The Role Of Competition In The Development Of Societal Complexity

这项研究和类似考古研究的基本目标是了解复杂社会产生的过程。在技术简单的社会中，将成千上万的个人捆绑成有效的政治和经济网络的社会实体是如何产生的？考古学，因为它可以追溯这种发展，往往超过几千年，提供了一个重要的洞察力来源。这项研究将有助于理解早期的国家权力，通过记录重要的史前中美洲政体，并评估它是作为一个单一的国家出现的，还是与新认识的更大的中心竞争。这项研究的第一阶段首次记录了该遗址的范围。国家科学基金会的支持还允许记录三个相邻环境中不断变化的总体占领水平，并通过八个低阶纪念性中心提供对区域政治组织的一瞥。第二阶段的研究将确定初期国家权力的性质。首席研究员Robert rossenwig博士将收集激光雷达（遥感区域图像）数据，并进行一个实地季节的行人定居点调查，以记录墨西哥Soconusco地区Izapa州的出现。这是第二阶段的研究，并建立在现有的激光雷达数据和行人调查数据，由美国国家科学基金会资助。激光雷达是一项令人兴奋的新技术，它利用光脉冲穿透茂密的热带植被，绘制下面的陆地特征。伊扎帕遗址长期以来一直被认为是由数百个土丘组成的重要中心，也是地区公共艺术风格的核心。这项研究将确定伊萨帕是作为该地区唯一的政治中心崛起，还是与新发现的拉斯维乌达斯中心竞争而发展起来的。为了评估这些可能性，所有形成期（公元前850年-公元100年）的纪念性中心将被绘制出来，以确定它们与伊萨帕和拉斯维乌达斯的区域分布。每个低阶中心的朝向和内部布局（估计还有30多个需要记录）将使用激光雷达非常准确地记录，从而允许在区域范围内重建站点规划模式。除了前西班牙人对该地区的占领，这些激光雷达数据还将记录经济上重要的Soconusco的溪流、小溪和河流的水文情况。由于位于马德雷山脉的底部，该地区容易发生洪水，并在2005年遭受飓风斯坦的破坏。这些新数据将有助于确定过去受到侵蚀的河流缓冲地带，并使其受到当前侵蚀风险的影响。有了这些信息，考古遗址和现代社区都将受到未来洪水侵蚀的威胁，并与当地官员分享这些信息。

The fundamental goal of this and similar archaeological research is to understand the processes through which complex societies arise. How in technologically simple societies do social entities which bind thousands of individuals into functioning political and economic networks arise? Archaeology, because it can trace such developments, often over millennia, provides an important source of insight. The research will contribute to understanding incipient state power by documenting the important prehistoric Middle American polity and evaluating whether it emerged as a single state or in competition with the newly recognized larger center. The first phase of this research documented the extent of the site for the first time. NSF support also allowed the documentation of changing overall occupation levels in three adjacent environments and provided a glimpse of regional political organization through eight lower-order monumental centers. The second stage of research will determine the nature of incipient state power.The principal investigator Dr. Robert Rosenswig will collect lidar (remotely sensed areal imagery) data and undertake one field season of pedestrian settlement survey to document the emergence of the Izapa state in the Soconusco region of Mexico. This is the second stage of research and builds on existing lidar data and pedestrian survey data funded by the NSF. Lidar is a new and exciting technology that employs pulses of light to penetrate thick tropical vegetation and map terrestrial features below. The site of Izapa has long been recognized as an important center consisting of 100s of mounds and the heart of a regional style of public art. The research will determine whether Izapa arose as the only political center in the region or if it developed in competition with the newly discovered center of Las Viudas. To evaluate these alternate possibilities, all Formative period (850 BCE - CE 100) monumental centers will be mapped to determine their regional distribution in relation to Izapa and Las Viudas. The orientation and internal layout of each lower order centers (of which there is an estimated 30 more to be documented) will be very accurately documented using lidar, allowing for site planning patterns to be reconstructed at a regional scale. In addition to Prehispanic occupation of the region, these lidar data will document the hydrology of streams, creeks and rivers in the economically important Soconusco. Located as it is at the base of the Sierra Madre, the region is prone to flooding and was devastated following Hurricane Stan in 2005. These new data will allow the identification of river buffer areas eroded in the past and subject to current erosion risk. With this information, both archaeological sites and modern communities at risk from future flood-related erosion will be identified and this information shared with local officials.