Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Challenging "Commoner": An Examination of Status and Identity at the Maya Village of Chan, Belize

在温迪·阿什莫尔博士的指导下，切尔西·布莱克莫尔将调查玛雅遗址上平民的社会身份和地位是如何变化的。 Chan是一个古老的农业村庄，位于上伯利兹河谷，Xunantunich小政治中心东南4公里处。 研究将集中在东北群，这是几个“街区”之一，其特点是空间连贯性和与现场其他群体的相对分离。 东北组的研究将研究家庭内部和家庭之间的空间组织（包括住宅，家庭附属建筑，开放空间和仪式设施），以及对特定商品和活动的访问和控制可能比以前认为的更复杂的社会分层。在考古学上，社会地位和身份的相关物主要等同于精英物品、活动和材料。 由于这些物品很少从非精英遗址中找到，平民被描述为一个基本上平等的农民社会。 但这并没有考虑到普通人在社会和经济上的多样性。 东北群地位差异的措施将依赖于：（1）建筑结构和精心设计（例如，材料和劳动力的投资），（2）本地化宴会，放血和其他仪式实践的证据（例如，动物群遗骸，黑曜石或燧石长矛，燃烧表面，香炉），（3）陶器的差异（例如，朴素的、装饰的、当地生产的或进口的），（4）其他财产的多样性、数量和质量（例如，黑曜石、燧石、绿岩、磨石）。 调查还将侧重于收集微人工制品、植物和花粉遗骸以及土壤化学，以确定在地面上看不到的活动区域（开放空间）。 这些材料的分布和空间的组织将被检查有关的一个仪式神社，假定为在附近的仪式和社会互动的轨迹。虽然研究人员已经研究了平民人口的整合，很少有研究探讨平民社区内部的异质性和多样性。 如果平民有意识地操纵他们的地位和身份，那么社会分化的机制可能与社会凝聚力的指标一样重要。通过质疑考古学家所说的“平民”，人们可以开始解开关于地位和文化身份的概念，这些概念同样适用于当前的社会问题，也适用于对过去的解释。 从考古学的角度来看，陈氏东北群的研究是邻里调查的重要试验场，而邻里调查却仍然令人惊讶地不发达。 除了引起社会科学家的兴趣外，该项目还将促进对生活在伯利兹和美国的个人的公共宣传。 这些活动将包括口头介绍和讨论调查结果，并与现场附近的社区以及伯利兹其他地方的社区分享实地季节的年度报告。 向科学界传播数据将包括在经评审的期刊上发表、年度报告和在专业会议上提交论文。 在此过程中，Blackmore和未来的本科生助理将接受上述实地考察和分析方法的培训。

With guidance from Dr. Wendy Ashmore, Chelsea Blackmore will investigate how social identity and status varied among commoners at the Maya site of Chan. Chan is an ancient agrarian village located in the Upper Belize River Valley, 4km southeast of the minor polity-center of Xunantunich. Excavations will focus on the Northeast Group, one of several "neighborhoods" characterized by its spatial coherence and relative separation from other groups at the site. Research at the Northeast Group will examine how the organization of space within and between households, (comprising residences, domestic outbuildings, open spaces, and ritual facilities), and access and control over particular goods and activities may have fostered more complex social stratification than previously considered. Archaeologically, correlates of social status and identity are equated primarily with elite goods, activities, and materials. Because these items are rarely recovered from non-elite sites, commoners are characterized as a largely egalitarian society of farmers. What this fails to consider is how commoners are, in fact, socially and economically diverse. Measures of status differentiation at the Northeast Group will rely on: (1) architectural construction and elaboration (e.g., investment of materials and labor), (2) evidence of localizing feasting, bloodletting and other ritual practices (e.g., faunal remains, obsidian or chert lances, burned surfaces, censers), (3) differences in pottery (e.g., plain, decorated, locally produced or imported), (4) diversity, quantity and quality of other possessions (e.g., obsidian, chert, greenstone, grinding stones). Excavations will also focus on the collection of micro-artifacts, plant and pollen remains, and soil chemistry in order to identify activity areas (open spaces) otherwise invisible on the ground surface. The distribution of these materials and the organization of space will be examined in relation to a ritual shrine, posited as the locus of ritual and social interaction in the neighborhood. Although researchers have examined the integration of commoner populations, few studies have examined how commoner communities are internally heterogeneous and diverse. If commoners consciously manipulated their status and identity, then mechanisms of social differentiation may be as important as indicators of social cohesion. By challenging what archaeologists mean by "commoner", one can begin to unpack concepts about status and cultural identity, equally applicable to current social issues as to interpretations of the past. From an archaeological standpoint, research at Chan's Northeast Group is a crucial testing ground for neighborhood-level inquiry, which has remained surprisingly underdeveloped. Beyond interest to social scientists, this project will promote public outreach to individuals living in Belize and the Untied States. These activities will include oral presentation and discussion of findings, and sharing of annual reports from the field seasons with communities located near the site, as well as others elsewhere in Belize. Dissemination of data to the scientific community will include publication in refereed journals, annual reports, and presentation of papers at professional conferences. In the process, Blackmore and prospective undergraduate assistants will receive training in the methods of fieldwork and analysis mentioned above.