Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Archaeological Research in the Central Yucatan

在国家科学基金会的支持下，在哈维尔·乌尔西德博士的指导下，唐纳德·斯莱特先生将在他过去在墨西哥尤卡坦中部进行的实地勘察的基础上，绘制并挖掘一系列史前玛雅人使用的洞穴。这项工作将揭示玛雅文化中一个鲜为人知的方面，并将增加对这个传统社会将大量个人结合成正常运作的社会单位的机制的理解。在2009年和2010年的田野调查中，斯莱特先生和同事们在该地区发现了70多个以前没有记录的洞穴--几乎所有这些洞穴都展示了古代仪式活动的迹象，包括公元前500年到公元1600年的岩画、祭祀和祭祀工具的存在。根据目前的奖励，他将绘制并挖掘其中的八个洞穴。这项研究旨在更好地理解古代玛雅人中的神圣景观和宇宙学概念，以及精英阶层如何将这些概念用于生产和维护社会和宗教权力。早在晚更新世(约公元前10,000年)，洞穴就在古代玛雅人的意识形态和宇宙学中扮演着重要的角色。在玛雅人的信仰体系中，洞穴被视为冥界，是创造过程中出现的地点，是雨水产生的场所，是强大的神灵和祖先的居住地。因此，洞穴将被视为具有强大精神能量的地方，并被统治阶级按仪式使用。斯莱特的研究将检验关于空间仪式使用的两个假说。首先，他将研究精英阶层有能力控制定居点核心和腹地地区洞穴通道的概念。其次，斯莱特假定洞穴内自然的不同区域被用于不同形式的仪式。他将比较和对比居住区内洞穴和洞穴外洞穴的文物组合和不可携带的文化材料(例如岩画)，以及洞穴内空间的文物组合和不可携带的文化材料(如岩画)，特别是洞口等开阔区域和狭窄的黑暗壁龛。这一分析将有助于更好地理解精英对腹地地区的控制范围，同时也有助于更好地洞察基于自然洞穴属性和文化构建的关于仪式空间重要性的概念而对仪式空间的不同使用。除了对人类学领域的贡献外，该项目还将在教育方面产生影响。自2002年以来，斯莱特一直在菲利普斯学院担任教育工作者，并将他的研究作为课堂和实地教学的工具，面向从高中生到研究生的学生。该项目已经并将继续培训工人的技能，使他们能够在未来的项目中销售，并通过向当地人提供补充其玛雅遗产传统知识的科学教育来增强他们的能力。

With National Science Foundation support and under the direction of Dr. Javier Urcid, Mr. Donald Slater will build on his past field reconnaissance in the Central Yucatan, Mexico, to map and excavate a series of caves utilized by prehistoric Maya peoples. The work will shed light on a poorly understood aspect of Maya culture and will increase understanding of the mechanisms used by this traditional society to bind together large numbers of individuals into functioning social units.During fieldwork in 2009 and 2010, Mr. Slater and colleagues identified over 70 previously unrecorded caves in the region - virtually all of which exhibit signs of ancient ritual activity including the presence of petroglyphs, offerings, and sacrificial implements dating from 500 BC to 1600 AD. Under the current award he will map and excavate eight of those caves. The research seeks to develop a better understanding of the concepts of sacred landscape and cosmology among the ancient Maya, and how such notions were used by the elite class for the production and maintenance of social and religious power. Caves held a significant role in ancient Maya ideology and cosmology as early as the Late Pleistocene (c. 10,000 BC). In the Maya belief system caves were viewed as the underworld, the point of emergence during creation, the locus of rain production, and the abode of powerful deities and ancestors. Thus, caves would have been viewed as places of potent spiritual energy and would have been ceremonially utilized by the ruling class.Mr. Slater's research will test two hypotheses concerning the ritual use of space. First, he will examine the notion that the elite class had the ability to control access to caves both within the core of settlements and in hinterland areas. Secondly, Slater postulates that naturally diverse areas within caves were used for diverse forms of ritual. He will compare and contrast artifact assemblages and non-portable culture materials (e.g. petroglyphs) from caves located within settlements versus those outside, as well as from spaces located within caves, particularly open areas such as mouths versus constricted dark alcoves. This analysis will serve to develop a better understanding of the reach of elite control over hinterland areas, while simultaneously leading to greater insight into the differential use of ritual space based on both natural cave properties and culturally constructed notions of their importance. In addition to contributions to the field of anthropology, the project will have impact in terms of education. Mr. Slater has served as an educator at Phillips Academy since 2002 and has used his research as a pedagogical tool in both classroom and field settings with students from high school age to the graduate level. The project has and will continue to train workers in skills that render them marketable to future projects, and to empower locals by offering them a scientific education that complements traditional knowledge of their Maya heritage.