Explaining the Destruction of Monumental Architecture

该项目的目标是通过研究纪念性建筑的破坏来增加对古代社会的了解。一个多世纪以来，考古学的研究都集中在世界各地令人印象深刻的建筑和工程壮举上，而对它们被拆除的原因的研究却少得多。这项研究的重点是数百座巨大的石像被雕刻、运输、竖立，然后被推倒的地方。流行的说法将雕像的毁坏归因于战争和社会崩溃的混乱时期。也有人认为，雕像可能是由于疏忽或强烈地震而倒塌的。由考古学家、地震学家和土木工程师组成的研究小组正在与学生们密切合作进行这项研究。该项目有助于增进对土著文化的了解，预计其结果将成为对这一个案研究的共识解释的基础，并促进其他地方的有关调查。纪念碑是了解人们价值观、信仰和社会记忆的重要窗口。古迹的破坏尤其重要，因为它可以揭示社会的这些方面如何随着时间的推移而变化。为了开始了解雕像的破坏，研究小组正在进行两种类型的研究。第一种方法是根据雕像破碎表面的风化情况，建立一个雕像倒塌的年表。暴露在雨水和海浪中会随着时间的推移而损坏雕像，可以用专门的手持式超声波进行非破坏性测量。为了确定雕像上观察到的损伤累积需要多长时间，研究小组对石块进行了人工风化，并进行了其他实验。他们的第二个目标是通过寻找雕像倒塌的时间和地点的独特模式来评估雕像是如何倒塌的，这些模式可能与有目的的破坏、疏忽或地震有关。该团队利用了考古地震学的先进技术，特别是工程计算机模拟，预测雕像在大地震中的表现，再加上记录和合成的地震波形。由这两个目标产生的数据被提供给当地社区，以帮助他们做出关于未来雕像保护的决定。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。

The goal of this project is to increase understanding ancient societies by examining the destruction of monumental architecture. More than a century of archaeological research has focused on the construction of impressive architectural and engineering feats around the globe—with far less research devoted to the cause(s) of their demolition. This research focuses on sites where hundreds of massive, stone statues were carved, transported, erected, and subsequently toppled over. Popular accounts have attributed the destruction of statues to a chaotic period of warfare and societal collapse. It has also been suggested statues may have been toppled by neglect, or strong earthquakes. The research team comprised of archaeologists, a seismologist, and civil engineers are working closely with students in conducting this research. The project serves to enhance indigenous cultural understanding and the results are anticipated to form the basis of a consensus explanation for this case study and promote related inquiry elsewhere.Monuments are a critical window into people’s values, beliefs, and social memories. The destruction of monuments is especially important since it can shed light on how these aspects of societies change over time. To begin to understand the destruction of statues the team is conducting two types of research. The first is to build a chronology of statue toppling based on the exposure of the broken surfaces of statues to weathering. Exposure to rain and sea spray will over time damage statues in way that can be measured non-destructively with a specialized handheld ultrasound. To determine how long damage observed on statues took to accumulate, the team is artificially weathering stone blocks as well as conducting other experiments. Their second objective is to assess how statues were toppled by looking for distinctive patterns in the timing and location of statue toppling that can be linked to purposeful destruction, neglect, or earthquakes. The team takes advantage of advances in archaeoseismology, specifically engineering computer simulations that predict how statues might behave in major earthquakes, coupled with recorded and synthetic earthquake waveforms. Data produced by these two objectives are delivered to the local community to help make decisions about future conservation of statues.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.