Dissertation: Investigations at an Olmec Community

在Kenneth Hirth博士的指导下，Carl Wendt先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将在el Bajio进行考古发掘，el Bajio是一个早期奥尔梅克人的小定居点，位于墨西哥韦拉克鲁斯州的圣洛伦佐地区，其历史可以追溯到公元前1500 -900年。奥尔梅克人因其不朽的艺术作品而为研究人员和非考古学家所熟知。许多吨重的玄武岩巨石被运送到大型地点，然后雕刻成程式化的头像。因为奥尔梅克人构成了中美洲最早的复杂社会，并为后来的玛雅文化的产生提供了基础，他们可以揭示导致新世界文明兴起的过程，因此一直是考古学关注的焦点。然而，正如Wendt先生所指出的那样，虽然在奥尔梅克中心的大型遗址进行了大规模的挖掘，但人们对这些遗址所处的更广泛的社会和区域背景知之甚少，对奥尔梅克社会、政治和经济组织的了解也非常有限。温特先生的研究将有助于纠正这种情况。El Bajio被一条积极侵蚀的河流一分为二，这条河流穿过场地的中心。虽然水每年都会冲走几米，并迅速导致El Bajio的毁灭，但它也提供了一个独特的机会，因为可以在河岸的墙壁上追踪定居点的特征，并深入了解村庄的空间组织，大部分村庄被埋在几米深的沉积物下。温特先生会先清理这面墙然后画出一张水平地图。这将为今后的挖掘工作提供指导。他还将利用螺旋钻洞和磁力计读数进行远程调查，以寻找埋藏的特征。在此基础上，他将选择几所房屋进行广泛的水平挖掘。这样收集的数据将使他能够重建村庄的经济和社会组织，并确定它沿等级线组织的程度。他将根据家庭内容的变化来确定地位分化的程度。他还将比较在el Bajio出土的文化材料与从一个更大的区域中心出土的文化材料，并研究它在多大程度上融入了一个更大的区域网络。这些“自下而上”的数据将补充那些在更重要的中心“自上而下”的挖掘。这个项目之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为许多地区考古学家提供感兴趣的数据。它将为中美洲文明的兴起提供新的线索，并有助于培养一位有前途的年轻考古学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Hirth, Mr. Carl Wendt will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological excavation at el Bajio, a small Early Formative Olmec settlement which is located in the San Lorenzo region of Veracruz, Mexico and dates to ca. 1,500-900 BC. The Olmec are well known both to researchers and non-archaeologists because of the monumental art they produced. Basalt boulders many tons in weight were transported to large sites and then carved into stylized heads. Because the Olmec constitute the earliest complex society in Middle America and provide the base from which later Mayan cultures arose, they can shed light on the processes which led to the rise of New World civilizations and thus have been the focus of considerable archaeological attention. However, as Mr. Wendt notes, while major excavation has been conducted at large central Olmec sites, very little is known about the broader social and regional context in which they were situated and only a very limited understanding of Olmec social, political and economic organization has been attained. Mr. Wendt's research will help to remedy this situation. El Bajio is bisected by an actively eroding stream which cuts across the center of the site. While water cuts away several meters each year and is rapidly leading to El Bajio's destruction, it has also offered a unique opportunity because it is possible to trace features of the settlement in the wall of the river bank and to gain insight into the spatial organization of the village most of which is buried under several meters of sediment. Mr. Wendt will first clean this cut wall and produce a horizontal map. This will provide a guide for future excavation. He will also conduct a remote survey using both auger holes and magnetometer readings to search for buried features. On this basis he will select several houses for extensive horizontal excavation. The data thus collected will allow him to reconstruct the economic and social organization of the village and determine the extent to which it was organized along hierarchical lines. He will determine the degree of status differentiation based on variation among household contents. He will also compare cultural materials excavated at el Bajio to counterparts from a larger regional center and examine the extent to which it was integrated into a larger regional network. These "bottom up" data will complement those from "top down" excavations at the more important centers.This project is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many regional archaeologists. It will shed new light on the rise of Middle American civilizations and contribute to training a promising young archaeologist.