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

稳定的政治、经济和社会格局(社会秩序)是如何形成的？Christopher Hernandez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古玛雅遗址的材料遗迹，指导对这一社会科学中心问题的调查。他将测试战争或至少战争威胁是否会影响社会秩序的发展和变革，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，因为考古记录主要由跨越数十年、数百年甚至数千年的人类活动趋势组成。带着这一长期考古学的观点，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具有明显的社会经济不平等和充足的等级的社会秩序的发展和转变中发挥作用。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，建立在保护丛林生态系统和联合国教科文组织塞尔瓦·拉坎多纳生物圈玛雅祖先遗迹的基础上。考古学家和其他社会科学家长期以来一直在辩论战争和社会经济秩序之间的关系。一些人认为，物质利益是战争的主要原因。其他人认为，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形成，埃尔南德斯和他的同事们将检查祖努恩居民区的防御工事和垃圾。Tzunun是一个戒备森严的地点，建在一个地形崎岖的半岛上，其中包括65个居民丘。初步调查发现了两个不同占领时期的证据，前古典时期(公元前2000年-公元200年)和后古典/殖民时期(公元900/1000-1821年)。这一年表很重要，因为在前经典时期，玛雅人和其他中美洲人发展了复杂的社会，社会经济不平等程度很高。赫尔南德斯？S对祖农的调查表明，该遗址的高地位居民居住在更高、更具防御性的位置，因为人们登上遗址时，住宅丘的大小会增加。由于Tzunun在美洲首次发展具有社会经济不平等制度的复杂社会时(前古典时期)，以及在好战的后古典时期和殖民时期都有人居住，这项研究可以检查战争最初影响社会秩序发展或后来重要性增加的程度。从不同大小的住宅中挖掘垃圾坑，将用于建立祖宗？S居民的物质财富。根据居住规模分析物质财富的分配，将确定地形海拔是否是祖尊及其居民S社会秩序设计中的一个重要因素。如果居住位置的等级与遗址防御工事的建设是相同的，这将意味着玛雅人之间的地位分化与战争密切相关，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.