Dissertation Research: Regional Community Integration During the Maya "Collapse", Ivestigations at Chaa Creek, Belize

在Richard Leventhal博士的指导下，Samuel Connell先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将继续在位于伯利兹Xunantunich附近的Chaa Creek考古遗址进行测绘和挖掘，这是一个大型和长寿的玛雅遗址。对后者的广泛研究表明，它的繁荣一直持续到公元900年以后，这是一个重要的事实，因为在中美洲低地的大部分地区，玛雅文明在大约100年前开始崩溃。在他的研究中，康奈尔先生将专注于Chaa Creek和Xunantunich之间的关系，以了解在此期间较大和较小实体之间的相互作用如何变化，以及它们可能对Xunantunich的持续生存能力产生什么影响。Chaa Creek形成了一个空间有限的社区，有小房子土丘，也有较大的对应物，其中包括石碑，大型广场和五米高的寺庙土丘。Connell先生将对该地点的表面特征进行全面测绘，以获得总体规模和密度的指示，并确定这些特征如何随时间变化。他还将对30%的Chaa Creek社区遗址进行广泛的挖掘。这将提供一个强有力的代表性样本，并允许挖掘每种房屋类型的多个实例。水平曝光将足够大，以跟踪单个单元的形状。过去的工作表明，最常收集的文物是陶器，石器和纺锤轮，根据这些以及房屋形式，人们可以深入了解社区的社会和意识形态组织。还将有可能确定这些因素如何随着时间的推移而变化。 康奈尔先生利用了一种社会学模式，该模式区分了社会组织的“机械”和“有机”形式。由于组成单位的互补性，后一种形式将社会更紧密地联系在一起，康奈尔先生认为，由于外部施加的压力，在玛雅崩溃期间，较大和较小遗址之间的联系性质从机械变为有机。这是一个新的和原始的方式来查看这样的考古数据和研究是重要的，不仅是因为有价值的信息Chaa溪这将提供，但也因为它将有助于建立和评估一个新的和潜在的有用的分析框架。它还将协助培养一名有前途的青年科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Richard Leventhal Mr. Samuel Connell will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will continue a program of mapping and excavation at the archaeological site of Chaa Creek which is located in Belize near Xunantunich, a large and long-lived Mayan site. Extensive research at this latter indicates that it prospered until well after 900 AD, a significant fact because across much of lowland Middle America Mayan civilization began to collapse about 100 years before that. In his research Mr. Connell will focus on the relationship between Chaa Creek and Xunantunich to understand how interactions between the larger and smaller entity changed over this period and what light they may shed on Xunantunich's continuing viability. Chaa Creek forms a spatially bounded community with small house mounds as well as larger counterparts which contain stelae, large plazas and five meter high temple mounds. Mr. Connell will completely mapping surface features at the site to obtain an indication of overall size and density and to determine how these changed over time. He will also conduct extensive excavation on a sample of 30% of the Chaa Creek community sites. This will provide a strong representative sample and allow for excavations of multiple instances of each house type. Horizontal exposures will be large enough to trace the shape of individual units. Past work has indicated, the most commonly collected artifacts are pottery, lithics and spindle whorls and on the basis of these as well as house forms one can gain insight into the social and ideological organization of the community. It will also be possible to determine how these changed over time. Mr. Connell has utilized a sociological model which distinguishes between `mechanical` and `organic` forms of social organization. Because of the complementary nature of the constituent units, the latter form binds societies more tightly together and Mr. Connell argues that because of stresses imposed from the outside, the nature of ties between the larger and smaller sites changed from mechanical to organic during the Mayan collapse. This is a new and original way to view such archaeological data and the research is important not only because of the valuable information about Chaa Creek which will be provided but also because it will help to establish and evaluate a new and potentially useful analytical framework. It will also assist in training a promising young scientist.