Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: "Family, "Foreigners," and Fictive Kinship: A Bioarchaeolgoical Approach to Ancient Maya Social Organization"

在简·布克斯特拉博士的指导下，凯瑟琳米勒将对来自科潘古城的人类骨骼遗骸的生物和化学数据进行分析。研究地点位于洪都拉斯西部古玛雅世界的东南边缘。科潘是一个主要的社会，政治和经济中心，被占领了近3,000年，在古典时期后期（公元600-820年）达到顶峰，当时人口超过20，000居民。科潘是这个项目的理想选择，因为它的持续占领，它作为一个主要的玛雅城市中心的作用，以及广泛的挖掘，产生了最大的骨骼收集在中美洲。米勒女士的研究通过直接接触埋葬在科潘的个人，通过适用于过去社会的经验和理论倾向的方法探索亲属关系和居住模式。影响人们如何选择联系和组织成社会，政治和经济群体的因素在过去和现在都是人类学长期存在的研究问题，因为它们是过去（重建）的核心。该项目通过使用新方法和一个在很大程度上被忽视的数据来源，即人体，对社会组织问题采取了一种新的方法。在骨骼中发现的化学和生物签名突出了家谱和文化的相互作用，非常适合准确地记录关系和从属关系，因为这些签名在生或死中不会被个人或社会看到，扭曲或歪曲。本项目将探讨亲属关系和共同居住在社会群体的形成和维持中所发挥的作用，方法是采用（1）生物距离分析，通过牙齿中发现的潜在遗传特征的物理表现来推断生物亲属关系，以及（2）放射性锶同位素分析，从人类牙齿中提取锶样本，以推断古代迁移和居住模式。这项研究将包括从那些创造和维持社会的人那里获得的数据，从而为古代玛雅社会组织的知识体系提供必要和及时的补充。这项研究的影响将超出研究主题。作为与哥伦比亚人类学和历史研究所以及美国各机构开展的国际合作的一部分，这项研究的一个主要组成部分包括保护从教科文组织世界遗产地考古发掘的最大的古玛雅人骨骼遗骸收藏。该项目的学术价值集中在研究设计的跨学科性质上，该研究设计结合了考古学，生物和文化人类学，地球化学和统计学，以解决社会组织的长期问题。结果将通过一个公开的在线数据库和同行审查的出版物传播。公共宣传将通过公开讲座，学术报告和研讨会在美国和洪都拉斯进行，以提高对科学和考古收藏品保护的理解。最后，该项目通过培训来自美国和洪都拉斯的学生和专业人员进行生物考古方法学、研究设计、保护和实地分析，为长期国际科学合作奠定了基础。

Under the guidance of Dr. Jane Buikstra, Katherine Miller will conduct an analysis of biological and chemical data from human skeletal remains from the ancient city of Copan. The research site is located at the southeastern periphery of the ancient Maya world in western Honduras. Copan was a major social, political, and economic center that was occupied for nearly 3,000 years reaching its apogee during the Late Classic period (AD 600-820) when the population surpassed 20,000 inhabitants. Copan is ideal for this project because of its continuous occupation, its role as a major Maya urban center, and extensive excavations that have produced the largest skeletal collection in Mesoamerica. Ms. Miller's research explores kinship and residential patterns through an empirical and theoretically inclined methodology applicable to past societies by directly engaging individuals who were buried at Copan.The factors that influence how people choose to associate and organize into social, political, and economic groups both in the past and present are long-standing research issues in anthropology as they are central to (re)constructions of the past. This project takes a novel approach to the problem of social organization by using new methods and a largely neglected source of data, the human body. The chemical and biological signatures found in the skeleton highlight the interplay of genealogy and culture and are well-suited to accurately document relationships and affiliations since these signatures cannot be seen, distorted, or misrepresented by the individual or society in life or death. This project will address the role that kinship and shared residence played in the formation and maintenance of social groups by employing (1) biodistance analysis to infer biological kinship relationships through the physical expressions of underlying genetic traits found in teeth, and (2) radiogenic strontium isotope analysis to extract samples of strontium from human teeth to infer ancient migration and residence patterns. This study will provide a necessary and timely addition to the body of knowledge on ancient Maya social organization by including data drawn from those who created and maintained society.This research will have impacts that extend beyond the research topic. As part of an international collaboration with the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History and institutions from the United States, a major component of this research includes the conservation of the largest collection of archaeologically recovered ancient Maya human skeletal remains from a UNESCO World Heritage site. The intellectual merit of this project centers on the interdisciplinary nature of the research design that combines archaeology, biological and cultural anthropology, biogeochemistry, and statistics to address the long-standing problem of social organization. Results will be disseminated through a publicly available online database and in peer-reviewed publications. Public outreach will occur both in the United States and Honduras through public lectures, academic presentations, and workshops to improve the understanding of science and protection of archaeological collections. Finally, this project provides the foundation for long-term international scientific collaboration by training students and professionals from the United States and Honduras in bioarchaeological methodology, research design, conservation, and field analysis.