Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Investigating Terminal Preclassic and Classic Period Power and Wealth at K'o, Guatemala

在弗朗西斯科·埃斯特拉达-贝利博士的监督下，约翰·托马西克将在玛雅考古遗址K'o进行挖掘。K'o位于危地马拉东北部，是Holmul考古项目目前正在调查的该地区几个考古遗址之一。K'o从公元前300年到公元850年被占领，之前的研究表明，公共建筑活动在该遗址历史的早期达到顶峰，随后在占领的最后几个世纪中下降。公共建筑建设的长期模式被用来估计K'o精英权力的长期水平，精英权力的下降归因于涉及霍尔木尔地区其他遗址的政治进程。托马西克的论文将研究这些长期的权力模式在多大程度上与长期的财富模式相关。Tomasic的论文研究将集中在精心挑选的K'o精英和非精英家庭的挖掘上，并将恢复数据，这些数据将允许评估K'o的长期财富水平。这项研究意义重大，因为它考察了财富相对于权力的长期趋势，它将展示（而不是假设）财富和权力的共变程度。可以预期，权力和财富在K'o的变化程度将取决于财富项目在过去经济中的分配方式。此外，这项研究很重要，因为它试图确定财富物品通过精英再分配、精英之间的互惠赠与和/或非正式的易货和市场交换来分配的程度。对于某些商品是通过非正式易货和市场交换，还是通过精英再分配和精英互惠的声望商品网络进行分配，学术界存在分歧。这项研究通过考察精英和非精英家庭的财富项目如何在K'o分配，为这场辩论做出了贡献。除了这项研究将有助于我们对霍尔姆尔地区考古学的理解之外，这项研究还将促进我们对过去所有经济体中商品分配方式的理解。此外，这项研究的结果将有助于更细致地理解过去社会中权力与财富之间的复杂关系。最后，在更普遍的意义层面上，本研究的结果可以用来更好地理解政治进程对墨西哥和中美洲当代玛雅人的影响，因为他们积极参与现代全球经济。就更广泛的影响而言，这项研究的结果将在国家会议和西班牙语和英语的学术出版物上广泛传播。此外，科学家和非专业人士都可以从霍尔姆考古项目的网站上免费获得所有出版材料的副本。通过这种方式，这项研究将促进我们对这个过去社会的科学理解，并将为非专业人士所接受。此外，Tomasic先生以及危地马拉和美国机构的本科生和研究生研究助理将获得上述考古研究方法方面的培训。

Under the supervision of Dr. Francisco Estrada-Belli, John Tomasic will conduct excavations at the Maya archaeological site of K'o. K'o is located in northeastern Guatemala, and is one of several archaeological sites within the region currently under investigation by the Holmul Archaeological Project. K'o was occupied from 300 BC to AD 850, and previous research suggests public construction activities peaked early in the site's history, and subsequently declined during the final centuries of occupation. Long-term patterns in public architectural construction have been used to estimate long-term levels of elite power at K'o, and the decline in elite power is attributed to political processes involving other sites within the Holmul Region. Mr. Tomasic's dissertation will examine the degree to which these long-term patterns in power at K'o correlate with long-term patterns in wealth. Tomasic's dissertation research will focus on excavations within carefully selected elite and non-elite households at K'o, and will recover data which will permit an assessment of long-term levels of wealth at K'o. This research is significant because it examines long-term trends in wealth relative to power, and it will demonstrate, rather than assume, the degree to which wealth and power covary. It is expected that the degree to which power and wealth covary at K'o will be dependent upon how wealth items were distributed within this past economy. Furthermore, this research is important because it attempts to determine the degree to which wealth items were distributed through elite redistribution, reciprocal gifting among elites, and/or informal barter and marketplace exchange. Scholarly disagreement exists regarding whether certain goods were distributed through informal barter and market exchange or through elite redistribution and elite reciprocal prestige goods networks. This study contributes to this debate by examining how wealth items in elite and nonelite households may have been distributed at K'o.In addition to the contributions this research will make to our understanding of the archaeology of the Holmul region, this study will advance our understanding of how goods were distributed within all past economies. Furthermore, the results of this research will contribute toward a more nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between power and wealth in past societies. Finally, at a more general level of significance, the results of this research can be used to better understand the effects of political processes on contemporary Maya peoples of Mexico and Central America as they actively participate in the modern global economy.In terms of broader impacts, the results of this research will be widely disseminated at national conferences and in scholarly publications in both Spanish and English. In addition, both scientists and laypersons will be able to freely obtain copies of all published materials from the Holmul Archaeological Project's website. In this manner, this research will advance our scientific understanding of this past society and will be accessible to non-specialists. Furthermore, Mr. Tomasic, as well as undergraduate and graduate research assistants at Guatemalan and U.S. institutions, will gain training in the methods of archaeological research mentioned above.