Doctoral Dissertation Research: Craft Specialization and the Emergence of Social Inequality at He-4 (El Hatillo), in the Rio Parita Valley, Panama

在Robert Drennan博士的监督下，博士生William Locascio将在巴拿马Rio Parita山谷的He-4遗址进行考古发掘。公元550年左右，贺四成为一个地区性的政治中心，控制着数千人的人口。人们并不完全理解，为什么在小的平等主义群体中成功地存在了几千年之后，世界上许多地方的人类开始将自己组织成更大的、等级有序的社会。有什么条件允许一小群新兴精英巩固持久的社会优势？他们采用了什么策略来获得他们的地位？He-4提供了一个机会来研究这一根本性社会变革的潜在社会动力。He-4先前的研究表明，石斧等农业工具的专业化生产，对于清理森林开辟农田至关重要，成为未来精英巩固对他人的社会和经济控制的一种途径。Locascio先生将在He-4地区进行挖掘，该地区已知含有与较高地位住宅遗迹相关的石斧（以及其他物品）生产的集中证据。早期的研究只涉及地面采集和非常有限的试掘，因此只能确定在显示出高等级家庭证据的同一居住区发生了几种专业化生产。洛卡西奥先生将进行的更大规模的地层挖掘将提供更好的年代控制和更详细的背景下，专业化生产和社会精英的证据出现。这样就可以确定专业化工艺生产是从什么时候开始的，涉及到什么样的工艺产品，在不同的时间点专业化生产的程度如何，以及它与精英的联系性质是否随着时间的推移而改变。除了科学发现之外，这项研究还将产生几种更广泛的影响。这将是培养博士生的一个基本要素。它还将为匹兹堡大学和该区域几所大学（包括哥斯达黎加和巴拿马的大学以及哥伦比亚的考卡大学）的考古学学生提供实地培训和经验，从而鼓励在中美洲和南美洲北方发展国际大学关系。在当地宣传该项目的性质和成果，特别是在He-4附近的学校和社区，将提高公众对科学考古研究的认识，在这个地区，不受控制的非法挖掘一直是对考古遗址的严重威胁。

Under the supervision of Dr. Robert Drennan, doctoral candidate William Locascio will conduct archaeological excavations at the site of He-4, in the Rio Parita Valley, Panama. He-4 emerged as a regional political center at about 550 A.D. and controlled a population numbering several thousand people. It is not fully understood why, after millennia of existing successfully in small egalitarian groups, humans in many places in the world began to organize themselves into larger, hierarchically ordered societies. What conditions existed to permit small groups of emerging elites to cement enduring social superiority? What strategies did they employ in gaining their status?He-4 presents an opportunity to investigate the underlying social dynamics of this fundamental social transformation. Previous research at He-4 suggests that specialized production of agricultural tools like stone axes, which were vital for clearing forests to open agricultural fields, formed one avenue for prospective elites to consolidate social and economic control over others. Mr. Locascio will carry out excavations in areas of He-4 known to contain concentrated evidence of the production of stone axes (as well as other goods) in association with the remains of higher status residences. The earlier research involved only surface collection and very limited test excavation and thus enables one only to determine that several kinds of specialized production occurred in the same residential zones that show evidence of high ranking families. The larger-scale stratigraphic excavations that Mr. Locascio will conduct will provide much better chronological control and greater detail about the contexts in which evidence of both specialized production and social elites appears. This will make it possible to say just when specialized craft production began, what craft products were involved, how intensively specialized the production was at different points in time, and whether the nature of its association with elites changed through time.In addition to its scientific findings, this research will have several kinds of broader impacts. It will be a fundamental element in the training of the doctoral candidate. It will also provide field training and experience for students of archaeology from the University of Pittsburgh and several universities in the region (including the universities of Costa Rica and Panama and the Universidad del Cauca in Colombia), thus encouraging the development of international collegial relationships in Central America and northern South America. Local outreach communicating the nature and results of the project, focusing especially on schools and communities near He-4, will enhance public appreciation of scientific archaeological research in a region where uncontrolled and illegal excavation has been a severe threat to archaeological sites.