Dissertation Research: Residential Architecture and Warfare in the Northern Maya Lowlands

在David Freidel博士的指导下，Travis Stanton先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。在弗莱德尔博士之前工作的基础上，斯坦顿将分析在墨西哥北佩滕地区的亚克苏纳玛雅遗址进行考古挖掘时收集的材料。斯坦顿假设，通过对建筑风格随时间变化的分析，可以确定场地布局和建筑技术在多大程度上反映了地区政治权力的组织。亚克苏纳的核心区占地约1平方公里，包括卫城、堤道和凸起的石头结构以及许多较小的土丘。尽管亚克苏纳的规模很大，但它从来都不是一个占主导地位的地区强国，在其漫长的史前历史中，玛雅居民属于三个更大的政治团体的范围。对建筑物的大规模焚烧和破坏表明，这座城市不止一次被征服。斯坦顿先生希望确定在第一次征服之后空间和物理组织重新组织的程度，为了实现这一目标，他将把遗址的建筑形态和个别建筑的设计与征服强国的建筑和征服前的同类建筑进行比较。此外，对材料遗存的分析将提供对征服前社会组织如何发展以及后来如何转变的洞察。考古学家认识到，个别玛雅遗址被整合到更大的政治网络中，通过发现每个遗址的范围并追踪它们是如何随着时间的推移而变化的，就有可能理解政治组织所依据的原则。在亚克苏纳，非建筑数据强烈表明场地支配地位是如何随着时间的推移而变化的，这提供了一个很好的受控环境来确定建筑是否真的反映了这些不断变化的权力模式。如果事实如此，它将为考古分析提供一个强大的工具。该项目还将帮助培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. David Freidel, Mr. Travis Stanton will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Building on Dr. Freidel's prior work, Mr. Stanton will analyze material collected during archaeological excavation at the Mayan site of Yaxuna located in the Northern Peten region of Mexico. Through an analysis of changes in architectural style over time it will, Mr. Stanton postulates, be possible to determine the extent to which site layout and building techniques reflect the organization of regional political power. The core area of Yaxuna covers approximately one square kilometer and includes an acropolis, causeways and raised stone structures as well as numerous smaller earthen mounds. Although significant in size, Yaxuna was never a dominant regional power and over its long prehistory the Mayan inhabitants fell within the sphere of three larger political groups. Extensive burning and destruction of structures indicates that the city was conquered more than once. Mr. Stanton wishes to determine the extent to which the spatial and physical organization was reorganized after the first of these conquests and to accomplish this goal he will compare the architectural configuration of the site and the design of individual buildings to those of the conquering power as well as to its pre-conquest counterpart. In addition, analysis of material remains will provide insight into how social organization developed in pre-conquest times and how it was subsequently transformed. Archaeologists recognize that individual Mayan sites were integrated into larger political networks and that by discovering the extent of each and tracing how they changed over time it is possible to understand the principles which underlie political organization. At Yaxuna, non-architectural data strongly suggest how site domination changed over time and this provides an excellent controlled context to determine whether architecture in fact reflects these changing power patterns. If such, in fact, is the case, it will provide an powerful tool for archaeological analysis. The project will also assist in training a promising young scientist.