Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Spatial Formation of a Complex Middle American Society

在猪又武博士的指导下，冢本健一郎将研究墨西哥埃尔帕尔马玛雅遗址周边建筑群的空间形成。这个区域中心位于蒂卡尔、卡拉克穆尔和里奥贝克（公元400-800年）三个相互竞争的政治圈的交叉点。只有传统的技术，没有轮式车辆或家畜，玛雅人能够在荒凉的低地环境中建立复杂的社会。社会科学家希望了解这样的系统是如何运作的，以及是什么联系将大量的个体联系在一起。当今世界上存在着许多传统社会，对过去的了解与当代背景有关。El Palmar位于墨西哥坎佩切州东南部，由公民仪式核心或主群和围绕主群的七个外围建筑群组成。拟议的研究特别关注古斯曼群，这是位于主群以北1.3公里处的外围群之一。先前的调查确定了一个象形文字的楼梯毗邻一个小金字塔寺庙沿着与其他六个结构周围的广场在这组。这项研究将评估古斯曼集团居民的社会地位以及他们与主要集团统治精英的政治和意识形态关系的证据。具体而言，本研究评估了五个备选假设：古斯曼群居住着1）次皇室或更高的精英; 2）中等或较低地位的个人; 3）由El Palmar统治者赞助的寺庙的平民; 4）没有居民;该群体是一个纯粹的仪式场所，代表了红衣主教世界观的北方部分; 5）人们在El Palmar政体崩溃后居住。这些假设将通过广泛的挖掘，表面调查和实验室分析进行测试。广场及其周围六个建筑的挖掘旨在揭示象形文字楼梯的铭文，所有建筑的建筑材料及其相关文物。地面调查将检查是否存在连接这两个群的堤道，这将有助于评估古斯曼群是否象征性地与核心区相连。文物的分析将集中在声望和异国情调的材料的数量和分布。调查结果将与主要群体的数据进行比较，以辨别两个群体之间的权力性质和意识形态关系。象形文字的阶梯通常建在公民仪式的核心，以使统治精英的政治权力合法化，而El Palmar的情况是这种普遍趋势的例外。详细考察导致在外围地区建造象形文字楼梯的社会过程，可能会揭示古典玛雅社会中权力斗争和意识形态谈判的动态本质。此外，本研究将突出政治动荡时期（公元400-900年），政体内部中心-边缘关系的形成与邻近区域中心之间更广泛的地缘政治关系的变化之间的关系。关于社会群体及其在外围建筑群体中的实践的新证据将拓宽我们目前对统治者和其他社会群体应对外部政治动态的不同策略的认识。 这项研究将为美国，墨西哥和日本的学生和学术专业人士。该项目的实质性成果将通过出版物和学术会议上的演讲以及通过在美国，墨西哥和日本。回收的材料和信息将提供给墨西哥城国家人类学与历史学院（ENAH）实验室的其他研究人员和学生。

Under the supervision of Dr. Takeshi Inomata, Kenichiro Tsukamoto will examine the spatial formation of a peripheral architectural group at the Maya site of El Palmar, Mexico. This regional center is situated at the intersection of three competing political spheres, Tikal, Calakmul, and Río Bec (A.D. 400-800). With only traditional technologies and neither wheeled vehicles or domestic animals the Mayans were able to construct complex societies in an inhospitable lowland environment. Social scientists wish to understand how such systems functioned and what links served to bind large numbers of individuals together. Many traditional societies exist in the world today and knowledge gained about the past is relevant in a contemporary context.El Palmar is located in southeastern Campeche, Mexico and it consists of the civic-ceremonial core or the Main Group and seven peripheral architectural groups surrounding the Main Group. The proposed research specifically focuses on the Guzmán Group, one of these peripheral groups located 1.3 km north of the Main Group. The previous survey identified a hieroglyphic stairway adjoined to a small pyramidal temple along with six other structures around a plaza in this group. This research will assess the evidence for the social status of residents at the Guzmán Group and their political and ideological relationships with ruling elites at the Main Group. Specifically, this study evaluates five alternative hypotheses: the Guzmán Group was inhabited by 1) sub-royal or higher elites; 2) intermediate or lower-status individuals; 3) commoners with a temple sponsored by El Palmar rulers; 4) no residents; the group was a purely ritual place representing the northern part of the cardinal worldview, and 5) people resided after the collapse of the El Palmar polity. These hypotheses will be tested through extensive excavations, surface survey, and laboratory analyses. The excavations of the plaza and six structures around it are designed to uncover inscriptions of a hieroglyphic stairway, construction materials of all the buildings, and their associated artifacts. Surface survey will examine the presence of a causeway that connects both groups, which will serve to assess whether the Guzmán Group was symbolically connected to the core area. The analysis of artifacts will focus on the quantity and distribution of prestige and exotic materials. The results will be compared with data from the Main Group to discern the nature of power and ideological relations between both groups. Hieroglyphic stairways were usually constructed at the civic-ceremonial core to legitimize the political power of ruling elites, and the case of El Palmar stands as exceptional to this general tendency. A detailed examination of the social processes resulting in the construction of a hieroglyphic stairway in a peripheral area may reveal the dynamic nature of power struggles and ideological negotiations in Classic Maya society. Furthermore, this study will highlight the relationship between the formation of center-periphery relations within a polity and changing broader geopolitical relations among neighboring regional centers during the period of political upheavals (A.D. 400-900). New evidence about the social group and their practices at a peripheral architectural group will broaden our current knowledge on varying strategies of rulers and other social groups in response to external political dynamics. This research will provide important collaborations among U.S., Mexican, and Japanese students and academic professionals. The substantial results from this project will be disseminated broadly through publications and presentations at scholarly conferences as well as through public outreach in U.S., Mexico, and Japan. The recovered materials and information will be available for other researchers and students at the laboratory of the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH) in Mexico City.