Craft Production and Sociopolitical Hierarchy in Southern Mesoamerica

在国家科学基金会（NSF）的支持下，爱德华博士 Schortman，Patricia Urban和他们的同事进行了 2004年在纳科山谷进行的考古调查和挖掘 洪都拉斯. 这项工作揭示了一个复杂的存在 在第一个千年中繁荣的史前政体 拉谢拉的中心地区有大量的 既有巨大的平台，也有较小的建筑。 的 周边地区也有许多网站，所有显着 比拉谢拉还小 这表明拉谢拉 代表国家一级政体的首都， 整个纳科山谷，并可能延伸到这些 地文界限 持续的NSF支持将使团队能够分析广泛的 回收的材料。 我们的目标是检查花卉 和动物遗骸，陶瓷和其他文化物品， 以及其他骨骼材料， 政治机制允许分层， 集中发展。 调查人员认为， 经济体系是由精英控制的，并以这种方式组织起来。 一种维持这种统治的方法 这一点，似乎， 本地手工艺品生产以及进口 专门商品。 这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。 一是 增加我们对复杂社会如何发展的理解， 维持并最终崩溃。 该项目还将 提供来自相对未知地区的数据，这些数据将是 引起了众多考古学家的兴趣。 最后因为 这项研究是基于一个本科院校， 学生将被带到外地，它将提供一个 第一手介绍科学是如何进行的， 鼓励这些人在这一领域从事职业。

With National Science Foundation (NSF) support, Drs. Edward Schortman, Patricia Urban and their colleagues have conducted archaeological survey and excavation in the Naco Valley in Honduras. This work has revealed the presence of a complex prehistoric polity which flourished during the first millennium A.D. The central site of La Sierra contains large numbers of both monumental platforms as well as smaller constructions. The surrounding region also has many of sites, all significantly smaller than La Sierra itself. This suggests that La Sierra represents the capital of a state level polity which encompasses the entire Naco valley and possibly extends beyond these physiographic limits. Continuing NSF support will permit the team to analyze the wide range of materials recovered. The goal is to examine the floral and faunal remains, the ceramic and other cultural objects as well as other skeletal material to gain insight into the political mechanisms which permitted stratification and centralization to develop. The investigators believe that the economic system was controlled by the elite and organized in such a way to maintain this domination. This, it appears, extended both to local craft production as well as importation of specialized commodities. The research is important for several reasons. First, it will increase our understanding of how complex societies develop, are maintained and eventually collapse. The project will also provide data from a relatively unknown area and these will be of interest to a large number of archaeologists. Finally, because the research is based at an undergraduate institution and students will be taken into the field, it will provide a firsthand introduction to how science is conducted and hopefully encourage these individuals to pursue careers in this area.