Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Development of Urban Structure and Government

亚利桑那州立大学的阿德里安·蔡斯将进行研究，研究古玛雅人创造和使用的城市形态。古玛雅城市化的特点是占地200平方公里的大型低密度城市;有些城市的人口高达（有时超过）10万人;所有城市都依赖季节性热带降雨来维持农业和生计。虽然玛雅统治者，主要是从石碑上记录的文本中得知，统治着古典时期（公元550年至公元900年）的玛雅城市和国家，但法院官员和支持人员可能处理这些城市内的日常行政任务。古玛雅提供了一个很好的案例研究，以审查自上而下（精英）和自下而上（家庭）的过程可以影响古代城市的日常治理的作用。这项研究结合了在伯利兹卡拉科尔玛雅城市的挖掘，这是记录最完整的玛雅城市之一，通过数据分析来确定治理模式。玛雅城市，如卡拉科尔，旨在收集雨水用于维持生计和农业，但仅凭这些方面并不能保证这些古老城市的长寿。卡拉科尔本身也蓬勃发展了一千多年，因为它的社会和政治组织。对卡拉科尔治理的进一步了解将有助于阐明这座城市的运作方式，揭示其长寿，并为理论制定和跨文化比较提供适当的数据。Caracol的研究还涉及美国和伯利兹公民之间的合作，以及在各种层面上建立和加强两国之间的积极国际关系，包括动手本科考古培训。在这项研究中，Adrian Chase评估了一个城市的物理布局方面的程度。（包括基础设施的位置、住宅特征的标准化和社区特征）为确定以伯利兹的卡拉科尔作为试验地点的治理提供了实际的替代。使用三个数据集：1）城市服务设施特征在城市周围的分布，作为基础设施力量程度的代理; 2）花园城市特征的标准化程度，作为居民自治的代理; 3）仪式人工制品的模式和分布及其与提议的社区的相关性，作为通过社区级别身份采取集体行动的潜力的代理。通过这项研究，从更一般的城市理论在各种学科的概念将与考古研究相结合，通过操作的基础设施的权力，家庭自主权，集体行动在多个尺度的分析：全市范围内，区，邻里，和广场家庭。对建筑环境和考古材料的分析将增加象形文字的叙述，并提供对古典时期晚期玛雅城市治理的更好理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Adrian Chase, of Arizona State University, will undertake research to study the urban form created and used by the ancient Maya. Ancient Maya urbanism is characterized by large low-density cities covering up to two hundred square kilometers; some had populations of up to (and sometimes over) 100,000 people; all had a reliance on seasonal tropical rainfall for both agriculture and subsistence. While Maya rulers, mostly known from texts recorded on stone monument, reigned over Classic Period (550 CE - 900 CE) Maya cities and states, court officials and support staff likely handled day-to-day administrative tasks within these cities. The ancient Maya provide an excellent case study to review the role that both top-down (elite) and bottom-up (household) processes can impact the day-to-day governance of ancient cities. This research incorporates excavation at the Maya city of Caracol, Belize, one of the most well documented Maya cities, with data analyses to determine governance patterns. Maya cities, like Caracol, were designed to harvest rainfall for both sustenance and agriculture, but these aspects alone did not provide for the longevity of these ancient cities. Caracol itself also thrived for over one thousand years because of its social and political organization. Additional understanding of governance at Caracol will help elucidate how this city functioned, shed light on its longevity, and provide data appropriate for theoretical formulations and cross-cultural comparisons. Research at Caracol also involves cooperation between United States and Belizean citizens, as well as building and reinforcing positive international ties between both countries on a variety of levels that include hands-on undergraduate archaeological training.In this study, Adrian Chase assesses the degree to which aspects of the physical layout of a city (including the location of infrastructure, standardization of residential features, and neighborhood identity) provide practical proxies for identifying governance with Caracol, Belize as the test site location. Three datasets are used: 1) the distribution of urban service facility features around the city as a proxy for the degree of infrastructural power; 2) the degree of standardization of garden city features as a proxy for residential autonomy; and, 3) the patterning and distribution of ritual artifacts and their correlation with proposed neighborhoods as a proxy for the potential for collective action through neighborhood level identity. Through this research, concepts from more general urban theory in a variety of disciplines will be integrated with archaeological research through the operationalization of infrastructural power, household autonomy, and collective action at multiple scales of analysis: citywide, district, neighborhood, and plazuela household. Analysis of the built environment and archaeological material will augment the hieroglyphic narrative and provide a better understanding of the governance of a Late Classic Period Maya city.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.