Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Relationship Between Mortuary Practice and Social Organization

在Lori Wright博士的指导下，Kristin Hoffmeister将通过研究经历重大社会政治变革的群体的健康、饮食和流动性模式，进行研究社会政治权力的出现和巩固。社会政治分层的起源是一种全球现象，考古调查通过研究不平等的发展以及长期以来随之而来的社会和政治后果，具有独特的定位。本项目将研究移民、健康和资源获取的差异等关键主题，以调查新兴精英如何获得和控制社会政治权力。理解这些复杂的过程，以及社会复杂性、身份和角色是如何随着时间的推移而协商、合法化和维持的，具有广泛的意义。这项研究将通过检查人类骨骼遗骸来评估社会政治分层发展过程中的流动性、饮食和健康模式，来研究社会政治分层的发展。该项目将对来自Cuello和Colha的前古典时期（公元1000-250年）玛雅骨骼遗骸进行研究，这两个地点位于伯利兹北部，有大量的前古典时期骨骼组合。前古典时期的特点是丧葬行为的广泛转变，与玛雅地区建筑、遗址组织、社会结构和物质文化的其他重大变化同时发生，这些变化与复杂的分层社会的出现有关。虽然社会等级的发展与在Cuello和Colha观察到的复杂的殡葬行为的出现有关，但这些埋葬与新兴的社会和政治分层的关系仍不清楚。这项拟议的研究将利用考古数据，结合饮食、地理起源和牙齿健康数据，调查前古典时期玛雅人的这些广泛的社会政治变化。具体来说，本研究将使用稳定的碳（ä13C）、氧（ä18O）和锶（87Sr/86Sr）同位素来评估饮食和迁移模式。通过分析前经典的太平间行为，本项目将研究社会复杂性、社会不平等和身份是如何通过对死者的政治操纵而产生、合法化和维持的。这个项目将产生关于玛雅人健康、饮食和流动性的新的考古和地球化学数据。它还将提供研究和指导

Under the direction of Dr. Lori Wright, Kristin Hoffmeister will undertake research to investigate the emergence and consolidation of sociopolitical power by examining health, diet, and mobility patterns in groups undergoing significant sociopolitical transformations. The genesis of sociopolitical stratification is a global phenomenon that archaeological inquiry is uniquely positioned to address by examining the development of inequality and the subsequent social and political ramifications over long periods of time. This project will examine the key themes of migration, health, and differential access to resources in order to investigate how rising elites gain and control sociopolitical power. Understanding these complicated processes and how social complexity, identities, and roles are negotiated, legitimized, and maintained over time has broad reaching implications.This research will examine the development of sociopolitical stratification by examining human skeletal remains to assess patterns of mobility, diet, and health during the development of sociopolitical stratification. This project will be conducted on Preclassic period (1000-250 AD) Maya skeletal remains from Cuello and Colha, two sites in northern Belize with large Preclassic skeletal assemblages. The Preclassic period is characterized by broad shifts in mortuary behavior that were concurrent with other significant changes in architecture, site organization, social structure, and material culture throughout the Maya area that relate to the emergence of complex, stratified society. While the development of social hierarchy has been linked to the appearance of the complex mortuary behavior observed at Cuello and Colha, the relationship of these burials to emerging social and political stratification remains unclear. The proposed research will use archaeological data in conjunction with data on diet, geographic origins, and dental health to investigate these broad sociopolitical changes among the Preclassic Maya. Specifically, this study will employ stable carbon (ä13C), oxygen (ä18O), and strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotopes to assess diet and mobility patterns. By analyzing Preclassic mortuary behavior, this project will examine how social complexity, social inequality, and identity are generated, legitimized, and maintained through the political manipulation of the dead. This project will generate novel archaeological and geochemical data about health, diet, and mobility among the Maya. It will also provide research and mentorship