Dissertation Research: Social Power, Centralization, and Settlement Patterns: Late Classic Sociopolitical Organization in the Maya Mountains of Southern Belize

在Richard M. Leventhal博士的指导下，Andrew Kindon将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将继续参与玛雅山脉考古项目（MMAP），这是一个多学科的科学研究项目，总部设在中美洲伯利兹南部，结合了考古学家、地质学家和生物学家的努力。自1996年以来，MMAP一直将注意力集中在玛雅山脉上布雷登河流域的两个相当大的遗址上，分别是Ek Xux和Muklebal Tzul。这些遗址包括发达的中央核心区，大土丘周围环绕着以较小住宅土丘和广场群形式存在的广泛定居点。有证据表明，这些遗址在古典时期（约公元300年至公元900年）就有人居住。这些遗址特别重要，因为虽然它们彼此相距仅3公里，但初步证据表明它们之间存在重大差异。这些遗址的埋葬模式明显不同，Ek Xux的居民将他们的死者埋葬在遗址周围的岩石避难所中，而Muklebal Tzul的居民将他们的死者埋葬在他们房屋平台内的坟墓中。此外，Kindon在1998-2000年进行的初步调查显示，不同社区的聚落模式存在显著差异。据推测，这些差异是由于两个地点的社会组织和控制的性质不同。然而，当代性和不同发展阶段的问题也非常重要，必须澄清两个地点之间的时间关系。金敦的论文研究将调查两个Ek Xux和Muklebal Tzul的前西班牙定居系统。结合建筑、人工制品和碳分析对聚落分布进行深入研究，将解决三个主要研究目标：澄清两个地点之间的时间关系；2. 识别区域和地方聚落组织模式，并探索这些聚落模式与社会组织和控制水平的关系；3. 评估以亲属为基础和集中的精英社会组织和权力在社区内得到阐述的程度，以及在区域和地方层面上社会组织和控制方面存在的可变性的数量。金顿的工作有可能对当前的人类学和考古学理论做出几项重要贡献。首先，这项研究将增加当前对社会权力本质的理解，特别是因为它与复杂政治的出现和运作有关。凭借相对简单的技术，史前玛雅人能够将大量的个人整合成一个运作良好的社会实体，金登的研究将揭示其中的机制。该项目还将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Richard M. Leventhal, Andrew Kindon will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will continue his participation in the Maya Mountains Archaeological Project (MMAP), a multidisciplinary scientific research project based in southern Belize, Central America combining the efforts of archaeologists, geologists, and biologists. Since 1996, the MMAP has focused its attention on two sizable sites in the Upper Bladen River drainage of the Maya Mountains called Ek Xux and Muklebal Tzul. These sites include well-developed central core areas with large mounds surrounded by extensive settlement in the form of smaller residential mounds and plazuela groups. Evidence indicates that the sites were inhabited during the Classic period, about 300 AD - 900 AD.These sites are particularly significant because, while they are located only 3 kilometers away from each other, preliminary evidence suggests that there are major differences between them. Burial patterns at the sites differed markedly, with the residents of Ek Xux burying their dead in rock shelters surrounding the site and the residents of Muklebal Tzul burying their dead in tombs within their house platforms. In addition, initial survey work carried out by Kindon from 1998-2000 showed significant differences in the settlement patterns of the communities. It has been speculated that these differences are due to differences in the nature of social organization and control at the two sites. However, issues of contemporaneity and differential developmental stages are also very important, and the temporal relationship between the two sites must be clarified.Kindon's dissertation research will investigate the prehispanic settlement systems of both Ek Xux and Muklebal Tzul. Intensive study of settlement distribution combined with architectural, artifact, and carbon analysis will address three primary research goals: 1. the clarification of temporal relationships between the two sites; 2. the identification of regional and local patterns of settlement organization and the exploration of the way these settlement patterns relate to levels of social organization and control; 3. the evaluation of the degree to which kin-based and centralized elite social organization and power were elaborated within the communities, as well as the amount of variability that existed at both a regional and local level in terms of social organization and control.Kindon's work has the potential to make several important contributions to current anthropological and archaeological theory. First and foremost, the research will increase current understanding of the nature of social power, especially as it relates to the emergence and functioning of complex polities. With relatively simple technology prehistoric Mayans were able to incorporate large numbers of individuals into functioning social entities and Mr. Kindon's research will shed light on the mechanisms involved. The project will also contribute to training a promising young scientist.