Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Effect Of Small Scale Industrial Production On Social Organization

这个项目试图了解环境资源的开发和管理如何影响一个大规模复杂社会的兴衰。它洞察了对单一特定资源的关注和专业化如何构成社会复杂性增长的基础，以及当继续生产不再可行时，社会如何适应--或未能适应--。对这一过程的审视是一个“传统”层面的社会，有可能为当今发展中世界的多个地区提供洞察。研究人员多年来一直在争论古代玛雅文明社会政治解体的原因，环境过度开发被认为是一个关键变量。对生产一种重要的日常生活材料的过程进行系统调查，将提供信息，说明经济力量和随之而来的资源过度消耗可能在这个复杂社会相对快速的兴衰中发挥了重要作用。古代玛雅人使用石灰粉做任何事情，从建造纪念性宫殿和寺庙金字塔到确保健康的饮食。尽管石灰粉具有明显的意义，但研究人员尚未完全了解古代玛雅人生产石灰粉的方法以及生产过程对环境的潜在影响。最近在尤卡坦半岛北部发现了150多个被假设为石灰燃烧窑的环形结构，这为研究潜在的古代石灰燃烧窑技术提供了独特的机会，并揭示了这一关键产品的制造。对石灰生产的深入研究，可能会揭示古代玛雅社会相对快速繁荣和解体的时间和过程。石灰生产是社会和经济兴衰的关键指标。研究人员将创建一个理论和方法框架，不会局限于玛雅地区，而是将适用于对世界各地开采石灰岩资源的古代复杂社会的研究。项目成员与墨西哥当地社区和美国的几所大学建立了牢固的联系，并将为美国本科生和研究生提供与不同文化背景的人互动的机会，同时还将培训考古方法和理论。这项研究将由我的肯尼斯·塞利格森进行，由此产生的数据将为他的博士论文提供基础。除了确定当地石灰生产所涉及的具体工艺外，该项目还将制定一个框架，以解决以下更广泛的问题：1)石灰生产的集中控制程度；2)石灰业对古代经济的重要性；3)石材加工业对社会其他部门和环境的影响。尽管石灰粉在古代玛雅社会的几个方面的重要性是毋庸置疑的，但关于石灰粉在西语裔时代之前的生产情况，信息仍然相对匮乏。为了了解古代玛雅人是如何生产这种关键材料的，该项目将包括：系统地挖掘一系列古代石灰窑；对这些窑进行大量比较试验--点蚀样本；深入的空间和背景分析；多种元素、岩相和热处理分析；以及实验性地建造一个正在运行的石灰窑，以了解生产过程中涉及的劳动量、时间和材料。调查中发现的信息将有助于了解古代玛雅石灰生产行业对环境资源管理的影响，以及古典时期玛雅社会的社会经济增长、衰落和崩溃。

This project seeks to understand how the exploitation and management of environmental resources affected the growth and decline of a large-scale complex society. It provides insight into how the focus and specialization on a single specific resource can form the basis for the growth of social complexity and how a society adapts - or fails to adapt - when continuation of production is no longer viable. Examination of this process is a "traditional" level society has the potential to provide insight into multiple regions in the developing world today.Researchers have been debating the causes of the socio-political disintegration of Ancient Maya civilization for many years now and environmental overexploitation has been suggested as a critical variable. A systematic investigation of the processes involved in the production of an important material for daily life will provide information about how economic forces and consequent resource overconsumption may have played an important role in the relatively rapid rise and fall of this complex society. The Ancient Maya used lime powder for everything from constructing monumental palaces and temple-pyramids to ensuring a healthy diet. Despite its obvious significance, researchers have yet to completely understand the method by which the Ancient Maya produced lime powder and the potential environmental impacts of the production process. The recent discovery of over 150 ring-like structures hypothesized to be lime-burning kilns in the northern Yucatan Peninsula now provides the unique opportunity to investigate potential ancient lime-burning kiln technology and shed light on the manufacturing of this crucial product. An in-depth study of lime production, a key indicator of social and economic growth - and decline - has the potential to shed light on the timing of and processes precipitating the relatively rapid florescence and disintegration of Ancient Maya society. The researchers will create a theoretical and methodological framework that will not be restricted to the Maya area, but instead will be applicable to the study of ancient complex societies that exploited limestone resources around the world. The project members have established strong connections with local communities in Mexico and several universities in the United States, and will provide the opportunity for American undergraduate and graduate students to interact with people of a different cultural background while also training in archaeological methods and theory. The research will be conducted my Kenneth Seligson and the resultant data will provide the basis for his doctoral dissertation. In addition to identifying the specific processes involved in local lime production, this project will develop a framework for addressing such broader issues as: 1) the degree of centralization of control of lime production; 2) the importance of the lime industry to the ancient economy; 3) and the effects of the stone processing industry on other sectors of society and the environment. Though the significance of lime powder for several aspects of ancient Maya society is unquestionable, there remains a relative dearth of information about its production in pre-Hispanic times. In order to understand how the Ancient Maya produced this crucial material, the project will include: systematic excavations of a series of ancient lime kilns; a large comparative test-pitting sample of these kilns; in-depth spatial and contextual analyses; multi-elemental, petrographic, and heat-treatment analyses; and the experimental construction of a working lime kiln to understand the amount of labor, time and materials involved in the production process. Information recovered during this investigation will shed light on the effects that the Ancient Maya lime production industry had on environmental resource management and the socio-economic growth, decline, and collapse of Classic Period Maya society.