Dissertation Research: Symbolism and Ritual at Teotihuacan

在乔治·考吉尔博士的指导下，杉山三郎将为他的博士论文收集数据。墨西哥和美国考古学家在墨西哥中部的特奥蒂瓦坎遗址进行了多年的挖掘，发现了许多祭祀人类的墓葬。最近，考吉尔博士和他的同事们在大型羽蛇金字塔上进行了挖掘，并发现了更多。虽然这些材料有可能提供对特奥蒂瓦坎政治、社会和仪式组织的洞察，但对它们的研究相对较少。杉山的项目将有助于纠正这一点。有证据表明，这些墓葬是按照金字塔的位置精心布置的。其中许多都有丰富的墓葬供品，包括雕刻的石头和黑铁矿工具。作为第一步，杉山先生将绘制坟墓的空间分布图，然后确定与墓葬物品的关联。然后，他将寻找材料安排的模式，并将坟墓放在按时间顺序排列的背景下。在此基础上，他希望重建相关的仪式。由于这些祭祀是国家的仪式，仪式直接或间接地被操纵以达到政治目的，因此对这些仪式的了解也将有助于特奥蒂瓦坎国家的组织和维护。特奥蒂瓦坎是前哥伦布时代中美洲最大和最有影响力的城市之一。它在大约公元1世纪到8世纪之间在墨西哥中部蓬勃发展，面积约为20平方公里，在鼎盛时期至少有10万人口。对生态环境、政治、经济、贸易制度、技术、宗教等意识形态进行了研究，以了解社会及其历史本身，并为世界范围内古代国家的演变提供理论依据。现在人们知道，这座城市是新大陆古代城市化的一个独特例子。然而，对于政府的具体形式以及在这个国家的发展和运作中意识形态计划的性质，人们仍然知之甚少。杉山先生的研究将探讨这些问题。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供许多考古学家感兴趣的数据。它将增加我们对复杂社会如何发展的理解，并将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. George Cowgill, Mr. Saburo Sugiyama will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Over the course of many years of excavation by both Mexican and U.S. archaeologists at the site of Teotihuacan in central Mexico, many sacrificial human burials have been uncovered. Recently Dr. Cowgill and his colleagues conducted excavations at the large Feathered Serpent Pyramid and discovered a number more. Although these materials have the potential to provide insight into Teotihuacan political, social and ritual organization they have been relatively little studied. Mr. Sugiyama's project will help to remedy this. Evidence indicates that the burials were carefully placed in relation to the pyramid. Many contain rich grave offerings of carved stone and obsidian tools. As a first step, Mr. Sugiyama will plot the spatial distribution of the graves and then determine associations with burial objects. He will then search for patterns in the arrangement of materials and place the graves in a chronological context. On this basis he hopes to reconstruct the rituals involved. Since these sacrifices were state ceremonies and ritual was manipulated directly or indirectly for political goals, understanding of these ceremonies will also shed light on the organization and maintenance of the Teotihuacan state. Teotihuacan was one of the largest and most influential cities in Mesoamerica in Pre-Columbian times. It flourished in central Mexico between approximately the first century A.D. and the eighth, covering about 20 km2 with a population of at least 100,000 during its peak. The ecological setting, the politics, the economy, the trade system, the technology, religion and other aspects of ideology have been studied for an understanding of the society and its history per se and for theories about the evolution of ancient states in worldwide contexts. It is now known that the city was a unique example of ancient urbanization in the New World. However, still poorly understood are the specific form of the government and the nature of the ideological programs in the development and functioning of this state. Mr. Sugiyama's research will investigate these questions. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will increase our understanding of how complex societies developed and it will assist in the training of a promising young scientist.