Dissertation Research: Regional Settlement Patterns in Prehistoric Oruro, Bolivia

在马克·贝曼博士的指导下，蒂莫西·麦克安德鲁斯先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将在玻利维亚高地拉乔亚地区进行考古研究。他的项目的目标有三个：对这一已知包含早期形成时期丘陵遗址的区域进行密集调查；收集地表材料，以便评估每个遗址的变异性；在选定的遗址挖掘试验单位，以探索地层和地表/地下关系。在实现这些目标的过程中，这样收集的定居点模式数据将有助于了解定居点的动态以及社会政治和经济组织问题。为了实现这些目标，麦克安德鲁斯先生将采用15%的系统随机样带抽样策略，这将允许推广到更广泛的领域。在这个海拔高度，几乎没有植被可以掩盖史前遗迹，所以调查可以快速进行。将在形成时期的所有地点系统地随机抽取表面遗骸--主要是陶片--的样本。将在选定的地点挖掘经过判断的测试坑，以提供基于不同职业水平的诊断文物的相对年代表。然后，将使用地理信息系统来直观地显示数据，将种群分布与生态变量联系起来，并确定这种变化随时间的变化。形成时期(公元前2000年-公元300年)安第斯山脉中南部地区的特点是：第一个久居的生活方式，土豆等植物的驯化，最早的陶器和金属技术，以及复杂社会组织的出现。正是在这一时期，为新世界最复杂的列前文明之一的发展奠定了基础，它将玻利维亚和埃尔多斯等相隔甚远的地区连接成一个单一的帝国。考古学家希望了解导致这种复杂性的过程，麦克安德鲁斯先生的研究应该能揭示这一点。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。它将增加对文明发展早期阶段的了解，并将有助于培养有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Marc Bermann, Mr. Timothy McAndrews will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological research in the highland La Joya region in Bolivia. The objects of his project are threefold: to conduct an intensive survey of this area which is known to contain early Formative period mound sites; to collect surface materials which will allow the assessment of variability within each site; to excavate test units at selected sites to explore stratigraphy and surface/subsurface relationships. In fulfilling these objectives, the settlement pattern data thus collected will allow questions of settlement dynamics and sociopolitical and economic organization will be obtained. To accomplish these goals Mr. McAndrews will employ a 15% systematic random transect sampling strategy which will permit generalization to the broader area. At this altitude there is very little vegetation to obscure prehistoric remains, so survey can proceed rapidly. Systematic random samples of surfaces remains - mostly potsherds - will be taken at all sites which date from the Formative period. Judgementally placed test pits will be excavated at selected sites to provide a relative chronology based on diagnostic artifacts from distinct occupational levels. A geographic information system will then be employed to visually display the data, to relate population distributions to ecological variables and to determine how this changes over time. The Formative Period (2000 B.C. - 300 A.D.) in the south-central Andes is characterized by the first sedentary lifeway, the domestication of plants such as the potato, the earliest pottery and metal technologies and the emergence of complex social organization. It was during this period that the stage was set for the development of one of the most complex precolumbian civilizations in the New World which joined together regions as far separated as Bolivia and Equador into a single empire. Archaeologists wish to understand the processes which led to such complexity and Mr. McAndrews research should shed light on this. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will increase understanding of the earliest stages in the development of civilization and will assist in the training of a promising young scientist.