Craft Production and Sociopolitical Hierarchy in Southern Mesoamerica

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Schortman博士和Urban博士将在洪都拉斯西北部96平方公里的纳科山谷继续他们的考古工作。他们之前的研究揭示了在西班牙征服之前两千多年的持续占领。这一跨度的特点是政治集中化的变化和山谷在单一政体中整合的程度。该小组将把他们的注意力集中在最显著的集中事件之一，即古典晚期(公元600-95年)，当时纳科及其邻近地区是从拉塞拉遗址管理的。尽管考古记录强烈表明权力集中在拉塞拉，但要确定这一政治进程背后的因素要困难得多。有证据表明，拉塞拉的尺子垄断了有限范围内一般需要的物品的生产和分销。研究人员推测，这些商品是在首都当地的材料上使用复杂、难学的技术制成的。实际上，控制是通过强加经济垄断来实现的。然而，数据也表明，这种垄断并不完全，边远地区操纵制度以获得不同程度的自治权。本研究的目标是详细评估这一系统是如何工作的。研究小组将挖掘一系列遗址，不仅在拉塞拉首府，还将在一些偏远地区，这些地区位于不同的距离。这项研究很重要，因为它将为复杂社会的形成和维持提供新的线索。在纳科河谷观察到的有效的政治集中化水平在今天的第三世界许多地方得到了广泛的复制。考古学提供了获得这种政治机制的独特洞察力的可能性，因为它允许在更长的时间内遵循这些机制。这项工作也很重要，因为它将涉及大量本科生，并鼓励他们追求科学事业。***

Schortman With National Science Foundation support Drs. Schortman and Urban will continue their archaeological work in the 96 km2 Naco valley which is located in NW Honduras. Their prior research has revealed over two millennia of continuous occupation predating the Spanish Conquest. This span was characterized by changes in political centralization and the extent to which the valley was integrated within a single polity. The team will focus their attention on one of the most marked centralizing episodes, the Late Classic period (AD 600-95) when Naco and its immediate environs were administered from the site of La Sierra. Although concentration of power at La Sierra is strongly indicated by the archaeological record, it is much harder to identify the factors which underlie this political process. Evidence suggests that La Sierra's rulers monopolized the production and distribution of a limited range of generally needed items. These goods, the researchers hypothesize, were fashioned using complex, difficult- to-learn skills on materials localized in the capital. In effect, control was achieved through the imposition of an economic monopoly. However, data also indicate that this monopoly was not complete and that outlying areas manipulated the system to obtain varying degrees of autonomy. The goal of the present research is to evaluate in detail how this system worked. The research team will excavate a series of sites, not only in the capitol of La Sierra, but also in a number of outlying areas which are located at different distances from it. This research is important because it will shed new light on how complex societies emerge and are maintained. The level of effective political centralization observed in the Naco valley is widely replicated in many parts of the third world today. Archaeology offers the possibility to gain unique insight into such political mechanisms because it permits them to be followed over extended time periods. The work is also import ant because it will involve a large number of undergraduate students and encourage them to pursue careers in science. ***