Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Development Of Hierarchical Status Systems

研究人员试图了解导致世界上大多数人现在生活的非常复杂、大规模的社会的过程，以及将其成员联系在一起并促进持续发展的因素。考古学能够研究复杂社会的起源是独一无二的，因为它们的起源发生在很久以前，远远超出了书面历史的范围。最早的复杂社会的发展道路是多样的，它们导致了具有高度多样化特征的复杂社会组织形式。在许多情况下，有明显的考古证据表明，由雄心勃勃的个人为追求自己的目的和目标而建立的永久领导机构的出现。随着这些有抱负的领导人集中资源促进自己的利益，他们越来越多地组成了一个精英群体，以一种或多种方式脱离大多数人，包括财富的积累、更高的生活水平、声望、权力、军事权威、仪式角色和其他社会特征。这些精英群体的经济基础可以用各种方式获得的资源来构建。可以通过建立调节供水和保护农作物免受干旱或洪灾影响的系统来加强农业生产。对当地无法获得的材料的进口进行控制，可能会加强其特权精英地位。促进当地手工艺品的生产和交易也可以为精英们提供一种收入来源，用来追求他们的政治野心。如果与邻国的冲突盛行，精英们可以通过组织进攻性或防御性的军事活动来巩固他们的领导地位。这项研究项目旨在记录哥伦比亚安第斯山脉脚下拉诺斯地区奥里诺科流域卡萨纳雷地区新兴精英所追求的战略。整个环境背景以及最初的考古信息表明，隆起的农田系统中的集约农业是这些精英的主要资源来源，就像在大草原的其他地方一样。然而，附近高度发达的Muisca酋长领地的存在为Casanare精英提供了专注于专业生产和中程交流的特殊机会--这是大草原其他地区新兴精英所没有的机会。起初，战争似乎在卡萨纳雷没有其他地方那么普遍。研究人员将验证或纠正这些最初的印象，并确定这些新兴精英的不同机会对卡萨纳雷地区最初复杂社会组织发展的性质和时机产生了什么影响。当地的文化和教育团体将成为重要的合作者，为获取重要的环境信息提供便利；该项目反过来又将贡献关于该地区早期社会考古遗迹的数据，以协助遗产保护工作。当地学生还将参加实地和实验室工作，获得第一手的科学研究经验。它还将促进联合首席调查员胡安·卡洛斯·巴尔加斯·鲁伊斯先生的学术和智力发展，他将把该项目作为其博士论文工作的一部分。

Researchers seek understanding of the processes that led to the very complex, large-scale societies in which most of the world's population now lives, and of the factors that bound their members together and fostered continued development. Archaeology is uniquely able to study the origins of complex societies because their beginnings occurred far back in time, well beyond the reach of written history. The pathways followed in the development of the earliest complex societies were diverse, and they led to forms of complex social organization with highly varied characteristics. In many instances there is conspicuous archaeological evidence of the emergence of permanent institutions of leadership, forged by ambitious individuals pursuing their own aims and objectives. As these aspiring leaders marshaled resources to further their interests, they increasingly comprised an elite group set off from the majority of the population in one or more ways, including the accumulation of wealth, higher standards of living, prestige, power, military authority, ritual roles, and other social characteristics. The economic foundations of these elite groups could be constructed with resources obtained in a variety of ways. Agricultural production could be intensified by constructing systems to regulate water supplies and protect crops from drought or flooding. Control of the importation of materials not available locally could reinforce a privileged elite position. Fostering local craft production and exchange could also provide elites with a source of income with which to pursue their political ambitions. If conflict with neighboring societies were prevalent, elites could solidify their positions of leadership by organizing either offensive or defensive military activities.This research project aims to document the strategies pursued by emerging elites in the Casanare region of the Orinoco drainage in the Llanos zone at the foot of the Andes of Colombia. The overall environmental setting, as well as initial archaeological information, suggest that intensive agriculture in raised field systems was a major source of resources for these elites, as it was elsewhere in the Llanos. The presence of nearby highly developed Muisca chiefdoms, however, provided Casanare elites with particular opportunities for focusing on specialized production and medium-distance exchange--opportunities that were not available to emerging elites in other parts of the Llanos. Warfare appears, initially, to have been less prevalent in Casanare than it was elsewhere. The researchers will verify or correct these initial impressions and determine what impact these different opportunities for emerging elites had on the nature and timing of the development of initial complex social organization in the Casanare region. Local cultural and educational groups will be important collaborators, facilitating access to essential environmental information; the project will in turn contribute data on the archaeological remains of early societies in the region to aid in heritage preservation efforts. Local students will also participate in the field and laboratory work, gaining first-hand experience of scientific research. It will also further the academic and intellectual development of Mr. Juan Carlos Vargas Ruiz the co-Principal Investigator who will conduct the project as part of his doctoral dissertation work.