Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Prehistoric Urbanism and Lithic Technological Organization During the Middle Horizon: A Case Study from Conchopata, Ayacucho, Peru

在威廉·伊斯贝尔博士的指导下，凯瑟琳·本西奇女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将对从秘鲁中部阿亚库乔山谷康乔普塔考古遗址出土的大约10,000件石器进行深入的考古分析。这项研究将展示石器的生产和使用如何融入康乔普塔居民的日常生活，并将从国内角度为阿亚库乔地区城市化的兴起提供新的信息。康乔波塔史前城市聚居地距离南美洲首批大城市之一华日首府约10公里。华日文化可以追溯到中地平线时期(公元550-1000年)，而康乔普塔被认为是大规模、专业化的礼仪陶器生产中心，可能始于华日掌权之前。最近的发掘揭示了关于王室精英、手工艺制作和复杂仪式活动的新信息。还发现了表明广泛的国内活动的新领域，这是康乔巴塔生活中以前未被探索的一个方面。安第斯史前城市化通常是通过对区域聚落模式和精英物质文化的研究来进行的，例如礼仪陶器和纪念性建筑。很少有人研究过日常的家庭手工艺品，但普通的手工艺品，如石器，揭示了许多基本的家庭和仪式活动，以及所有阶层的人在社会和经济上的差异程度。这项研究将是对安第斯山脉中地平线遗址进行的第一批完整的石器分析之一。对安第斯山脉石器的研究仍然主要集中在形式上的、高度修改的工具上，强调它们的类型学分类。然而，大多数石器组合是由随意生产的未经修改或略有修改的薄片组成，这些薄片用于大多数家庭活动。由于类型学上对正式工具的重视，许多研究忽视了绝大多数石器及其所能提供的信息。这项研究对于提供有关石器如何使用和生产的新信息以及对秘鲁早期城市史前安第斯人民日常生活的新视角具有重要意义。它将有助于制定分析和解释其他石器收藏品的基线，不仅适用于华日遗址，也适用于整个南美洲安第斯山脉的其他考古文化和中心。这项研究还将有助于国内对安第斯考古学日益增长的兴趣，并将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. William Isbell, Ms. Catherine Bencic will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct an intensive archaeological analysis of approximately 10,000 stone artifacts excavated from the archaeological site of Conchopata in the Ayacucho Valley of central Peru. This research will demonstrate how the production and use of stone tools was integrated into the daily lives of Conchopata residents, and will provide new information on the rise of urbanism from a domestic perspective in the Ayacucho region. The prehistoric urban settlement of Conchopata is located approximately 10 kilometers from the Huari capital, one of South America's first great cities. The Huari culture dates to the Middle Horizon (A.D. 550-1000) and Conchopata is believed to be a center of large-scale, specialized production of ceremonial pottery, perhaps beginning before Huari came to power. Recent excavations have revealed new information about royal elites, craft production and complex ritual activity. New areas suggesting extensive domestic activity were revealed as well, a previously unexplored aspect of life at Conchopata. Andean prehistoric urbanism has typically been investigated through studies of regional settlement patterns and elite material culture, such as ceremonial pottery and monumental architecture. Few have studied everyday domestic artifacts, yet mundane artifacts such as stone tools reveal a great deal about essential domestic and ritual activities and the degree to which all classes of people were socially and economically differentiated. This research will represent one of the first complete analyses of stone artifacts conducted at Middle Horizon sites in the Andes. Studies of stone artifacts in the Andes still mainly focus only on formal, highly modified tools, emphasizing their typological classification. The majority of stone artifact assemblages, however, are composed of casually produced unmodified or slightly modified flakes that were used for most domestic activities. As a result of the typological emphasis on formal tools, many studies have ignored the vast majority of stone artifacts and the information they can provide. This research is important for providing new information on how stone tools were used and produced as well as a new perspective on the daily lives of prehistoric Andean peoples in Peru's early cities. It will help develop a baseline for the analysis and interpretation of other stone artifact collections not only for Huari sites, but also for other archaeological cultures and centers throughout Andean South America. This research will also contribute to the growing interest in domestic contexts in Andean archaeology, and will assist in training a promising young scientist.