Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Power Strategies at Early Postclassic Sitio El Coyote, Sta. Barbara, Honduras

在美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的支持下，威廉·麦克法兰（William McFarlane）将在洪都拉斯西北部卡库拉帕山谷（Cacaulapa Valley）的El Coyote遗址进行为期8个月的实地考古研究。建立于形成期晚期（公元前200年-公元200年），在早期后古典时期（公元900年- 1200年），埃尔Coyote仍然是一个区域中心。这一点值得注意，因为早期后古典时期被视为中美洲东南部史前时期的过渡时期，其特征是社会政治权力下放和有核定居的结束。现有资料表明，在El Coyote的早期后古典社区是一个中央集权的村庄，拥有一个大型的仪式中心，一套明确的仪式实践，有组织的生产场所，以及与大中美洲的长途贸易联系。目前早期后古典主义的模型无法解释这样一个地点的存在。很明显，当该地区的其他遗址被遗弃时，El Coyote的个人或团体能够保持社区团结。因此，有必要通过记录El Coyote的社会、政治和经济组织，并绘制该社区的历史轨迹，来完善当前的洪都拉斯史前模型。威廉·麦克法兰（William McFarlane）指导的早期后古典调查，包括对仪式、行政和住宅结构的挖掘，对整个直接区域的考古材料进行测绘，以及对人工制品的分析，将对母项目Proyecto Valle de Cacaulapa正在进行的研究进行补充。除了改进洪都拉斯西北部早期后古典主义的现有模型外，研究设计将解决更广泛的人类互动问题。核心问题：个人和团体如何利用不同的资源来夺取和维持社区内部和社区之间的权力地位，从三个不同的角度来考虑。第一种观点强调个人或团体利用意识形态资源，如宗教习俗、外国符号和引进的治国理念，在领导人和社区之间制造社会距离。第二个视角考虑影响经济的资源配置策略。对原材料和商品的进口、生产和分销的控制经常被认为是复杂社会的一个核心特征。最后一个观点侧重于发展和促进加强社区团结的活动，从而将政治成员联系在一起。在本项目调查的3个世纪中，各种权力战略的实施成功率各不相同，从而提供了一个指标，用于评估历代领导人的社会、经济和政治政策的可行性。早期后古典研究项目有助于我们了解洪都拉斯史前史的研究和理解不足。此外，对El Coyote的调查提供了一个机会，可以研究植根于不同权力来源的行动如何对长期区域发展产生重大影响。希望能够更好地理解过去和现在政治集团内部和之间的权力斗争。

With National Science Foundation support, William McFarlane will conduct an eight-month field season of archaeological research at the site of El Coyote located in the Cacaulapa Valley of northwestern Honduras. Founded during the Late Formative Period (200 BC - AD 200), El Coyote remained a regional center into the Early Postclassic (AD 900 - 1200). This is noteworthy as the Early Postclassic has been viewed as a transitional period in the prehistory of southeastern Mesoamerica, characterized by socio-political decentralization and an end of nucleated settlement. Data in hand suggest the Early Postclassic community at El Coyote was a centralized village boasting a large ceremonial center, a well defined set of ritual practices, organized production locales, and long-distance trade connections to greater Mesoamerica. Current models of the Early Postclassic cannot account for the existence of such a site. It is clear an individual or group at El Coyote was able to maintain community solidarity when other sites in the region were abandoned. It is therefore imperative to refine current models of Honduran prehistory by documenting the social, political, and economic organization of El Coyote and charting the trajectory of the community through time. Early Postclassic investigations directed by William McFarlane, including excavation of ceremonial, administrative, and residential structures, mapping of archaeological materials throughout the immediate area, and artifact analysis will compliment on-going research by the parent project, Proyecto Valle de Cacaulapa. In addition to refining current models of Early Postclassic northwestern Honduras, the research design will address broader issues of human interaction. The central question: how do individuals and groups use diverse resources to seize and maintain positions of power within and between communities, is considered from three different perspectives. The first perspective emphasizes the use of ideological resources, such as religious practices, foreign symbols, and imported concepts of statecraft by individuals or groups to create social distance between the leaders and the community. The second perspective considers resource allocation strategies that impact the economy. Control over the importation, production, and distribution of raw materials and commodities is frequently cited as a central feature of complex societies. The final perspective focuses upon attempts to develop and promote activities that reinforce community solidarity, thus, tying polity members together. It is expected that during the 3 centuries investigated by this project various power strategies were implemented with diverse success rates thus providing an index from which to rate the viability of successive leader's social, economic, and political policies. The Early Postclassic research project stands to contribute to our understanding of a little researched and poorly understood period of Honduran prehistory. Further, investigations of El Coyote provide an opportunity to examine how actions rooted in diverse sources of power can have dramatic consequences relative to long-term regional developments. It is hoped that a better understanding of the power struggles within and between political groups in the past and present may be achieved.