Iwawi Ceramic Style Study Renewal

在国家科学基金会的支持下，威廉·伊斯贝尔博士和他的同事们将在玻利维亚的喀喀湖岸边一个占地4公顷的山丘Iwawi进行考古研究。它距离提瓦纳库23公里，据说提瓦纳库是安第斯山脉最早的帝国的首都。虽然有假说认为岩城是提瓦纳库的一个港口(尽管还有待证实)，但很明显，该遗址被占据了两千年之久，人们捕捞和采集湖泊资源。他们还种植了隆起的田地，这些田地的化石遗骸环绕着遗址。Iwawi之前的工作表明，这个土丘包含一个清晰完整的地层，并有丰富的植物和动物遗骸以及陶瓷和其他文物。该遗址还包括一些墓葬。尽管许多考古学家已经在喀提卡河盆地工作多年，但由于缺乏公认的年代学，这项研究一直受到阻碍。与世界上许多地区一样，测年是基于对陶瓷组合的分析，但在该地区还没有建立可靠的陶瓷年代学。如果没有这一点，就不可能确定该地区丰富的许多表层结构和遗骸的年龄。在过去NSF资助的工作中，伊斯贝尔博士和他的同事们开始了创造这样一个陶瓷序列的艰苦任务，目前的奖项将允许他们完成这一过程。他们还将分析收集的动物、花卉和其他材料，这些材料将提供对居民如何生活以及他们的行为随着时间的变化的洞察。复杂的社会似乎在世界许多地区几乎同时独立出现，考古学家希望了解造成这一现象的过程。由于提瓦纳库是第一个伟大的安第斯帝国，它可以自始至终提供这一过程的例子，因此考古学家将注意力集中在它身上。蒂瓦纳库显然支持了大量生活在高海拔、寒冷和不适宜居住的环境中的人，考古学家希望了解他们遵循了什么生存战略。伊斯贝尔博士的工作不仅将为这些问题提供新的线索，还将为其他研究人员提供具有重要价值的编年史工具。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. William Isbell and his colleagues will conduct archaeological research at the site of Iwawi, a four-hectare mound on the shore of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. It is located 23 km from Tiwanaku which, it has been argued, was the capital of the earliest empire in the Andes. While it has been hypothesized (although yet to be proven) that Iwawi served as a port for Tiwanaku, it is clear that the site was occupied for two millennia and that people fished and collected lacustrine resources. They also cultivated raised fields whose fossil remains surround the site. Prior work at Iwawi has indicated that the mound contains a clear intact stratigraphy and is rich in floral and faunal remains as well as ceramics and other artifacts. The site also contains a number of burials. While a number archaeologists have worked in the Titicaca basin for many years the research has been hampered by lack of an accepted chronology. Dating, as in many parts of the world, is based on the analysis of ceramic assemblages but in this region a secure ceramic chronology has not been established. Without this, it is not possible to determine the age of the many surface structures and remains which are abundant in the region. In their past NSF supported work, Dr. Isbell and his colleagues began the painstaking task of creating such a ceramic sequence and the current award will allow them to complete the process. They will also analyze the faunal, floral and other materials collected and these will provide insight into how the inhabitants lived and how their behaviors changed over time. Complex societies appear to have arisen independently at roughly the same time in many parts of the world and archaeologists wish to understand the processes responsible for this phenomenon. Because Tiwanaku was the first of the great Andean empires it can provide an example of this process from beginning to end and therefore archaeologists have focused attention on it. Tiwanaku evidently supported large numbers of people in a high, cold and inhospitable environment and archaeologists wish to understand what subsistence strategies were followed. Dr. Isbell's work will not only shed new light on these issues but also provide a chronological tool of great value to other researchers.