Dissertation Research: Household Economy in a Precolumbian State

在人类学教授Alan Kolata博士的指导下， 芝加哥大学的马丁·吉索先生将收集数据 为了他的博士论文。他将分析石器材料 源自玻利维亚的蒂瓦纳库遗址在过去的工作中，他 从这个大型遗址的许多区域收集了地表文物。 在国家科学基金会的支持下， 在一个被认为是 石制品生产车间。他还将分析大 样本已经收集。他将收集数据， 石器的面密度、原材料和种类 代表。他还将重建生产过程， 确定标准化程度。这将允许他 研究工艺专业化的问题，并通过它， 现场经济专业化程度。吉索先生将 同时进行地质调查以确定原材料来源 然后用中子活化将工作过的材料 混元这些最新数据也将揭示经济 organization. Tiwanaku是位于湖中的大型考古遗址 玻利维亚的的喀喀盆地。考虑到它的规模， 它可以被定义为一个“国家”， 这是南美洲已知的最早的一个。是起源 可以追溯到CA。公元前300年考古学家知道 大约在这个时候，世界上许多地方出现了国家， 我仍然不了解经济和政治的细节， 涉及的过程。例如，目前尚不清楚工艺是否 专业化要么起了因果作用，要么是 这样的集中化。吉索先生的研究将有助于回答 这个问题 这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。会产生 许多考古学家感兴趣的数据。这将增加我们的 理解我们这样的复杂社会是如何产生的， 并将协助培训一个有前途的 年轻的科学家

Under the direction of Dr. Alan Kolata, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, Mr. Martin Giesso will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will analyze lithic materials derived from the Bolivian site of Tiwanaku. In past work he has collected surface artifacts from many areas of this large site. With National Science Foundation support he will continue this work and conduct limited excavation at a locale believed to be a lithics production workshop. He will also analyze the large sample already collected. He will collect data on variations in areal density, raw materials and types of stone implements represented. He will also reconstruct the production process to determine the degree of standardization. This will permit him to examine the issue of craft specialization and through it the degree of economic specialization at the site. Mr. Giesso will also conduct a geological survey to locate raw material sources and then use neutron activation to tie worked material to point of origin. These latter data also will shed light on economic organization. Tiwanaku is a large archaeological site located in the Lake Titicaca Basin of Bolivia. Given its size, monumental architecture and broad influence it may defined as a "State" and as such is the earliest one known in South America. It's origins may be traced to ca. 300 B.C. While archaeologists know that states arose at about this time in many parts of the world, they still do not understand in the detail the economic and political processes involved. For example it is not clear whether craft specialization played either a causal role or was a result of such centralization. Mr. Giesso's research will help to answer this question. This research is important for several reasons. It will produce data of interest to many archaeologists. It will increase our understanding of how complex societies such as our own arose and were maintained and will assist in the training of a promising young scientist.