Settlement Archaeology at Xunantunich, Belize, Central America

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Wendy Ashmore博士和她的同事们将在中美洲伯利兹的伯利兹河谷进行两个考古季节的实地研究。工作将集中在Xunantunich附近，这是一个玛雅人的城市中心，大约在公元650年到1000年之间被占领。在该中心已经完成了两个季节的实地考察，阿什莫尔博士现在将在纪念性建筑领域之外进行考古和地貌调查，以记录当地人口在时间和空间上的分布。将进行考古调查和试验挖掘，以记录当地经济生产、消费和一般生活水平的性质和变化。对一个精英住宅集群的广泛挖掘将提供对这一社会层面组织的洞察。地貌学研究将记录当地景观本身的变化，特别是人类对冲积土壤的不断利用，以及不断变化的水文制度如何影响考古遗迹的保存和探测。考古学家希望了解玛雅人是如何实现高度的社会复杂性，使其能够建造巨大的建筑，并在艰难而恶劣的热带低地环境中养活大量人口。最近的资料表明，玛雅史前是动荡的，其特征是政治秩序和定居组织的突然变化。因为寻南都尼奇遗址跨越了这一时期的大部分时间，并经历了几次这样的转变，它为研究这个问题提供了一个很好的背景。Ashmore博士假设，家庭层面存在着很大的独立性和连续性，这些单位提供了玛雅社会的基本组成部分，并且在重大的政治动荡中保持相对不变。这项研究产生的数据将使她能够研究这个问题。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为许多考古学家提供感兴趣的数据。它将为复杂社会的发展提供新的见解，并阐明适应热带低地环境的组织方法。＊＊＊

9321503 Ashmore With National Science Foundation support Dr. Wendy Ashmore and her colleagues will conduct two field seasons of archaeological research in the Belize river valley, Belize Central America. Work will center in the vicinity of Xunantunich, a Mayan civic center which was occupied from approximately 650 to 1000 AD. Two field seasons have been completed at the center itself and Dr. Ashmore will now conduct archaeological and geomorphological investigation beyond the area of monumental architecture to document the distribution of local population in time and space. Archaeological survey and test excavation will be conducted to document the nature and variability of local economic production, consumption and general standard of living at the homestead scale. Extensive excavation at one elite residential cluster will provide insight into organization at this social level. Geomorphological research will document changes in the local landscape itself, especially the evolving human use of alluvial soils and how changing hydrological regimes affected preservation and detection of archaeological remains. Archaeologists wish to understand how Mayan peoples achieved a high level of social complexity which allowed for the production of monumental architecture and the support of large populations in a difficult and harsh tropical lowland environment. Recent data indicate that Mayan prehistory was turbulent and characterized by abrupt changes in political order and settlement organization. Because the site of Xunantunich spans much of this period and underwent several such shifts, it provides an excellent context to examine this question. Dr. Ashmore postulates that a great deal of independence and continuity existed at the household level, that these units provided the basic building blocks of Mayan society and that they remained relatively unchanged during major political upheavals. Data produced by this research will allow her to examine this issue. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will provide new insight into the development of complex society and shed light on methods of organization adapted to tropical lowland environments. ***