Dissertation Research: Rural Household and Community Development in the Xunantunich Hinterland During the Late and Terminal Classic

在温迪·阿什莫尔博士的指导下，辛西娅·罗宾女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。在先前研究的基础上，她将在位于伯利兹河谷热带低地环境中的Xunantunich遗址进行考古调查和挖掘。Xunantunich是一个玛雅遗址，在晚期至晚期古典时期（约1000年）被占领。公元600-1000年），因此跨越了玛雅文明的高度和早期衰落。该遗址是不寻常的，因为相对于其估计的人口规模，它包含一个相对较小的仪式中心和缺乏纪念性建筑。 在玛雅发展的高峰期之后，大多数遗址的规模都在下降，但在Xunantunich似乎发生了相反的情况，中心变得更大而不是更小。罗宾女士想研究“中央”和“农村”地区之间的关系，并通过这种关系深入了解政体是如何在社会和政治上组织起来的，以及是什么力量把这个实体团结在一起。虽然玛雅地区的许多工作都集中在遗址中心，但对腹地地区的了解较少。 罗宾女士将继续她的实地考察，以确定家庭地区，因为这些可以揭示最清楚的社会和经济组织。她将使用前几季开发的方法，在可能有人居住的地区定期提取土芯，并通过分析由此恢复的文化遗迹，确定进行大规模水平挖掘的家园。她还将挖掘更大的社会群体长期占领的土丘。她发现的陶器、石制品和其他材料将使她能够确定各个遗址的年代，并研究诸如工艺专业化和等级分化程度等问题。 虽然众所周知，玛雅人在古典时期的鼎盛时期将大量的个人融入中央控制的社会群体，但实现这一目标的机制并不清楚，考古学家对这些纽带的性质和强度存在分歧。只有通过大规模的挖掘和调查，答案才有可能出现，罗宾女士的研究就是朝着这个方向发展的。她提供的数据将引起许多考古学家的兴趣。该项目还将协助培训一名有前途的青年科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Wendy Ashmore, MS Cynthia Robin will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. Building on prior research she will conduct an archaeological survey and excavation at the site of Xunantunich located in the Belize River Valley in a tropical lowland environment. Xunantunich is a Mayan site which was occupied during the Late to Terminal Classic periods (ca. 600-1000 AD) and thus spans both the height and early decline of the Mayan civilization. The site is unusual because in relation to its estimated population size it contains a relatively small ceremonial center and a dearth of monumental architecture. After the peak of Mayan development when most sites decline in size the opposite appears to have occurred at Xunantunich and the center grows larger rather than smaller. MS Robin wants to examine the relationship between `central` and `rural` areas and through this gain insight into how the polity was organized socially and politically and what forces held the entity together. While much work in the Mayan region has focused on site centers less is known about hinterland areas. MS Robin shall continue her fieldwork to locate household areas since these can shed the most light on social and economic organization. Using a methodology developed in prior seasons she will extract soil cores spaced at regular intervals in areas of likely habitation and through analysis of cultural remains thus recovered locate homesteads for extensive horizontal excavation. She will also excavate in mounds which result from longer term occupation by larger social groups. The ceramics, lithics and other materials recovered will permit her to date individual sites and to examine questions such as craft specialization and degree of hierarchical differentiation. While it is known that Mayan settlements at the height of the Classic period integrated large numbers of individuals into centrally controlled social groupings the mechanisms used to accomplish this end are not well understood and archaeologists disagree on the nature and strength of these bonds. It is only through large scale excavation and survey that answers are likely to emerge and MS Robin's research is directed towards this end. The data she produces will be of interest to many archaeologists. The project will also assist in the training of a promising young scientist.