Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Relationship Between Mortuary Practice and Social Organization

在Lori Wright博士的指导下，Kristin Hoffmeister将进行研究，通过检查经历重大社会政治转型的群体的健康、饮食和流动性模式，调查社会政治力量的出现和巩固。社会政治分层的起源是一种全球现象，考古研究通过研究不平等的发展以及随后的社会和政治分支在很长一段时间内具有独特的地位来解决这一问题。该项目将研究移民、健康和资源获取差异等关键主题，以调查崛起的精英阶层如何获得和控制社会政治权力。了解这些复杂的过程，以及社会复杂性、身份和角色如何随着时间的推移被协商、合法化和维持，具有广泛的深远意义。这项研究将通过研究人类骨骼遗骸来考察社会政治分层的发展，以评估社会政治分层发展过程中的流动性、饮食和健康模式。该项目将对来自Cuello和Colha的前古典主义时期(公元1000-250年)玛雅骨骼遗骸进行研究，这两个地点位于伯利兹北部，拥有大量前古典主义时期的骨骼组合。前古典时期的特点是殡仪行为发生了广泛的变化，同时整个玛雅地区的建筑、场地组织、社会结构和物质文化也发生了其他重大变化，这些变化与复杂的分层社会的出现有关。虽然社会等级制度的发展与在Cuello和Colha观察到的复杂殡仪行为的出现有关，但这些埋葬与新出现的社会和政治分层的关系仍然不清楚。这项拟议的研究将使用考古学数据，结合饮食、地理起源和牙齿健康的数据，调查前古典玛雅人之间的这些广泛的社会政治变化。具体地说，这项研究将使用稳定的碳(ä13C)、氧(ä18O)和锶(87Sr/86Sr)同位素来评估饮食和流动性模式。通过分析前经典的殡仪馆行为，这个项目将研究社会复杂性、社会不平等和身份认同是如何通过对死者的政治操纵而产生、合法化和维持的。该项目将产生有关玛雅人的健康、饮食和流动性的新的考古和地球化学数据。它还将提供研究和指导

Under the direction of Dr. Lori Wright, Kristin Hoffmeister will undertake research to investigate the emergence and consolidation of sociopolitical power by examining health, diet, and mobility patterns in groups undergoing significant sociopolitical transformations. The genesis of sociopolitical stratification is a global phenomenon that archaeological inquiry is uniquely positioned to address by examining the development of inequality and the subsequent social and political ramifications over long periods of time. This project will examine the key themes of migration, health, and differential access to resources in order to investigate how rising elites gain and control sociopolitical power. Understanding these complicated processes and how social complexity, identities, and roles are negotiated, legitimized, and maintained over time has broad reaching implications.This research will examine the development of sociopolitical stratification by examining human skeletal remains to assess patterns of mobility, diet, and health during the development of sociopolitical stratification. This project will be conducted on Preclassic period (1000-250 AD) Maya skeletal remains from Cuello and Colha, two sites in northern Belize with large Preclassic skeletal assemblages. The Preclassic period is characterized by broad shifts in mortuary behavior that were concurrent with other significant changes in architecture, site organization, social structure, and material culture throughout the Maya area that relate to the emergence of complex, stratified society. While the development of social hierarchy has been linked to the appearance of the complex mortuary behavior observed at Cuello and Colha, the relationship of these burials to emerging social and political stratification remains unclear. The proposed research will use archaeological data in conjunction with data on diet, geographic origins, and dental health to investigate these broad sociopolitical changes among the Preclassic Maya. Specifically, this study will employ stable carbon (ä13C), oxygen (ä18O), and strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotopes to assess diet and mobility patterns. By analyzing Preclassic mortuary behavior, this project will examine how social complexity, social inequality, and identity are generated, legitimized, and maintained through the political manipulation of the dead. This project will generate novel archaeological and geochemical data about health, diet, and mobility among the Maya. It will also provide research and mentorship