The Role Of Competition In The Development Of Societal Complexity

这项研究和类似的考古学研究的基本目标是了解复杂社会产生的过程。在技术简单的社会中，如何出现将数千人与正常运作的政治和经济网络捆绑在一起的社会实体？考古学，因为它可以追踪这样的发展，往往超过数千年，提供了一个重要的洞察力来源。这项研究将通过记录重要的史前中美洲政体，并评估它是作为一个单一的国家出现，还是与新认识的更大的中心竞争，来帮助理解萌芽中的国家权力。这项研究的第一阶段首次记录了该遗址的范围。NSF的支持还允许记录三个相邻环境中总体占领水平的变化，并通过八个较低级别的纪念性中心提供了对区域政治组织的一瞥。第二阶段的研究将确定初期国家权力的性质。首席研究员罗伯特·罗森西格博士将收集激光雷达(遥感区域图像)数据，并进行一个野外季节的行人定居调查，以记录墨西哥索科努斯科地区伊萨帕州的出现。这是研究的第二阶段，建立在NSF资助的现有激光雷达数据和行人调查数据的基础上。激光雷达是一项新的令人兴奋的技术，它利用光脉冲穿透茂密的热带植被，并绘制出下面的陆地特征图。伊萨帕遗址长期以来一直被认为是一个重要的中心，由100个土丘组成，是一种地区公共艺术风格的核心。这项研究将确定伊萨帕是作为该地区唯一的政治中心出现的，还是在与新发现的拉斯维乌达斯中心竞争中发展起来的。为了评估这些替代可能性，所有形成时期(公元前850年-公元前100年)的纪念性中心将被绘制成地图，以确定它们相对于伊萨帕和拉斯维乌达斯的区域分布。每个较低级别中心的方向和内部布局(估计还有30个中心需要记录)将使用激光雷达非常准确地记录下来，从而能够在区域范围内重建场地规划模式。除了西班牙裔居民占领该地区外，这些激光雷达数据还将记录经济重要的索科努斯科地区的溪流、小溪和河流的水文情况。由于位于马德雷山脉的底部，该地区容易发生洪水，并在2005年的飓风斯坦之后遭到破坏。这些新数据将使人们能够确定过去受到侵蚀并面临当前侵蚀风险的河流缓冲区。有了这些信息，考古遗址和面临未来洪水相关侵蚀风险的现代社区都将被确定，并与当地官员分享这些信息。

The fundamental goal of this and similar archaeological research is to understand the processes through which complex societies arise. How in technologically simple societies do social entities which bind thousands of individuals into functioning political and economic networks arise? Archaeology, because it can trace such developments, often over millennia, provides an important source of insight. The research will contribute to understanding incipient state power by documenting the important prehistoric Middle American polity and evaluating whether it emerged as a single state or in competition with the newly recognized larger center. The first phase of this research documented the extent of the site for the first time. NSF support also allowed the documentation of changing overall occupation levels in three adjacent environments and provided a glimpse of regional political organization through eight lower-order monumental centers. The second stage of research will determine the nature of incipient state power.The principal investigator Dr. Robert Rosenswig will collect lidar (remotely sensed areal imagery) data and undertake one field season of pedestrian settlement survey to document the emergence of the Izapa state in the Soconusco region of Mexico. This is the second stage of research and builds on existing lidar data and pedestrian survey data funded by the NSF. Lidar is a new and exciting technology that employs pulses of light to penetrate thick tropical vegetation and map terrestrial features below. The site of Izapa has long been recognized as an important center consisting of 100s of mounds and the heart of a regional style of public art. The research will determine whether Izapa arose as the only political center in the region or if it developed in competition with the newly discovered center of Las Viudas. To evaluate these alternate possibilities, all Formative period (850 BCE - CE 100) monumental centers will be mapped to determine their regional distribution in relation to Izapa and Las Viudas. The orientation and internal layout of each lower order centers (of which there is an estimated 30 more to be documented) will be very accurately documented using lidar, allowing for site planning patterns to be reconstructed at a regional scale. In addition to Prehispanic occupation of the region, these lidar data will document the hydrology of streams, creeks and rivers in the economically important Soconusco. Located as it is at the base of the Sierra Madre, the region is prone to flooding and was devastated following Hurricane Stan in 2005. These new data will allow the identification of river buffer areas eroded in the past and subject to current erosion risk. With this information, both archaeological sites and modern communities at risk from future flood-related erosion will be identified and this information shared with local officials.