Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Remote Sensing and the Late Classic (AD 650-850) Maya Utilization of Bajos (Seasonal Swamps) at Tikal and Yaxha, Peten, Guatemala

在Payson D.Sheets博士的监督下，Errin Weller将分析从卫星图像和地面调查中收集的数据，以寻找危地马拉佩滕低洼的Bajos(季节性淹没的沼泽)的考古特征。研究将集中在两个地点：1)蒂卡尔，古代玛雅世界中最大、人口最稠密的遗址之一，位于圣达菲巴霍河岸；2)雅克哈，与巴霍拉胡斯塔有直接联系的较小遗址。巴霍斯可能的景观改造包括建筑物、隆起的农田、灌溉运河、穿越巴霍斯的道路和农业梯田。韦勒的研究将调查在公元650至公元850年间建造的这两个巴霍河的性质和改造程度，公元850年是玛雅人居住最强烈的时期。对巴霍斯的研究很重要，因为它们约占古代玛雅人占据的陆地表面的40%，目前大多数考古学家认为它们尚未被利用。在Tikal和Yaxha等地，人口稠密是显而易见的，但这些人口的生存方式并不完全清楚。巴霍斯作为集约化农业生产的可能地点，可能为养活如此多的人口提供了解释。巴霍斯人的居住不仅会改变人口估计，还会改变专注于高原的定居点模式，以及对古代玛雅人如何利用环境的理解。此外，记录巴霍斯地区的考古特征将修正人口估计，重新评估定居点模型，并证明对考古理解古代玛雅人的农业技术有价值。除了与玛雅考古学或社会科学有关的研究问题外，该项目还有更广泛的影响。这项研究将对居住在巴乔地区的当代人以及研究热带环境和其他地区湿地开垦的学者产生影响。如果古代玛雅人利用巴霍斯，这是一个罕见的湿地(或沼泽)开垦导致生物多样性增加的例子，并可能为现代人类提供一种可持续的技术。古代对Bajos的利用可能会在一个目前正在经历从事不可持续的破坏性农业的定居者涌入的地区提供一种可持续的技术。刀耕火种农业是一种广泛的土地利用，而不是集约湿地农业，在一个土地宝贵且人口压力不断增加的地区。取代这些做法将对现代栖息地和气候产生深远影响。此外，该项目将为新大陆和旧大陆热带地区的研究人员提供一种新的探索模式。这项研究的结果将以英语和西班牙语在会议上发表的专业论文中传播，并在同行评议的期刊文章中发表。最后，所有项目参与者将接受卫星图像分析方法的培训，以检测考古特征。

Under the supervision of Dr. Payson D. Sheets, Errin Weller will analyze data gathered from satellite imagery and ground survey to look for archaeological features in low-lying bajos (seasonally inundated swamps) in the Peten, Guatemala. The research will focus on two locations: 1) Tikal, one of the largest and mostly densely occupied sites in the ancient Maya world, located on the banks of the Bajo de Santa Fe; 2) Yaxha, a smaller site in direct association with the Bajo la Justa. Possible landscape modifications of the bajos include structures, raised agricultural fields, canals for irrigation, roadways crossing the bajos, and terraces for agriculture. Weller's research will investigate the nature and extent of modification of these two bajos constructed between AD 650 and AD 850, the period of most intense Maya habitation. Research focusing on bajos is important because they compose approximately 40% of the land surface occupied by the ancient Maya and are currently considered by the majority of archaeologists to have been unutilized. Dense populations are in evidence at sites such as Tikal and Yaxha, but the means by which these populations were supported are not completely understood. Bajos as the possible locations of intensive agricultural production may provide an explanation for feeding the high number of people. Habitation within the bajos will alter not only population estimates but also models of settlements that focus on uplands and understandings of how the ancient Maya people utilized their environment. Furthermore, documenting archaeological features within the bajos will revise population estimates, re-evaluate models of settlements, and prove valuable for archaeological understandings of agricultural technology of the ancient Maya. This project has broader impacts beyond research questions pertaining to Maya archaeology or the social sciences. This research will impact both contemporary people residing in bajo areas and scholars studying wetland reclamation in tropical environments and beyond. If the ancient Maya utilized the bajos, it is a rare instance of wetland (or swamp) reclamation resulting in an increase in biodiversity and could provide a sustainable technology for modern populations. Ancient utilization of bajos for subsistence may provide a sustainable technology in an area currently experiencing an influx of settlers practicing unsustainable destructive agriculture. Slash-and-burn agriculture is an extensive use of land, as opposed to intensive wetland agriculture, in an area where land is at a premium and population pressure is increasing. Replacing such practices will have far-reaching affects on both modern habitat and climate. Furthermore, the project will provide a new model to explore for researchers in the New World and in tropical areas of the Old World. The results of this research will be disseminated in English and Spanish in professional papers presented at conferences and published in peer-reviewed journal articles. Lastly, all project participants will gain training in the methods of satellite imagery analysis for the detection of archaeological features.