Dissertation Research: Demography and Household Dynamics in the Chiefdoms of the Alto Magdalena, Colombia

在Robert Drennan博士的指导下，Michael Kruschek先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将在哥伦比亚西南部的阿尔托·马格达莱纳地区进行考古发掘。尽管玛雅人、阿兹特克人和印加人最出名的是他们在新大陆史前达到的社会复杂程度，但在阿尔托·马格达莱纳发展起来的政体具有许多相同的特征。考古学家发现了雕刻精美的大型石墓和巨大的石雕。Drennan博士和他的同事们追溯了该地区从公元前1000年到西班牙被征服的大约2600年的史前时期。这一记录表明，随着时间的推移，社会复杂性不断增加，人口规模也在增加。人口增长和社会复杂性发展之间的关系已经确立，考古学家认识到这两个变量是直接相关的。然而，这种关系的性质还远未明朗。一些科学家认为，人口压力是一个驱动力，新的社会形态是由于需要组织越来越多的个人而出现的。其他研究人员认为，因果链条是颠倒的，家庭规模的扩大是对日益复杂的社会结构提供的机会和强加的要求的回应。在阿尔托-马格达莱纳，正如在世界上许多其他地区注意到这一现象一样，人口规模的增加也不确定是来自其他地区的移民的增加，还是导致家庭规模扩大的再生产增加的结果。Kruschek将收集数据以阐明这些问题。他将挖掘大量的小铲子试验坑，以确定跨越2600年的住宅样本，并开发出一种估计房屋大小的有效方法。由于对现代传统人群的人种学研究表明，房屋面积和居住者数量之间存在直接关系，因此有可能确定家庭规模随时间的变化。这些数据，再加上关于文化和大规模人口变化的现有信息，将使赫鲁晓克能够确定人口增长是在重大文化里程碑之前还是之后，以及家庭规模是如何发挥作用的，而不是移民。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供关于一种重要的、鲜为人知的考古现象的数据。它将对复杂社会崛起所涉及的因素有新的见解，并将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Robert Drennan, Mr. Michael Kruschek will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological excavations in the Alto Magdalena region of southwestern Colombia. Although the Mayans, Aztec and Inca are best known for the levels of social complexity they reached prehistorically in the New World, the polity which developed in Alto Magdalena shares many of these same characteristics. Archaeologists have uncovered large, ornately carved stone tombs as well as monumental sized stone sculptures. Dr. Drennan and colleagues have traced the region's prehistory over a ca. 2,600 year period from 1,000 BC to the Spanish conquest. The record demonstrates increasing social complexity over time as well as an increase in population size. The relationship between population increase and the development of social complexity is well established and archaeologists recognized that these two variables are directly correlated. However the nature of this relationship is far from clear. Some scientists argue that population pressure is a driving force and that new social forms emerge from the need to organize increasing numbers of individuals. Other researchers believe that the causal chain is reversed and that family size increases in response to opportunities offered and demands imposed by an increasingly complex social structure. In the Alto Magdalena, as in many other areas of the world when this phenomenon has been noted, it is also uncertain whether increased population size is the result of in migration from other regions or from increased reproduction which leads to larger family size. Mr. Kruschek will collect data to shed light on these issues. He will excavate a large number of small shovel test pits to locate a sample of dwellings across the 2,600 year span and has developed an efficient way to estimate house size. Because ethnographic studies of modern day traditional people indicate a direct correlation between house area and number of occupants it will be possible to determine how family size changed over time. These data, in conjunction with available information on cultural and large scale population changes will allow Mr. Kruschek to determine whether population increase precedes or follows major cultural milestones and how family size, as opposed to migration, comes into play.This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data on an important and poorly understood archaeological phenomenon. It will yield new insight into the factors involved in the rise of complex society and will assist in training a promising young scientist.