Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Function of Monumental Construction

关于战争对人类社会与生俱来的争论笼统地谈到了人性与生俱来的和平或暴力。这方面的讨论自然会转向在世界各区域内首先建立社会复杂性的情况，试图评估暴力冲突在多大程度上是这一进程的基础。考古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特征，如围墙和护城河，显著改变了当地的景观。这个项目由博士生贾斯汀·布莱肯领导，将调查危地马拉北天玛雅人在前古典主义晚期(公元前400/300年-公元150年)建造这些早期特征的动态。为此，该项目使用了传统的考古挖掘和测绘技术，以及创新的地理信息系统分析和空间理论，为研究建筑环境提供了新的方法。实地工作部分将雇用几名危地马拉大学生和当地居民。这一安排加深了他们对家乡地区考古历史的了解，同时为他们提供了宝贵的实地工作经验，增加了他们在其他项目上的就业能力。最终结果将以论文和学术期刊的形式发表，并在美国和危地马拉的会议上公布。它们将有助于确定战争在复杂社会崛起中所扮演的具体角色，并为人们对前古典玛雅人发展的日益微妙的理解提供一个新的视角。该项目的研究设计围绕以下问题：合作和冲突在国家一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(许多人在一个共同项目上协同工作)和冲突(防御工事所代表的长期国防投资)的相对贡献来研究的。这种方法并不预设精英阶层强迫普通人劳动的等级安排；相反，它允许合作行动作为驱动因素。此外，它还评估了防御工事以外的特征的多重影响和重要程度，分析了它们作为水文控制、社会边界和礼仪空间的分界线的功能。Muralla de Len的小遗址坐落在三面环水的自然隆起上，为研究提供了环境。由于周围环绕着一堵石墙，一条运河将最宽的陆路接入点一分为二，该遗址似乎是面向防御的。遗址的使用至少可以追溯到前经典时代晚期，而且可能更早，遗址布局在其历史早期就建立了。对围墙和运河及其附近的挖掘将旨在建立每个建筑的确切年表，展示它们随时间的变化及其对水流和个人运动的影响，从而确定它们在早期社会复杂时代对当地和地区社会环境的影响。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。

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.