Social Differentiation in Early Village Bolivia

久坐不动的农业生活方式的发展代表着人类史前广泛的进化门槛。探索人口如何以及为什么进行这一转变，对于理解人类社会变化的一些最基本的方面非常重要。在国家科学基金会的支持下，Marc Bermann博士和他的同事将在La Barca遗址调查乡村生活和社会不平等的起源，La Barca是属于形成时期的Wankarani建筑群(公元前2000年-公元400年)的一个村庄土丘，是玻利维亚高原最早的文化之一。在保存完好的遗址上进行的为期三年的挖掘项目将暴露家庭建筑(从独立的房屋到不同的居民区)，以及以前未知的礼仪建筑类型。田野工作将集中于对公元前2000年至公元前1300年的一系列住宅用途的广泛挖掘。挖掘将产生关于家庭生活、国内经济模式、贸易和社会排名随时间变化的数据。研究将集中于解决两个问题：(1)在拉巴萨的不同时间点，最重要的社会单位(个人家庭、大家庭、世系)是什么？以及(2)哪些活动(礼仪、经济、社会)有助于区分不同社会地位的家庭？这项研究将对家庭单位如何在适应更广泛的社会和环境变化的同时，如何表达其成员的雄心和需求这一普遍问题做出重要贡献。这项研究的更广泛影响在于记录了最近几乎从玻利维亚消失的一种长期的农牧生活方式(本地块茎种植和骆驼放牧相结合)，并将这一信息传达给玻利维亚的学生和公众。该项目的材料将成为拉乔亚地区考古博物馆展品的基础。该项目将与玻利维亚国家考古办公室(UNAR)一起进行，并将有助于保持该机构与美国研究人员之间的合作关系。由于该项目中的每个美国学生都将有一名玻利维亚学生，该项目将为来自拉巴斯和奥鲁罗大学的大约12名玻利维亚学生提供考古领域、实验室和策展技术方面的培训。出土的材料还将为未来的玻利维亚学生提供收藏品，用于论文研究。

The development of sedentary, agricultural lifeways represents a widespread evolutionary threshold in human prehistory. Exploring how and why populations made this transition is important to understanding some of the most fundamental aspects of human societal change. With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Marc Bermann and colleagues will investigate the origins of village life and societal inequality at the site of La Barca, an village mound belonging to the Formative Period Wankarani Complex (2000 BC - AD 400), one of the earliest cultures of highland Bolivia. A three-year project of excavation at the well-preserved site will expose domestic architecture (ranging from individual houses to distinct residential zones), and previously unknown types of ceremonial architecture. Fieldwork will center on broad excavation of a sequence of residential occupations dating from 2000 BC - 1300 BC. The excavation will generate data on changes through time in household life, domestic economic patterns, trade, and social ranking. Research will focus on addressing two questions: (1) what were the most important social units (individual family, extended family, lineage) at different points in time at La Barca? and (2) what activities (ceremonial, economic, social) served to distinguish households of different social statuses? The research will make an important contribution to the general issue of how the family unit acts to express the ambitions and needs of its members, while also adapting to wider social and environmental change.The broader impacts of the research lie in the documentation of an longstanding agropastoral way of life (combining farming of native tubers with llama pastoralism) that has recently all but vanished from Bolivia, and in conveying this information to Bolivian students and public. Materials from the project will form the basis for exhibits at the regional archaeological museum in La Joya. The project will be conducted with the Bolivian national archaeology office (UNAR), and will assist in maintaining collaborative ties between this institution and American researchers. Because every American student on the project will have a Bolivian counterpart, the project will make possible training in archaeological field, laboratory, and curation techniques for roughly a dozen Bolivian students from colleges in La Paz and Oruro. The excavated materials will also provide collections for future Bolivian students to use for thesis research.