Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Comparative Examination of the Process of Urban Development

这一博士论文研究项目考察了低密度城市社区居民的居住地点选择如何受到社会和环境变量的影响，以及这些变量如何随着时间的推移而变化。它评估一座古城的逐渐发展和扩张，以确定社会地位和资源的获取如何影响区位，并直接测试关于人类行为、权力动态、家庭和亲属关系以及社区的更广泛的人类学问题。资源和人类决策之间的关系对面临资源和人口压力的现代社区具有影响。全球政治制度的成功及其对周围世界的支持和影响是人类学家、考古学家、生态学家、地理学家和城市研究人员感兴趣的问题。这项研究将完成一篇博士论文，并将通过几份同行评议的期刊出版物、向公众和学者发表的报告以及社交媒体渠道进行传播。在人口相对较多的大多数社会，非精英人士无法自由选择居住地，而不会受到往往由政治精英控制的社会或经济中间人的阻挠。然而，在人口密度较低和精英政治控制较少的社区，普通人往往能够(更多地)自由选择居住地点；他们的定居决定往往基于个人偏好和获得资源的机会。政治领导层的变化，加上人口密度的增加，可以直接影响整个社区的定居点分布。毕业论文学生艾米·汤普森将在经典时期(公元250-800)位于伯利兹托莱多区玛雅山脉南麓的玛雅中心IX Kuku‘il探索这些可能的聚落选择变化，并将她的发现与附近一个研究充分的古代玛雅中心Uxbenká进行比较，因为两个地点位于相似的地理环境，但似乎有不同的职业历史。田野工作将与现代莫潘玛雅社区的居民合作，他们将帮助记录古代家庭的位置，并挖掘不同社会地位的定居点。

This doctoral dissertation research project examines how settlement location choices among residents of low-density urban communities are influenced by both social and environmental variables, and how these change over time. It evaluates the gradual growth and expansion of an ancient city to determine how social status and access to resources influenced location and directly tests broader, anthropological questions regarding human behaviors, power dynamics, family and kin relationships, and communities. The relationship between resources and human decision-making has implications for modern communities facing resource and population pressures. The success of global political systems and their supporting settlement and impact on the world around them are issues of interest to anthropologists, archaeologists, ecologists, geographers, and urban studies. This research will result in the completion of a doctoral dissertation and will be disseminated through several peer-reviewed journal publications, presentations to both the public and academics, and social media outlets. In most societies with relatively high populations non-elites are unable to freely select settlement locations without the being impeded by social or economic brokers often controlled by political elites. However, in communities with lower density populations and less political control from elites, commoners are often able to (more) freely select locations to live; their settlement decisions are often based on personal preference and access to resources. Changes in political leadership in conjunction with increased population density can directly impact the settlement distributions across a community. The dissertation student, Amy Thompson will explore these possible shifts in settlement selection at a Classic period (AD 250-800) Maya center Ix Kuku'il, located in the southern foothills of the Maya Mountains in Toledo District, Belize and compare her findings to a nearby, yet well-studied ancient Maya center, Uxbenká as both sites are situated in a similar geographic setting yet appear to have differing occupational histories. Fieldwork will be collaborative with residents of a modern Mopan Maya community who will assist in documenting the location of ancient households and excavate settlements of varying social status.