Households and Polities in Classic Maya Society: Survey and Excavation in the Aguateca Area, Guatemala

在国家科学基金会的支持下，稻田武博士、丹妮拉·特里亚丹博士和一个国际同事团队将实施阿瓜特卡考古项目的第二阶段，调查古典玛雅社会(公元250-900)的家庭。它的第一阶段集中在阿瓜特卡的震中，由于公元810年左右敌人的攻击，阿瓜特卡很快就被放弃了。对大量原址组合的住宅进行了广泛的挖掘，提供了关于精英家庭的非凡数据。调查表明，阿瓜特卡最初是古典晚期Tepeu I阶段(公元600-700)Tamarindito政体的一部分。在一个来自提卡尔的侵略型王朝在多斯皮拉斯和阿瓜特卡建立了权力中心后，阿瓜特卡的人口在特佩二世时期(公元700-810年)呈爆炸性增长。与Tamarindito政体有关的家庭和Dos Pilas/Aguateca王朝的家庭似乎以不同的建筑风格建造了房屋。在第一阶段取得成功的基础上，拟议的第二阶段将审查家庭和政治之间的关系。主要的研究问题是：政府的政治机构如何影响家庭的日常生活，以及家庭的组织和活动如何制约治理战略和政治选择？为了达到这个目的，一个有效的考古方法是检查邻近政体的家庭之间的差异和相似之处，并特别注意政治边界的性质。这项研究将以三个理论问题为指导。第一个是玛雅学者之间的争论，即经典玛雅政体的边界是明确划分的，还是不稳定的、不确定的。第二，不同社会地位的家庭，中央政治控制的效果可能有所不同。第三，对这一问题的研究需要关注社会的多个维度，包括政治管理、经济交易、社会互动和社区认同。考虑到特定的历史背景和现有数据的性质，可以得出以下更具体的问题：(1)阿瓜蒂卡和邻近中心之间的两种不同建筑风格是否显示出明确划分的空间分布？(2)阿瓜特卡政体和塔马林迪托政体中的精英和非精英家庭是否以不同的方式使用他们的住宅空间，进行不同类型的活动？(3)阿瓜蒂卡和塔玛因迪托政体中的精英和非精英家庭是否有差别地获得经济产品？这些问题将通过一个沿这些中心之间的横断面的调查、挖掘、土壤残留物分析和持续的实验室分析的综合计划来解决。详细地，从该项目获得的背景数据将有助于玛雅地区日益增长的家庭考古领域。他们还将提出玛雅考古学以外的理论含义，通过丰富的描述家庭如何经历中央集权，以及家庭的反应如何塑造政治的政治战略。此外，该项目还将促进各国学者和学生之间的智力交流，并为硕士、博士和许可证研究提供机会。此外，该项目将通过该地区的可持续发展和当地社区的参与，帮助保护文化和自然遗产。该项目将继续与当地的Q‘eqchi’Maya人进行长期合作，促进和协助他们在考古生态旅游、植树造林和湖泊复兴方面的倡议。

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Takeshi Inomata, Daniela Triadan, and an international team of colleagues, will conduct the second phase of the Aguateca Archaeological Project, examining households in Classic Maya society (A.D. 250-900). Its first phase focused on the epicenter of Aguateca, which was abandoned rapidly because of an attack by enemies around A.D. 810. Extensive excavations of residences with numerous in situ assemblages provided extraordinary data on elite households. Investigations showed that Aguateca was originally part of the Tamarindito polity during the Tepeu I phase (A.D. 600-700) of the Late Classic period. After an intrusive dynasty, coming from Tikal, established its seats of power at Dos Pilas and Aguateca, the population of Aguateca grew explosively during the Tepeu II phase (A.D. 700-810). Households associated with the Tamarindito polity and those affiliated with the Dos Pilas/Aguateca dynasty appear to have built their houses in different architectural styles. Building on the success of the first phase, the proposed second phase will examine the relationship between households and polities. The primary research questions are: How do governmental institutions of polities affect the daily lives of households and how does the organization and activities of households condition the governing strategies and political options? An effective archaeological approach for this purpose is to examine differences and similarities among households across neighboring polities with particular attention to the nature of political boundaries. The research will be guided by three theoretical concerns. The first is a debate among Maya scholars on whether Classic Maya polities had clearly demarcated boundaries or fluid, indeterminate ones. The second is that the effects of political control by the central authorities may have varied among households of different social positions. The third is that the study of this issue requires attention to multiple dimensions of society, including political administration, economic transactions, social interactions, and community identities. A consideration of the specific historical context and the nature of available data leads to the following more specific questions: (1) Do the two different architectural styles exhibit clearly demarcated spatial distributions between Aguateca and the neighboring centers?; (2) Did elite and non-elite households in the Aguateca polity and the Tamarindito polity use their domestic spaces differently and conduct different types of activities?; and (3) Did elite and non-elite households in the Aguateca and Tamarindito polities have differential access to economic goods? These questions will be addressed through an integrated program of survey along transects between these centers, excavation, soil residue analyses, and continuous laboratory analyses.Detailed, contextualized data obtained from the project will contribute to the growing field of household archaeology in the Maya area. They will also present theoretical implications beyond Maya archaeology, by providing a rich account of how households experienced centralized power and how the reactions of households shaped the political strategies of polities. In addition, the project will promote intellectual exchanges among scholars and students from various countries and offer opportunities for master, Ph.D., and licenciatura research. Moreover, the project will aid the preservation of cultural and natural patrimony through a sustainable development of the region and the involvement of local communities. The project will continue a long-term collaboration with the local Q'eqchi' Maya by promoting and assisting their initiatives for archaeo-eco tourism, reforestation, and lake-rejuvenation.