Collaborative Research: Geochemical Detection of Ancient Maya Exchange Environments

古典玛雅人显然没有出现在对古代国家经济的比较研究中，尽管他们是研究最深入的古代国家之一。长期以来，人们一直通过一种过时的视角来看待前资本主义时代的复杂经济体。还有一种普遍的观点认为，经济交换几乎完全是通过征收税款和贡品，并将其重新分配到社会阶梯上，作为对服务的奖励等方式进行的，主要是在通常与宴会相关的公共仪式上。由于绝大多数玛雅文物，包括通过贸易获得的文物，都是由易腐烂的材料制成，因此在考古记录中消失了，这一事实也使情况变得复杂起来。这项研究项目将通过分析人工制品和生态制品分解后留下的永久土壤残留物来解决后一个问题。土壤的地球化学分析有助于描绘家庭内部的活动区域，但这种有限的背景无法说明土壤残留物所代表的人工制品是如何获得的；在人工制品到达其家庭目的地之前，必须对土壤表面进行分析。绘制其他公共空间土壤化学残留物的地图模式也将有助于确定通过再分配和宴请实现的经济交换。在现代市场的初步研究开发了市场活动的地球化学特征；然后在三个选定的古代玛雅遗址发现了几乎相同的地球化学分布模式。然后，对这些地点吉祥仪式地点的地球化学模式进行了识别，并将其解释为再分配和宴请活动。目前的研究将把地球化学技术的使用扩展到三个最大、城市化程度最高的玛雅城市(卡拉克穆尔、奇琴伊塔和科巴)和一个城镇大小的地点(赛伊尔)；如果时间允许，伯利兹的卡拉科尔和麦克斯纳也将被采样。将重点放在磷上，因为它是所有生物的组成部分，它在土壤中的残留物是永久性的，它代表了史前人口使用的最大份额的商品，并可能通过交换获得。取样单位将是非破坏性的，因为代表性的化学痕迹留在最上面的10厘米。网格样本将放置在选定的广场和有趣的特征周围，如让人联想到售货亭的岩石路线。磷和金属的背景值将从现场和场外的土壤剖面坑中获得。可能影响土壤肥沃的沉积后因素，例如古代和历史上的土地利用方式，将通过与当地农民和我们的现场合作者的面谈、土壤地层分析以及可能的后续挖掘(如果后者似乎有必要)来控制。与传统观点相反，市场交换可能在维持玛雅人口、刺激手工艺专业化以及将人们从国内自给自足中解放出来方面发挥了关键作用。市场还有助于塑造社会和政治机构，这是再分配无法做到的。因此，对市场进行积极的地球化学识别有望取得重大突破。保存不佳的文物并不是玛雅人独有的，因此这种方法论有可能有助于理解其他古老国家的经济制度。该项目将把美国和墨西哥的科学家聚集在一起，在跨学科研究方面进行合作。学生将受益于在现场和实验室获得重要的研究经验。

The Classic Maya are remarkably absent from comparative study of archaic state economies, despite them being one of the most intensively studied archaic states. The Maya have long been perceived through the lens of an outmoded perspective on pre-capitalist complex economies. There is also generally an insistence that economic exchanges were almost exclusively transacted by exacting taxes and tributes and redistributing them back down the social ladder, as rewards for service etc., primarily in public ceremonies often associated with feasts. The picture is also complicated by the fact that the overwhelming majority of Maya artifacts, including those obtained through trade, were made of perishable materials and are therefore missing in the archaeological record. This research project will address this latter problem by analyzing permanent soil residues left by artifacts and ecofacts after they decomposed. Geochemical analyses of soils have helped delineate activity areas within households, but this limited context cannot tell how artifacts which the soil residues represent were obtained; soil surfaces must be analyzed where artifacts were brought - marketplaces - before they reached their household destinations. Mapping patterns of soil chemical residues in other public spaces will also help identify economic exchanges effected through redistribution and feasting. Pilot studies at a modern market developed geochemical signatures of marketplace activities; almost identical geochemical distribution patterns were then found at three select ancient Maya sites. Geochemical patterns in auspicious ritual loci at these sites were then discriminated and interpreted as redistribution and feasting activities. The current research will extend use of geochemical techniques to three of the largest and most heavily urbanized Maya cities (Calakmul, Chichen Itzá, and Cobá) and one town-sized site (Sayil); if time permits, Caracol and Maax Na in Belize will also be sampled. Emphasis will be placed on phosphorus as it is a component of all living matter, its residues in soils are permanent, and it represents the greatest share of goods that prehistoric populations used and possibly obtained through exchange. Sampling units will be nondestructive as representative chemical traces remain in the uppermost 10 cm. Grid samples will be placed over select plazas and around interesting features such as rock alignments reminiscent of kiosks. Background values of phosphorous and metals will be developed from on- and off-site soil profile pits. Post-depositional factors that might affect soil enrichment, such as ancient and historic land use practices, will be controlled through interviews with local farmers and our on-site collaborators, analyses of soil stratigraphy, and possibly subsequent excavation if the latter seems warranted. Contrary to conventional wisdom, market exchange may have been critical in sustaining Maya populations, stimulating craft specialization, and freeing people from domestic self-sufficiency. Markets also help shape social and political institutions in ways that redistribution could not. Therefore, positive geochemical identification of marketplaces promises an important breakthrough. Poor artifact preservation is not unique to the Maya, and thus the methodology has the potential to contribute to an understanding of economic systems in other archaic states. The project will bring together U.S. and Mexican scientists to collaborate in interdisciplinary research. Students will benefit by gaining important research experience in the field and laboratory.