Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Reevaluating the Social Complexity of the Palenque Culture: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Survey in Eastern Venuzela

在威廉·H·伊斯贝尔博士的指导下，罗德里戈·纳拉雷特先生将在委内瑞拉进行考古和民族历史研究，为他的博士论文收集数据。他的主要目标是更好地理解复杂的人类社会的本质和发展，重点是一个令人困惑的美洲原住民例子。长期以来，加勒比海地区的文化一直被认为是人类学家所称的“酋长王国”的极好例子，即介于简单的乐队或部落和复杂的州政府之间的政治制度。事实上，人们认为“酋长”代表了人类首次尝试复杂的社会组织。因此，如果我们要了解社会复杂性的演变，就必须研究和理解酋长领地，而加勒比地区提供了一个利用考古学和民族史的特殊实验室。委内瑞拉的乌纳雷河流域是一个重要的地区，它可能提供了一条在亚马孙低地和加勒比海沿岸之间迁徙的通道。它可能会揭示亚马逊文化区和加勒比海文化区之间关于社会复杂性差异的争论，但早期对占领委内瑞拉乌纳雷河的文化的描述出奇地相互矛盾。16世纪和17世纪初的编年史记载者描述了复杂的加勒比社会。但18世纪的编年史只描述了简单的文化，如加勒比卡里纳人。如何理解这一点呢？这些描述是否应该被认为是历史上的准确，从而引发关于社会经历文化崩溃的条件的问题。或者，这些描述是否也反映了欧洲人看待和描述“他者”的方式的变化，或许也反映了影响欧洲人认知和描述的政治目标的变化？最终解决这个问题的方法是将民族历史描述与考古信息进行比较。纳瓦雷特已经完成了对编年史的研究。在NSF的资助下，他将在Unare Depression进行第一次系统的考古调查，采用横断面和铲子测试坑策略，适合植被茂盛的环境。这项调查旨在揭示社会复杂性的物质关联以及文化简单化的物质关联。这些结果将揭示尤纳雷盆地社会复杂性的历史，以及它们对欧洲哲学和政治变化如何影响当地人的概念化及其社会状况的影响。本论文还将为更全面的委内瑞拉历史考古调查奠定有价值的基础。

Under the direction of Dr. William H. Isbell, Mr. Rodrigo Nararrete will conduct archaeological and ethnohistorical research in Venezuela, collecting data for his doctoral dissertation. His primary objective is to gain a better understanding of the nature and development of complex human societies, focusing on a perplexing Native American example. Cultures of the Caribbean region have long been recognized as superb examples of what anthropologists call "chiefdoms," political systems intermediate between simple bands or tribes, and complex state governments. Indeed, it is believed that the "chiefdom" represents humanity's first experiment with complex social organization. Consequently, if we are to understand the evolution of social complexity, chiefdoms must be studied and comprehended, and the Caribbean offers an exceptional laboratory using archaeology and ethnohistory. Venezuela's Unare River Basin is an important area that probably provided an avenue of migration between riverine Amazonian lowlands and the Caribbean Coast. It could shed light on debates about differences in social complexity between the Amazonian and the Caribbean culture areas, but early descriptions of the cultures occupying Venezuela's Unare River are curiously contradictory. Sixteenth and early seventeenth century chroniclers describe complex Carib societies. But eighteenth century chronicles describe only simple cultures like the Cariban Karinas. How is this to be understood? Should these descriptions be considered historically accurate, fostering questions about the conditions in which societies experience cultural collapse. Alternatively, do these descriptions reflect changes in the way Europeans viewed and described the "other," as well, perhaps, as changes in the political goals that colored European perceptions and accounts?The way to definitively resolve this is to compare ethnohistorical accounts with archaeological information. Navarrete has completed a study of the chronicles. Funded by NSF he will conduct the first systematic archaeological survey in the Unare Depression, employing a transects-and-shovel-test-pits strategy appropriate for heavily vegetated environment. The survey is designed to reveal material correlates of social complexity as well as materials correlates of cultural simplification. The results will reveal the history of social complexity in the Unare Basin, and their implications for the ways changes in European philosophy and politics influenced conceptualizations of natives and their social conditions. The dissertation will also establish valuable foundations for more comprehensive archaeological investigations of the Venezuelan past.