Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Culture Change in the 18th Century Maya Missions of Peten, Guatemala

在David Webster博士的指导下，MA Matthew Rockmore将为他的博士论文获取数据。他将在危地马拉北部Peten-Itza湖岸边相距2公里的圣赫罗尼莫两处遗址进行考古发掘。这些遗址构成了殖民时期的一个小型传教定居点，最初于公元1703年被占领，在1734年左右被重新安置，在18世纪末被遗弃。在危地马拉低地对殖民时期的研究不足，这是该地区首次尝试任务考古学。这些地点特别重要，因为重新安置允许按时间顺序控制殖民地环境中社会变化的速度和模式。先前对玛雅人在墨西哥和伯利兹的传教活动的研究主要集中在宗教皈依和更早的时期（16世纪），本研究试图考察征服和融入殖民体系对玛雅人家庭习俗的影响。在暂时受控制的环境中挖掘住户及其周围环境，将有助于查明该地区经济结构的变化，以及定居计划、人口趋势、宗教习俗和社会政治组织的变化。考古和民族历史资料的结合对经济制度的变化提供了特别丰富的资料，从长途交换模式的改变到采用旧大陆的驯养动物。其中一个目标是评估结算中发生变化的速率。该地区被西班牙人认为是边缘地区，处于西班牙供应系统的边缘。缺乏直接监督和进口商品的有限供应可能减缓了各种各样的变化，并为玛雅人在谈判变化制度方面提供了更大的自由度。家庭一级经济制度的重大变化可能是最明显和最容易解释的，但同时也会有有关宗教和政治变化的相关数据。个体家庭层面的证据也可用于谨慎评估社会组织更高层面的变化。观察到的模式将用于评估殖民环境中文化变化的几个理论模型的解释力。现有的土著抵抗殖民统治的模式将与以实践为基础的模式进行对比，这些模式表明变革模式的意图较少。殖民环境下的文化变化通常是高度复杂的，尽管存在明显的权力差异，但各派系之间（包括较大的土著和殖民集团内部的派别）的变化是可以协商的。这项研究得益于对前后古典晚期的早期研究，并得到了该地区几项现有的民族历史研究以及墨西哥和伯利兹类似遗址的考古工作的支持。这项研究很重要，部分原因是它填补了我们对该地区考古知识的空白，但主要意义在于探索文化变革是如何在殖民背景下建立起来的，以及它是如何在一个世纪的时间里发展起来的。

Under the direction of Dr. David Webster, MA Matthew Rockmore will obtain data for his doctoral dissertation. He will undertake archaeological excavations at the dual sites of San Jeronimo, located 2 kilometers apart on the shores of Lake Peten-Itza in northern Guatemala. The sites constitute a small mission settlement from the colonial period, initially occupied in 1703 AD, resettled around 1734 and abandoned near the end of the 18th century. The colonial period has been understudied in lowland Guatemala and this represents the first attempt at mission archaeology in the region. These sites are particularly significant because the resettlement allows for chronological control of the rate and pattern of social changes in the colonial setting. Where prior studies of Maya missions in Mexico and Belize have focused on religious conversion and an earlier time period (the 16th century), this research attempts to examine the effects of conquest and incorporation into the colonial system on the household practices of the Maya. The excavation of households and their surrounding environs in a temporally controlled setting will allow the identification of changes in the economic structure of the region, as well as changes in settlement plan, demographic trends, religious practice, and socio-political organization.The combination of archaeological and ethnohistoric data is particularly informative with regards to changes in economic systems, ranging from alterations in patterns of long-distance exchange to the adoption of Old World domesticates. One goal is to assess the rate at which changes occur in the settlement. The area was considered marginal by the Spanish, and was at the fringes of the Spanish supply system. The lack of direct oversight and limited availability of imported goods probably slowed changes of all sorts and provided the Maya greater latitude in negotiating the institution of changes. Material changes in economic systems at the household level are likely to be the most obvious and easiest to interpret, but will be accompanied by data concerning the correlates of religious and political changes. Evidence at the level of individual households can also be used to cautiously assess changes at higher levels of social organization.The observed patterns will be used to assess the explanatory power of several theoretical models of culture change in colonial settings. Existing models of indigenous resistance to colonial domination will be contrasted with practice-based models suggesting less intentional modes of change. Culture change in colonial settings is typically highly complex, with changes negotiated between factions (including ones within larger indigenous and colonial groups), albeit across a distinct power differential.This research is enabled by earlier studies of the preceding Late Postclassic period and is informed by several existing ethnohistoric studies of the area and through archaeological work at similar sites in Mexico and Belize. This research is important in part because it fills a gap in our archaeological knowledge of the region, but the primary significance is the exploration of how culture change is instituted within colonial contexts and how it developed over the space of a century.