The Role Of Social And Spatial Network Structure In Patterning Social Organization

帮助社会凝聚成运作单位的机制也可能在压力时期瓦解。这种机制的形式多种多样，但都是以社会互动为基础的。整合的形式可以主要是经济、政治、仪式，或者结合这些社会领域的各个方面。为增加或容纳社会互动而创建的场所和基础设施，如广场、道路或市场，可以提供有关人们发展、维持或消解社区意识的选择的大量信息。特别是在城市环境中，这些特征是将农村人口融入城市环境的关键组成部分。家庭用品和安排的共同性是社会一体化的另一个极好的衡量标准，因为家庭会随着更广泛的社会调整而发展。在此背景下，当前的项目将调查古典玛雅社会政治现象的明显脆弱性及其古代国家的弱点。通过考察几个不同的社区成员之间的社会互动的结构、程度和类型，这些社区成员似乎参与了同一个古典晚期国家，本研究将分析家庭如何与精英所使用的社会、政治、宗教和意识形态策略联系起来。这些古老的社区位于最长的古玛雅道路沿线，这是连接两个城市中心和农村地区的主要基础设施。虽然过去的玛雅社会构成了本研究的重点，但它提出的阐明的基本原则在当今世界许多发展中地区都是相关的。今天构成重大国际问题的失败国家是由于缺乏足够强大的一体化机制造成的。考古学使研究人员能够从长远的角度来审视这些问题。今天沿着这条路生活和耕作的当地利益相关者将受益于了解道路和其他古代基础设施的建造细节，而且通过一系列研讨会、讲座和合作研究项目，这些社区将首次接触到科学调查的方法。生活在不同城市或地区的人们之间形成联系的社会互动是一个特别重要的工具，可以理解为什么人类选择自愿参与其必然结果——压迫的等级制度。城市中心不断需要新成员，并通过提供基础设施和新的社会互动手段强行吸引农村人口进入城市定居点。在古典晚期，玛雅北部低地建造了一条巨大的道路，将道路两端的社区和沿路的农村人口融合在一起，但日常生活是如何变化的呢？道路建成后，当地家庭群体是否有不同的材料？居住习惯改变了吗？有人口流动的证据吗？这些问题将通过挖掘道路连接的两个城市的家庭，以及沿着道路长度的一个农村定居点的家庭，从道路建设之前和之后的时期来解决。通过识别国内文物、贸易货物和埋葬模式的变化，可以衡量道路项目实现的整合程度。

The mechanisms that help societies coalesce into functioning units, can also unravel during times of stress. Such mechanisms take a variety of forms, but are always grounded in social interactions. Forms of integration can be largely economic, political, ritual, or combine aspects of each of these social realms. Places and infrastructure created to increase or house social interactions, such as plazas, roadways, or markets can be highly informative about the choices people make to develop, maintain, or dissolve a sense of community. In urban contexts in particular, these sorts of features are key components of integrating a rural population into the urban setting. Commonalities in household goods and arrangements are another excellent measure of social integration, as households evolve in response to broader social adjustments. Within this context the current project will investigate the apparent fragility of Classic Maya sociopolitical phenomenon and the weaknesses of their ancient states. By examining the structure, degree, and kind of social interactions among members of several very different communities that appear to have participated in the same Late Classic state, this research will analyze how households articulated with the social, political, religious, and ideological strategies utilized by the elite. These ancient communities are located along the longest ancient Maya road, a major piece of infrastructure that connected two urban centers and their rural territories. Although past Mayan society constitutes the focus of this research the underlying principles which it proposes to illuminate are relevant in many developing regions of the world today. Failed states which constitute significant international problems today result from the lack of sufficiently strong integrating mechanisms. Archaeology permits researchers to examine such issues through a long term perspective. Local stakeholders who live and farm along this road today will benefit from learning the details of not only how the road and other ancient infrastructure was built, but through a series of workshops, lectures, and collaborative research projects, these communities will have their first exposure to the methods of scientific investigation. Social interactions that form bonds between people who live in separate cities or regions are a particularly important tool to understand why humans choose to willingly participate in systems of hierarchy with its corollary, oppression. Urban centers are in constant need of new members and draw rural populations into urban settlements forcibly, but also through providing infrastructure and the means for new social interactions. The creation of a massive roadway in the northern Maya lowlands integrated the communities at either end of the road and the rural populations along its length during the Late Classic, but how did daily life change? Were different materials available to local household groups after the completion of the road? Were residential habits altered? Is there evidence for the movement of populations? These questions will be addressed by excavation of households at both cities connected by the road, and at one rural settlement along its length, from periods prior to the construction of the road, and after. By identifying changes in domestic artifacts, trade goods, and burial patterns, the degree of integration achieved by the road project can be measured.