Collaborative Research: Demographic catchments, interregional exchange and political complexity

加州大学洛杉矶分校的查尔斯·s·斯坦尼什博士和亚利桑那州立大学的凯利·j·克努森博士，以及秘鲁和美国的同事们将进行研究，研究复杂社会的发展，并调查仪式盛宴在复杂社会发展和扩张中的作用。无论是在过去还是现在的社会中，理解复杂群体是如何出现的都是一个经久不衰的人类学问题。它在21世纪的背景下也具有相关性，在这个背景下，多个国家社会的边界和存在都在不断变化。除了学术价值之外，该项目更广泛的影响还包括：1)对秘鲁埃尔卡门地区的社会和经济影响；2)对北美和南美教育和研究基础设施的贡献；3)通过为美国和秘鲁的学生提供教育和培训机会，创建一个更加多样化和包容性的科学界。Stanish和Knudson和他们的研究小组将研究仪式盛宴事件在政治发展和扩张中的作用。这项研究将在秘鲁的钦查山谷进行，在公元前800-200年，那里有一个名为帕拉卡斯的复杂政体，非常繁荣。研究人员将在秘鲁南部挖掘一处考古遗址，这是一个沉没的宫廷建筑群，很可能是为了接待来自遥远地区的游客而建造的。然后，他们将使用化学和地质学的技术来确定埋葬在沉没庭院中的人类和在那里发现的植物和动物遗骸等物品的起源。通过确定在沉没的宫廷考古遗址中发现的人类和动物遗骸的地质起源，研究人员将验证一个假设，即在过去，大型宴会活动被用来整合不同的社区，是社会政治复杂性发展的重要组成部分。

Dr. Charles S. Stanish, of the University of California at Los Angeles, and Dr. Kelly J. Knudson, of Arizona State University, along with colleagues in Peru and the United States, will undertake research to study the development of complex societies and to investigate the role of ritual feasting events in the development and expansion of complex societies. Understanding how complex groups emerge is an enduring anthropological question, both in past and present societies. It is also relevant in a 21st Century context in which boundaries and the very existence of multiple state societies are in flux. In addition to its scholarly merits, the broader impacts of this project include 1) social and economic impacts in the El Carmen region of Peru, 2) contributions to the education and research infrastructure in North and South America, and 3) the creation of a more diverse and inclusive scientific community through educational and training opportunities for students in the United States and Peru.Drs. Stanish and Knudson and their research team will examine the role of ritual feasting events in political development and expansion. The research will be conducted in the Chincha Valley of Peru, where a complex polity called Paracas flourished around 800-200 BCE. The researchers will excavate an archaeological site in southern Peru, a sunken court complex that was likely built to host visitors from distant areas. They will then use techniques from chemistry and geology to determine the origins of the humans buried in the sunken courts and in the objects, such as plant and animal remains, found there. By determining the geologic origins of the human and animal remains found in the sunken court archaeological sites, the researchers will test the hypothesis that major feasting events were used in the past to integrate different communities and were a vital part of the development of sociopolitical complexity.