Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Effects of Warfare and Violence on the Development of Social Complexity

博士论文学生Omar Alcover Firpi将研究战争如何在早期的小规模村庄中塑造定居点设计和社会组织。特别是，他将研究在前现代社会中，处于防御地位的社区网络是如何形成的，以应对真实的或感知到的外部威胁。以前关于暴力的考古研究主要集中在拥有正规化军队的大国的形成和维持上，但很少有研究涉及战争在中等规模群体中出现的社会和政治复杂性中的作用。因为考古学家可以识别人类活动的长期社会趋势，这个领域非常适合回答社会是如何参与战争的，以及如何被战争改变的。在这个项目中，研究人员将回答危地马拉早期玛雅社区建造和使用堡垒的方式和原因，以及战争对区域权威和防御网络发展的长期影响。基于集体暴力不是人类与生俱来的条件这一前提，本项目将评估社区如何在社会和情境中利用战争来保护自己免受感知到的威胁。这项调查的结果为小社区参与暴力的原因以及这种负面遭遇的长期影响提供了重要的见解。该项目将为美国和危地马拉的学生提供教育和专业培训，促进两国之间的合作关系。此外，跨学科数据集将整合遥感分析方法以及考古调查、挖掘和材料分析，以确定美洲早期社区建立期间暴力的长期影响。包括当地社区成员在内的一个研究小组将研究玛雅村民在前古典时期（公元前400年-公元250年）如何在马卡比罗山顶堡垒建造和使用堡垒和其他防御设施。Macabilero位于危地马拉西北部的Usumacinta河畔，该地区自公元前4世纪以来一直被占领。此前对乌苏马辛塔山谷的考古研究已经为公元6世纪至8世纪的战争提供了丰富的考古和历史证据，当时王室为争夺领土控制权而相互争斗。着眼于前古典时期，在王朝王国兴起之前的马卡比罗社区，本研究将澄清战争在该地区国家社会出现中的强度和影响。调查人员将领导一个包括考古学家、遥感专家和环境科学家在内的跨学科团队，以阐明暴力如何在这片破碎的土地上形成定居组织，以及防御特征与该地区不同生态区的关系。除了对该地区进行广泛的步行调查和详细的遥感分析外，该项目还将通过对这座古老堡垒的挖掘，确定防御定居点的普遍程度，以及它们在该地区政治复杂性发展中的作用。

Doctoral dissertation student Omar Alcover Firpi will examine how war shaped settlement design and social organization among early, small-scale villages. In particular, he will examine how networks of communities in defensive positions formed in response to real, or perceived, external threats in pre-modern societies. Previous archaeological scholarship on violence has focused on the formation and maintenance of large states with formalized armies, yet few studies have addressed the role of war in the emergence of social and political complexity among modest sized groups. Because archaeologists can identify long-term social trends in human activity the field is well-suited to answer how societies engaged with, and were altered by, war. In this project, researchers will answer how and why fortresses built and used among early Maya communities in Guatemala, as well as the long-term effects warfare had on the regional development of authority and defensive networks. Building on the premise that collective violence is not an innate human condition, this project will evaluate how war is socially and situationally employed by communities to defend themselves from perceived threats. Results from this investigation provide critical insight into why small communities engage in violence and the long-term effects of such negative encounters. The project will provide educational and professional training for American and Guatemalan students, furthering collaborative ties between the two countries. Moreover, the interdisciplinary dataset will integrate methods in remote sensing analysis along with archaeological survey, excavation, and material analysis to determine the long-term effects of violence during the establishment of early communities in the Americas. A research team including local community members will examine how fortresses and other defensive features were constructed and used by Maya villagers during the Preclassic period (400BC- AD250) at the hilltop fortress of Macabilero. Macabilero is located on the banks of the Usumacinta River in northwestern Guatemala, in a region that has been continuously occupied since the 4th century BC. Previous archaeological research in the Usumacinta Valley has produced abundant archaeological and historical evidence for warfare during the 6th through 8th century AD, when royal dynasties strove with one another for territorial control. Focusing on the community at Macabilero in the Preclassic period, before the rise of dynastic kingdoms, this research will clarify the intensity and effect of warfare in the emergence of state society in the region. The investigators will lead an interdisciplinary team that includes archaeologists, remote sensing specialists, and environmental scientists to clarify how violence shaped settlement organization in this fractured landscape, and how defensive features relate to different ecological zones in the region. Through excavation of this ancient fortress, in addition to extensive pedestrian survey of the region, and detailed remote sensing analyses, the project will determine how ubiquitous defensive settlements were, and what their role was in the development of political complexity in the region.