Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Function of Monumental Construction

关于战争对人类社会的先天性的争论广泛地讨论了人性与生俱来的和平或暴力。在这方面的讨论自然会转向世界各区域内最初形成社会复杂性的环境，力求评估暴力冲突在多大程度上是这一进程的基础。考古学研究为研究这些很久以前的发展提供了最有力的手段，特别是通过分析大规模的特征，如环绕的墙壁和护城河，这些特征显着改变了当地的景观。该项目由博士生贾斯汀·布雷肯（Justin Bracken）领导，将调查危地马拉佩滕玛雅人在前古典晚期（公元前400/300年-公元150年）建造的早期特征的动态。为此，该项目使用传统的考古挖掘和测绘技术，以及创新的GIS分析和空间理论，为建筑环境的研究提供了新的方法。实地工作部分将雇用几名危地马拉大学生和当地居民。这种安排加深了他们对家乡考古历史的理解，同时为他们提供了宝贵的实地工作经验，提高了他们在其他项目上的就业能力。最终结果将作为论文和学术期刊发表，并在美国和危地马拉的会议上发表。它们将有助于查明战争在复杂社会的兴起中所扮演的特定角色，并提供一个新的视角来洞察对前古典玛雅发展的日益微妙的理解。该项目的研究设计围绕以下问题：合作和冲突在国家级社会的最初传播中分别扮演了什么角色？这个问题是通过权衡合作行为（许多人在一个共同的项目上一致工作）和冲突（防御工事代表的长期防御投资）的相对贡献来研究的。这种方法并不以精英阶级强迫平民劳动的等级安排为前提;相反，它允许合作行动作为驱动因素。此外，它评估的多重影响和意义的功能超出设防水平，分析其功能的水文控制，社会边界和划定仪式空间。Muralla de Len的小场地位于三面环水的自然高地上，为研究提供了环境。一堵石墙环绕着它，一条运河将陆地上最宽的入口一分为二，该遗址似乎面向防御。该遗址的使用至少可以追溯到前古典晚期，可能更早，遗址的布局在其历史早期就建立了。在围墙和运河内及其附近进行扩建，目的是确定每一个围墙和运河的建造时间顺序，展示它们在时间上的形式及其对水流和人员流动的影响，从而确定他们对当地和地区的社会环境的影响，在早期的社会复杂性的时代。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持，通过评估使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Debates about the innateness of warfare to human society speak broadly to the inherent peacefulness or violence of human nature. Discussions in this vein naturally turn to the circumstances in which social complexity was first established within various world regions, seeking to assess the degree to which violent conflict was foundational to the process. Archaeological study provides the most robust means of studying these long-ago developments, particularly through the analysis of large-scale features, such as encircling walls and moats, that significantly altered the local landscape. This project led by doctoral student Justin Bracken, will investigate the dynamics of construction of such early features built by the Maya of Peten, Guatemala in the Late Preclassic period (400/300 BC - AD 150). To do so, the project uses traditional archaeological excavation and mapping techniques alongside innovative GIS analyses and spatial theory, offering new approaches to the study of the built environment. The fieldwork component will employ several Guatemalan university students and local residents. This arrangement furthers their understanding of the archaeological past of their home region while offering them valuable fieldwork experience, increasing their employability on other projects. The final results will be published as a dissertation and in academic journals, and also presented at conferences in the United States and Guatemala. They will serve to pinpoint the specific role played by warfare in the rise of complex societies and offer a new angle of insight into the increasingly nuanced understanding of Preclassic Maya developments.The research design of the project is centered on the following question: What roles did cooperation and conflict respectively play in the initial spread of state-level society? The question is investigated by weighing the relative contributions of cooperative behavior (numerous individuals working in concert on a common project) and conflict (the long-term investment in defense that the fortifications represent). This approach does not presuppose a hierarchical arrangement in which an elite class compelled the labor of commoners; instead, it allows for cooperative action as the driving factor. Further, it assesses the multiple effects and levels of significance of the features beyond fortification, analyzing their functions as hydrological controls, social boundaries, and delineators of ceremonial space. The small site of Muralla de Len, which rests upon a natural rise surrounded on three sides by water, provides the setting for the study. With a stone perimeter wall encircling it and a canal bisecting the widest point of access by land, the site appears oriented toward defense. Occupation at the site dates at least back to the Late Preclassic period and likely earlier, with the site layout established early in its history. Excavations into and adjacent to the perimeter wall and canal will aim to establish a firm chronology of construction of each, demonstrating their form through time and their impact upon the flow of water and movements of individuals, thereby defining their impact upon the local and regional social settings in the era of early social complexity.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.