Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Effect of War On The Transformation of Social Hierarchies

稳定的政治、经济和社会模式（社会秩序）是如何形成的？Christopher埃尔南德斯先生（西北大学）将在Cynthia Robin博士（西北大学）的指导下，通过分析墨西哥恰帕斯州Tzunun古玛雅遗址的物质遗迹，指导对社会科学中这一中心问题的调查。他将检验战争或至少是战争威胁是否会影响社会秩序的发展和转变，特别是在社会经济不平等和等级制度的增长方面。考古学家特别适合研究社会秩序，因为考古记录主要是由跨越几十年，几个世纪甚至几千年的人类活动趋势组成的。带着这种长期的考古学视角，埃尔南德斯和一个国际同事小组将调查战争是否以及如何在社会秩序的发展和转变中发挥作用，社会经济不平等和等级制度明显。该项目还为当地玛雅社区提供经济支持和科学培训，该社区正试图发展可持续的旅游经济，以保护丛林生态系统和教科文组织塞尔瓦拉坎多纳生物圈的玛雅祖先遗迹，考古学家和其他社会科学家长期以来一直在辩论战争与社会经济秩序之间的关系。有些人认为物质利益是战争的主要原因。其他人则认为战争是一种破坏性行为，对贸易和其他形式的经济活动有害。为了确定战争是否促进了社会经济不平等的发展和制度，埃尔南德斯先生和同事们将检查Tzunun的防御工事和居民土丘的垃圾。Tzunun是一个设防的地点，建在地形崎岖的半岛上，有65个住宅土丘。最初的调查显示了两个独立时期的占领证据，前古典时期（公元前2000年至公元200年）和后古典/殖民时期（公元900/1000-1821年）。这个年表很重要，因为在前古典时期，玛雅人和其他中美洲民族发展了复杂的社会，社会经济不平等。埃尔南德斯？Tzunun的调查表明，该网站的高地位的居民生活在更高，更防御的位置，因为住宅土堆大小增加，因为一个上升的网站。由于Tzunun在美洲（前古典时期）和好战的后古典时期和殖民时期都有人居住，当时社会经济不平等的复杂社会首次发展，这项研究可以考察战争最初影响社会秩序发展的程度或后来的重要性。从不同大小的住宅中挖掘垃圾坑将用于建立Tzunun的物质财富？的居民。根据居住面积分析物质财富的分配，将确定地形高程是否是慈恩及其居民设计的重要因素？的社会秩序。如果居住地点的等级制度与遗址防御工事的建造是同时代的，这将意味着玛雅人之间的地位差异与战争密切相关，战争可能是社会经济不平等和等级制度增长的催化剂。

How do stable political, economic and social patterns (social order) form? Mr. Christopher Hernandez (Northwestern University), under the guidance of Dr. Cynthia Robin (Northwestern University), will direct an investigation into this central question in the social sciences by analyzing the material remains of the ancient Maya site of Tzunun, Chiapas, Mexico. He will test if warfare or at least the threat of war influences the development and transformation of social orders, particularly with respect to the growth of socioeconomic inequality and hierarchy. Archaeologists are particularly suited for the study of social order because the archaeological record is primarily composed of trends in human activity that span decades, centuries and even millennia. Bringing this long-term archaeological perspective, Hernandez and an international group of colleagues will investigate if and how warfare plays a role in the development and transformation of social orders with clear socioeconomic inequality and ample hierarchy. This project also provides economic support and training in the sciences for the local Maya community that is attempting to develop a sustainable tourist economy built around the preservation of the jungle ecosystem and Maya ancestral remains of the Selva Lacandona UNESCO biosphere.Archaeologists and other social scientists have long debated the relationship between warfare and socioeconomic order. Some argue that material gain is the primary cause of war. Others argue war is a destructive act that is detrimental to trade and other forms of economic activity. To establish if warfare promotes the development and institution of socioeconomic inequalities, Mr. Hernandez and colleagues will examine fortifications and refuse from residential mounds at Tzunun. Tzunun is a fortified site built on a peninsula with rugged terrain that contains 65 residential mounds. Initial investigations revealed evidence for two separate periods of occupation, the Preclassic (2000 BC-AD 200) and Postclassic/Colonial periods (AD 900/1000-1821). This chronology is important because during the Preclassic the Maya and other Mesoamerican peoples developed complex societies with ample socioeconomic inequality. Hernandez?s survey of Tzunun suggests the site's high-status inhabitants lived in higher, more defensible locations because residential mound size increases as one ascends the site. Because Tzunun was inhabited both when complex societies with institutions of socioeconomic inequality first developed in the Americas (Preclassic period), and in the bellicose Postclassic and Colonial periods, this research can examine the extent to which warfare initially affected the development of social order or grew in importance later in time. The excavation of refuse pits from residences of varying sizes will be used to establish the material wealth of Tzunun?s residents. Analyzing the distribution of material wealth according to residence size will establish if topographic elevation was an important factor in the design of Tzunun and its inhabitant?s social order. If a hierarchy of residential location was coeval with the construction of the site's fortifications, it would mean status differentiation among the Maya was strongly tied to warfare, with war likely being a catalyst for the growth of socioeconomic inequality and hierarchy.