增长因素，刺激当地手工业的程度；(2)评估印加公路是否作为一个线性的转口港或交换枢纽，而不仅仅是作为一条满足印加帝国需求的公路。为期一年的调查、地面收集和挖掘项目将记录钦奇利亚采矿的性质以及印加公路附近一段的使用情况。在过去，就像今天一样，一条主干道可以作为一个强大的经济刺激或磁铁，使以前无法实现的经济企业成为可能。通过将当地的阿塔卡马人口与更广泛的社会经济世界联系起来，该研究将解决“全球化”问题，尽管使用的是这个史前案例研究。调查的一个领域是记录人们如何选择使用新的和外国的基础设施（甚至是代表帝国霸权的基础设施）来达到自己的目的。在当今世界的许多地方，包括南美洲，兼职、补充或季节性采矿作为一种小规模的以亲属为基础的低资本投资活动仍然很常见，其组织和目标可能与前西班牙的例子非常相似。更好地了解阿塔卡马小规模采矿的历史和动态在今天仍然具有相关性，在那里仍然存在大型，利润驱动的跨国采矿作业和基于社区的，风险最小化的社区一级采矿。因此，本研究解决的理论问题与智利今天讨论的采矿、家庭和社区自治、资源获取和利用以及经济应对策略等当代问题是平行的。这项研究更广泛的影响包括记录阿塔卡马沙漠考古遗产中未被充分研究的组成部分，该沙漠日益成为旅游目的地。来自几所大学的智利学生将参加实地考察，并接受当前调查和挖掘技术的培训。藏品将存放在阿塔卡马地区博物馆，并提供完整的文件，供其他学生和学者使用。这项研究的一个重要组成部分将是与现有的博物馆藏品和未发表的报告合作，将这些隐藏来源的数据带到公众面前。这个项目将促成加里多先生的论文，研究结果将通过比较考古中心的电子数据库、会议报告和同行评议的出版物进行传播。

Prehistoric empires in common with multiple countries in the world today face the problem of how to integrate "outlying" communities often of varying ethnicity into a functioning effective social system. From the reverse perspective "outlying" communities can function most successfully if they can determine how best to take advantage of their incorporation into a broader social system. Archaeological research has the potential to examine such interactions over extended periods of time and such is the goal of this research project. Under the guidance of Dr. Marc Bermann, Francisco Garrido will explore two factors underlying the success of the ancient Inca empire: its imperial infrastructure (the famous road system), and its impact at household and local levels in subject territories. Taking a "bottom up" perspective on the effects of Inca conquest on mining in the Atacama desert of Chile, the research will investigate localized responses to articulation with the imperial system. This research will address this topic through investigation of the relationship between the Inca Road, and a recently discovered, non-Inca, mining camp, isolated in the Atacama Desert. Preliminary research suggests that this camp could not have existed without use of the nearby Inca road, leading to two, inter-related, research objectives: (1) evaluating the extent to which the Inca Road functioned as an unrecognized growth factor, stimulating local craft industry; and (2) assessing whether the Inca Road served as a linear entrepot or exchange nexus, rather than simply as a highway servicing Inca imperial needs. A one-year project of survey, surface collection, and excavation will document: the nature of mining at Chinchilla and the use of a nearby section of the Inca Road. In the past, just as today, a major road can serve as an powerful economic stimulus or magnet, making possible economic enterprises along it that were not feasible previously. By connecting local Atacama populations to a much wider socioeconomic world, the research will be addressing issues of "globalization," albeit, using this prehistoric case study. One area of investigation is to document how people chose to use a new and foreign infrastructure (even one that represented imperial hegemony) to their own ends. Part-time, supplemental, or seasonal mining as a small scale kin-based activity with low capital investment is still common in many parts of the world today, including South America, and its organization and goals can be very similar to prehispanic examples. A better understanding of the history and dynamics of small scale mining in the Atacama remains relevant today, where there is still a juxtaposition of large, profit-driven, multinational mining operations and community based, risk minimizing, community-level mining. The theoretical issues addressed in this research thus parallel contemporary issues discussed in Chile today about mining and household and community autonomy, resource access and utilization, and economic coping strategies. The broader impacts of this research include documenting understudied components of the archaeological heritage in the Atacama Desert - increasingly a tourist destination. Chilean students from several universities will participate in the fieldwork, and receive training in current survey and excavation techniques. Collections will be stored at the Regional Museum of Atacama, and available, with complete documentation, to other students and scholars. An important component of the research will be working with existing museum collections and with unpublished reports, bringing data from these hidden sources to public light. The project will result in Mr. Garrido's dissertation, and the findings will be disseminated through the Center for Comparative Archaeology electronic data base, conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications.