Dissertation Research: Changing Patterns of Community Structure and Organization: The End of the Classic Period at San Lorenzo, Cayo District, Belize

在Robert Sharer博士的指导下，Jason Yaeger先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将对位于伯利兹的史前玛雅遗址圣洛伦佐进行考古研究。遗址本身很有趣，因为它的大小介于玛雅人广为人知的大型仪式中心和整个玛雅山脉常见的小而孤立的土丘之间。用玛雅人的话说，圣洛伦佐是一个小社区，它的居民可能过着当时大多数人的典型生活。耶格尔先生和他的同事先前在现场进行了挖掘，在国家科学基金会的支持下，这项工作将扩大，以提供具有代表性的住宅样本。建筑物内和邻近地区将被清理，并将挖掘更多的试验坑。将收集大量的石器和陶瓷以及花卉和动物遗骸。在此基础上，将有可能重建家庭之间的相互关系以及维持生计的做法。玛雅文明长期以来引起考古学家的兴趣，不仅是因为建造了令人印象深刻的石碑，还因为在今天人口稀少的热带环境中维持大量人口所需的组织和生存技能。虽然对礼仪土堆的挖掘揭示了仪式组织和精英行为，但人们对构成玛雅社会支柱的较小社区是如何组织的知之甚少。耶格尔的研究将提供相关信息。耶格尔指出，其他研究人员对当今的玛雅村庄进行了研究，并描述了一种特殊的社会组织形式。通过他的挖掘，他将测试同样的模式是否适用于过去。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。它将阐明玛雅文明是如何组织起来的，并将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Robert Sharer, Mr. Jason Yaeger will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct an archaeological study of San Lorenzo, a prehistoric Mayan site located in Belize. The site itself is interesting because it is intermediate in size between the large ritual centers for which the Mayans are so well known and the small isolated mounds which are common across the Mayan range. San Lorenzo is, in Mayan terms, a small community and its inhabitants probably lived a life typical of most people at that time. Mr. Yaeger and his colleagues have conducted prior excavation at the site and with NSF support this work will be expanded to provide a representative sample of dwellings. Areas within and adjacent to structures will be cleared and additional test pits excavated. Abundant stone tools and ceramics as well as floral and faunal remains will be collected. On this basis it will be possible to reconstruct interrelationships among families as well as subsistence practices. The Mayan civilization has long interested archaeologists not only because of the impressive stone monuments which were constructed but also because of the organizational and subsistence skills required to sustain large populations in tropical environments which are sparsely populated today. While excavations at ceremonial mounds have shed considerable light on ritual organization and elite behaviors much less is known about how smaller communities which constituted the backbone of Mayan society were organized. Mr. Yaeger's research will provide relevant information. Mr. Yaeger notes that other researchers have studied present-day Mayan villages and described a particular form of social organization. Through his excavations he will test whether this same model applied to the past. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will shed new light on how the Mayan civilization was organized and it will assist in the training of a promising young scientist.