Collaborative Research: Origins of Urbanization and State Formation

本项目探讨影响国家形成和城市化的因素。特奥蒂瓦坎在公元第一个千年的上半叶处于鼎盛时期，成为前哥伦布时期美洲最大的城市。这座城市经过精心规划，有一个巨大的城市中心和密集的居民区，其中包括来自墨西哥和中美洲其他地区的多民族移民。在这个早期美国大都市的研究中仍有一些谜题：(1)它的城市化速度和进程；(2)推动人口增长的主要因素；（三）政治组织；(4)哪些建筑群作为治理和行政的所在地。这些问题对于提高当前对美洲的深刻历史和人类在全球最早的城市和国家的创造的理解至关重要。研究团队的多样化组成加强了跨学科的国际科学合作。该项目还训练学生进行严谨和实证科学研究的方法。在美国国家科学基金会的资助下，杉山三郎博士（亚利桑那州立大学）、杉山奈和博士（史密森学会）和大卫·卡巴罗博士（波士顿大学）将在圆柱建筑群广场进行为期三年的考古研究，该建筑群可能是位于古城之间的宫殿或行政中心。中国最大的两座纪念碑：太阳金字塔和月亮金字塔。这项研究涉及来自美国、墨西哥和日本的研究人员之间的密切国际合作。这个多方面的、跨学科的项目将研究经济、政治和仪式活动，这些活动通过其最大的、未挖掘的行政建筑群来维持城市。国际团队将进行密集的挖掘，地球物理勘探，地面化学分析，并通过陶瓷，C14和考古磁分析相结合的时间评估。主要目标是将这些结构定义为宫殿行政综合体，记录与其公共和私人功能相关的活动区域，并确定居住在这些综合体中的人以及他们在管理特奥蒂瓦坎的过程中扮演的角色。

This project explores the factors that influence state formation and urbanization. During its apogee in the first half of the first millennium CE, Teotihuacan arose to become the largest city of the pre-Columbian Americas. The city was highly planned, with a monumental urban epicenter and densely settled neighborhoods that incorporated a multi-ethnic population of immigrants who arrived from other parts of Mexico and Central America. Among the enigmas that still pertain to the study of this early American metropolis are (1) its tempo and processes of urbanization; (2) the principal factors that fueled its growing population; (3) its political organization; and (4) what architectural complexes served as seats of governance and administration. These issues are critical for improving current understanding of the deep history of the Americas and the human creation of the earliest cities and states across the globe. The diverse makeup of the research team enhances interdisciplinary, international international scientific collaborations. And the project also trains students in methods of conducting rigorous and empirical scientific research.With funding from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Saburo Sugiyama (Arizona State University), Dr. Nawa Sugiyama (Smithsonian Institution), and Dr. David Carballo (Boston University), will undertake three years of archaeological research in the Plaza of the Columns Complex, a likely palace or administrative center located between the ancient city?s two largest monuments: the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon. The research involves close international collaboration between researchers from the US, Mexico, and Japan. This multifaceted, interdisciplinary project will examine the economic, political, and ritual activities that sustained the city through its largest, unexcavated administrative complex. The international team will conduct intensive excavation, geophysical prospection, floor-chemistry analyses, and chronological assessment through a combination of ceramic, C14, and archaeomagnetic analyses. Primary objectives are to define these structures as palatial-administrative complexes, record activity areas associated with their public and private functions, and identify who resided in these complexes and what role they played in governing Teotihuacan.