Regional Survey and the Trajectory of Complexity in the Magdalena Lake Basin, Jalisco, Mexico

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Christopher Beekman博士和Verenice Heredia博士将使用改进的区域考古调查方法来调查墨西哥哈利斯科州中部山谷中社会和政治复杂性的出现。世界上相对较少的地区，复杂的社会政治体系独立出现，并成为地区性强国。考古学家和其他社会科学家非常依赖这些例子来发展关于政治起源的更广泛的理论。墨西哥西部的Teuchitlán文化是最近被确定的案例研究之一，它与许多关于这些过程如何开始的假设相矛盾。因此，它为比较文献提供了一个反例，使考古学家能够批判性地评估古墨西哥及其他地区的现有模型。先前的研究记录了一种由精英家庭分享权力的政治制度（约公元前300年至公元500年），而不是像古墨西哥和古代世界许多其他地区所知的那样，权力集中在一个准神圣的统治者手中。因此，哈利斯科州中部的山谷提供了一个新的比较点，而不是来自墨西哥高地和中美洲东部热带低地的更好的研究轨迹。该项目研究了中美洲一个角落里社会复杂性的独立出现、扩张、崩溃和重组，尽管它有可能填补已知社会复杂性变化的空白，但它受到的关注相对较少。该项目由美国和墨西哥考古学家共同指导，并在这个新的重要区域内加入了他们独立和正在进行的研究路线。本研究将通过对哈利斯科高原马格达莱纳湖盆地的综合考古和地貌调查来进行。考古调查将确定定居点的位置和时间顺序，从早期形成时期到西班牙征服（公元前1500年-公元1600年）。柯克·安德森博士进行的一项地貌调查将评估马格达莱纳湖随时间的波动情况，对气候变化和湖泊资源的古代利用情况进行综合评估。项目成员将绘制所处地点的内部组织和建筑形式，这一过程允许分析现有的具体政治机构和集中化程度。该项目继续与Michoacán学院的研究人员进行国际合作，并建立了一个框架，在该框架内，来自美国和墨西哥的研究生将接受实验室和现场方法的培训。该项目通过提高社区对文化遗迹的认识和培训研究生，从长远的角度看待考古保护。对考古遗址最大的威胁是缺乏兴趣，项目成员将在地方一级进行讲座，以提高社区对考古的认识和欣赏。培养研究生培养有能力进行未来研究的考古学家，这些研究将有助于数据和遗址保护，这是整个墨西哥西部各州迫切需要的。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Christopher Beekman and Dr. Verenice Heredia will use modified regional archaeological survey methods to investigate the emergence of social and political complexity in the central valleys of Jalisco, Mexico. There are relatively few areas in the world in which complex sociopolitical systems emerged independently and established themselves as regional powers. Archaeologists and other social scientists are extremely dependent upon these examples for developing broader theories about the origins of politics. The Teuchitlán culture of western Mexico is one of the most recent case studies to be identified, and it contradicts many of the assumptions about how these processes begin. It therefore provides a counter-example to the comparative literature that will allow archaeologists to critically evaluate existing models in ancient Mexico and beyond. Prior research has documented a political system in which power was shared by elite families (ca. 300 BC - AD 500) instead of being concentrated in the hands of a single quasi-divine ruler, as known elsewhere in ancient Mexico and many other areas of the ancient world. The valleys of central Jalisco therefore provide a fresh point of comparison outside the canon of better studied trajectories from highland Mexico and the tropical lowlands of eastern Mesoamerica. The project examines the independent emergence, expansion, collapse, and reorganization of social complexity in a corner of Mesoamerica that has received comparatively little attention despite its potential for filling a gap in known variations on social complexity. The project is co-directed by American and Mexican archaeologists, and joins their independent and ongoing research lines within this new and important zone. This research will be conducted through integrated archaeological and geomorphological survey of the Magdalena lake basin of highland Jalisco. The archaeological survey will establish the location and chronological sequence of settlements from the Early Formative period through the Spanish Conquest (1500 BC - AD 1600). A geomorphological survey by Dr. Kirk Anderson will evaluate the fluctuations of Lake Magdalena over time, providing an integrated assessment of climatic changes and the ancient use of lake resources. Project members will map the internal organization and architectural forms of sites located, a procedure which allows an analysis of the specific political institutions present and the degree of centralization that occurred. This project continues international collaborations with researchers from the Colegio de Michoacán, and builds a framework within which graduate students from both the United States and Mexico will receive training in laboratory and field methods. The project takes a long term view towards archaeological conservation, by raising community awareness of cultural remains and training graduate students. The greatest threat to archaeological sites is lack of interest, and project members will give talks at the local level to raise community awareness and appreciation for archaeology. Training graduate students produces archaeologists who are capable of carrying out future studies that will aid in data and site conservation, which the western Mexican states as a whole sorely need.