Dissertation Research: Religious Organization and Political Structure in Pre-Hispanic Southern Costa Rica

在罗伯特·D·德雷南博士的监督下，菲利佩·索尔将在哥斯达黎加南部的上特拉巴盆地进行一次考古调查，以研究该地区古代社会中宗教组织和政治结构之间的关系。在早期复杂的社会中，宗教往往是一个重要的政治因素，但宗教在最初建立中央集权的政治组织中所扮演的角色似乎非常不同。上特拉巴盆地显然在奇里基时期(公元1000年左右)融入了一个区域规模的社会。它的主要中心是里瓦斯考古遗址的一个大型社区，这是一个广泛的仪式和住宅平台综合体，以及相关的墓地。索尔将进行的调查将记录里瓦斯成为主要中心的整个地区的居住模式以及仪式和经济活动的分布情况。定居点的区域分布--特别是这种分布中随时间变化的模式--是腹地人口与政治中心的关系以及将区域人口聚集在一起的向心力的敏感指标。在该区域不同占领区发现的文物将显示经济活动和仪式活动的分布情况，并有助于确定哪些活动特别集中在里瓦斯。索尔的调查结果将把这个新兴的政治中心置于更广泛的地区背景中，并使他能够评估宗教在过去一个复杂社会的出现中所起的作用。因此，它将有助于更广泛地了解在当今大多数人类生活的大规模复杂社会中，政治、经济和宗教是如何联系在一起的。这项研究也将产生更广泛的影响。作为学位论文的研究，对博士生的培养至关重要。它还将通过与热带科学中心合作，与当地社区合作，增加对该地区自然和文化资源以及这些资源为科学研究带来的机会的欣赏，从而提高公众对科学的了解。作为一项区域调查，它还将对登记该地区的考古遗迹和帮助保护和保存哥斯达黎加文化遗产作出重大贡献。

Under the supervision of Dr. Robert D. Drennan, Felipe Sol will carry out an archaeological survey in the Upper Térraba Basin of southern Costa Rica in order to study the relation between religious organization and political structure in the region's ancient societies. Religion was often an important political element in early complex societies, but the role that religion played in the initial establishment of centralized political organization seems highly varied.The Upper Térraba Basin was apparently integrated into a society of regional scale during the Chiriquí period (around 1000 AD). Its principal center was a large community at the archaeological site of Rivas, an extensive complex of ceremonial and residential platforms with associated cemeteries. The survey that Mr. Sol will carry out will document the patterns of residence and the distribution of ritual and economic activities across the region in which Rivas emerged as a major center. The regional distribution of settlements - and especially the patterns of change through time in this distribution - are sensitive indicators of the relationship of a hinterland population to a political center, and of the centripetal forces that draw a regional population together. The artifacts recovered in different occupation zones across the region will provide indicators of the distribution of both economic and ritual activities and help to identify what kinds of activities were especially centralized at Rivas. The results of Mr. Sol's survey will place the emerging political center in a broader regional context, and enable him to assess the role that religion played in the emergence of one complex society in the past. It will thus help to understand more generally the ways in which politics, economy and religion connect in the large-scale complex societies in which most of humanity lives today.The research will have broader impacts as well. As dissertation research it is vital to the training of the doctoral candidate. It will also enhance public understanding of science by collaborating with the Tropical Science Center in its work with local communities to increase appreciation of the natural and cultural resources of the region and of the opportunities that these present for scientific research. As a regional survey it will also make a major contribution to the registration of the region's archaeological remains and aid in the protection and preservation of Costa Rican cultural heritage.