Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Societal Collapse and Migration

何塞·劳尔·奥尔蒂斯是亚利桑那大学的博士生，他将研究玛雅高地社区在9-10世纪放弃低地中心后，受到潜在移民的影响。最近对玛雅地区《终极经典》的研究表明，玛雅社区受到崩溃过程的不同影响，他们的反应是不同的，包括破坏和遗弃、短暂繁荣以及弹性和转变。奥尔蒂斯的研究将集中在检测来自潜在接收端的迁徙，这一主题在其他世界范围内的古代迁徙案例中已经得到了解决，但在其他玛雅次区域被跟踪的最少。关于玛雅崩塌的影响，包括低地人口流动的影响，在高地地区较少被提及。这项研究的结果将有助于关于社会身份，特别是古代玛雅人的社会身份如何与技术相交，以及如何在考古记录中发现移民的日益增长的讨论。Ortiz的工作试图通过提供来自他们自己的文化历史的重要文化历史信息，并促进合作参与、重新拥有和保护当地文化遗产，对居住在遗址附近的土著Qeqchi玛雅人产生积极影响。该项目的结果试图公开讨论玛雅社区经历玛雅崩溃的各种方式，通过质疑对这一社会过程的流行和灾难性信念。在稻方武博士的指导下，奥尔蒂斯将在危地马拉的Kixpek进行考古研究。这个古老的聚落位于高地的北缘，紧靠低地地区的南面。在该遗址发现的随葬陶器表明，从古典晚期到后古典时代早期(公元600-1200)，该社区经历了古典玛雅的崩溃。Chixoy排水系统上的Kixpek遗址提供了一个机会，来研究一个高原社区如何经历在终端经典时期和之后发生的社会过程。移民是否在北部高地的邻居之间进行了重新安置？在这一地区有什么证据表明这种迁移？玛雅崩溃后，随着新的社会群体的潜在引入，高地陶瓷技术是持续存在还是发生了变化？Ortiz将在B组和主广场周围推定的居民区进行挖掘，以获取玛雅坍塌前和后占领时期的陶器样本。实验室分析将包括通过陶器分类的宏观和微观技术，按风格和技术属性进行详细的陶瓷分析。Ortiz将评估技术系统的连续性和变化，特别是在终极经典时期之后可能重新安置人员的Kixpek陶器、黑铁矿和埋葬实践方面。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。

Jose Raul Ortiz, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arizona, will investigate how Maya highland communities were affected by potential immigration after the abandonment of lowland centers during the 9-10th centuries. Recent research on the Terminal Classic in the Maya area shows that Maya communities were differentially affected by collapse processes and their responses were variable, including cases of disruption and abandonment, short flourishment, and resilience and transformation. Ortiz's research will focus on the detection of migration from a potential receiving end, a theme that has been addressed in other worldwide ancient migration cases but that has been minimally tracked in other Maya sub-regions. Questions about the effects of the Maya collapse, including the impact of lowland population movements, have been less frequently addressed for the highlands. The results of this research will contribute to the growing discussion on how social identity, specifically of the ancient Maya, intersects with technology, and how migrants can be detected in the archaeological record. Ortiz's work seeks to make a positive impact on the indigenous Qeqchi Maya living near the site by providing important culture-historical information from their own cultural past and promoting collaborative participation, re-ownership, and safekeeping of local cultural heritage. The results of the project seek to publicly discuss the myriad ways that Maya communities experienced the Maya collapse by contesting popular and catastrophic beliefs of this social process.Under the direction of Dr. Takeshi Inomata, Mr. Ortiz will conduct archaeological research at Kixpek, Guatemala. This ancient settlement is located at the northern edge of the highlands immediately south of the lowlands region. Funerary pottery found at the site indicates a Late Classic to Early Postclassic occupation (AD 600-1200), showing that the community lived through the Classic Maya collapse. The site of Kixpek on the Chixoy drainage presents an opportunity to examine how a highland community experienced social processes that happened during and after the Terminal Classic. Did migrants relocate among their neighbors at the northern highlands and what evidence of this migration is available at this region? Did highland ceramic technologies persist or change with the potential introduction of new social groups after the Maya collapse? Ortiz will conduct excavations in Group B and presumed habitation areas surrounding the main plaza in order to obtain pottery samples from pre- and post-Maya collapse periods of occupation. Laboratory analysis will include detailed ceramic analysis by stylistic and technological attributes through macroscopic and microscopic techniques for pottery classification. Ortiz will evaluate the continuities and changes in technological systems, specifically in pottery, obsidian, and burial practices at Kixpek, amidst the potential relocation of people after the Terminal Classic period.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.