Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Function of Monumental Construction

关于战争对人类社会的固有性的争论广泛地说明了人类本性中固有的和平或暴力。这方面的讨论自然转向在世界各区域内最初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，特别是通过对大规模特征的分析，如环城墙和护城河，这些特征极大地改变了当地的景观。该项目由博士生Justin Bracken领导，将调查危地马拉Peten的玛雅人在前古典时期晚期（公元前400/300年-公元150年）建造这些早期特征的动态。为此，该项目采用了传统的考古发掘和制图技术，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。这种安排进一步加深了他们对家乡考古历史的了解，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中的就业能力。最后的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提出。它们将有助于查明战争在复杂社会的兴起中所起的具体作用，并为对前古典玛雅发展的日益细微的理解提供一个新的视角。本项目的研究设计围绕以下问题展开：合作与冲突在国家级社会最初的传播中分别扮演了怎样的角色？这个问题是通过权衡合作行为（许多个人在一个共同的项目中协同工作）和冲突（防御工事所代表的长期投资）的相对贡献来调查的。这种方法并不预设一种精英阶级强迫平民劳动的等级安排；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之外的多种影响和重要程度，分析了它们作为水文控制、社会边界和仪式空间描绘的功能。Muralla de Len的小场地坐落在一个三面环水的自然高地上，为研究提供了环境。石墙环绕着它，一条运河将最宽的陆路入口一分为二，该遗址似乎以防御为导向。该遗址的占领至少可以追溯到前古典时期晚期，可能更早，在其历史早期就建立了遗址布局。对周边城墙和运河的挖掘将旨在建立一个牢固的建筑年表，展示它们在时间上的形式以及它们对水流和个人运动的影响，从而确定它们对早期社会复杂性时代当地和区域社会环境的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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.