An Examination of the Long Term Relationship between Urban Planning and Social Control

蒂莫西·普博士和一个由美国和危地马拉学者组成的团队将调查公元前800年至400年间古玛雅城市的出现。目前，世界上大多数人都住在城市里，但人们对城市是做什么的以及它们最初是如何形成的知之甚少。平衡复杂的社会互动、交通和城市规划需求对现在和过去的城市成功至关重要。然而，随着社会不平等和职业专业化的出现，这种平衡变得更加复杂。考古学允许在没有历史文献的情况下研究长期的社会现象。因此，本研究将有助于理解中央政府与城市之间的长期关系：城市在帮助社会适应新出现的社会复杂性方面发挥了什么作用？中央领导的发展与城市规划有什么关系？公共空间和私人空间之间的紧张关系的长期动态是什么？这种动态与社会不平等的出现有何关系？该项目在危地马拉北部Peten的Nixtun-Chich的低地玛雅遗址探索了美洲目前已知最早的城市网格的发明。如此复杂的城市规划是如何在一个没有规划传统的地区出现的？尼克顿奇奇也是已知的唯一一个有城市网格的玛雅城市。为什么玛雅人的城市网格不像古代中国、印度河流域和希腊文明那样成功？总而言之，该项目将研究城市如何作为一种管理工具来组织日益庞大和社会经济多样化的人口。这项研究将训练美国和危地马拉的学生，并将支持学生努力完成各级的研究实习和论文。项目结果将以英文和西班牙文发表在书籍和期刊上，并在危地马拉、美国和其他地方的会议上提出。信息将上传到一个正在运行的网站（http://www.itzaarchaeology.com/），该网站总结了项目的调查结果。在中美洲的玛雅低地，典型的城市包括低密度的城市定居点。然而，在公元前800年至公元前500年之间，由一系列垂直的走廊组成的独特的城市网格发展起来，人口密集。本研究项目将检验尼克屯-奇奇聚落通过网格化布局合理化的假设，以组织和管理日益庞大和复杂的人口。该项目还将调查私人空间是否在前古典时期中期（公元前400/300年）结束时开始冲击公共空间，可能导致社会消散并最终分散。这些命题将通过在城市网格中广泛挖掘的多年考古计划进行测试。这项研究将产生许多更广泛的影响。对古代城市的多样性、成功与失败的了解可以为现代城市化和政策制定的讨论做出贡献。本研究将为理解社会互动、交通成本和定居模式之间的积极平衡的重要性增加一些历史深度，这对明智的政策制定至关重要。因此，这项工作有可能阐明公共产品的社会功能和私有化的潜在弊端。

Dr. Timothy Pugh and a team of scholars from the United States and Guatemala will investigate the emergence of cities among the ancient Maya between 800 and 400 BC. The majority of people worldwide currently live in cities, yet little is known about what cities do or how they initially formed. Balancing complex social interactions, transportation, and urban planning needs is critical to the success of cities in the present as well as the past. However, such balancing becomes even more complex during the emergence of social inequality and occupational specialization. Archaeology allows the study of social phenomena over long periods of time and without historical documents. Thus, this research will contribute to understanding the long-term relationships between central administration and cities: What roles did cities play in helping societies adapt to emerging social complexity? How does the development of central leadership relate to urban planning? What are the long-term dynamics of tensions between public and private spaces? How do such dynamics relate to the emergence of social inequality? The project explores the invention of what is currently the earliest known urban grid in the Americas at the lowland Maya site of Nixtun-Chich in Peten, northern Guatemala. How did such complex city planning emerge in an area without a tradition of such planning? Nixtun-Chich is also the only Maya city known to have an urban grid. Why were urban grids not as successful among the Maya as they were among the ancient Chinese, Indus Valley, and Greek civilizations? In sum, the project will examine how cities can act as a sort of administrative tool to organize increasingly large and socioeconomically diverse populations. This research will train both United States and Guatemalan students and will support student efforts to complete research practicums and theses at various levels. Project results will be published in English and Spanish in books and journals, and presented at conferences in Guatemala, the United States, and elsewhere. Information will be uploaded to an ongoing website (http://www.itzaarchaeology.com/), which summarizes project findings.In the Maya lowlands of Mesoamerica, the typical city includes low-density urban settlement. However, between 800 and 500 BC, Nixtun-Chich developed a unique urban grid formed by a series of perpendicular corridors and was densely settled. This research project will test the hypothesis that the settlement of Nixtun-Chich was rationalized through a gridded layout to organize and manage an increasingly large and complex population. The project will also investigate whether private space began to impinge upon public space by the end of the Middle Preclassic period (400/300 BC) at the city, perhaps leading to social dissipation and ultimately dispersion. These propositions will be tested through a multiyear archaeological program of extensive excavations in the urban grid. This research will make a number of broader impacts. The knowledge of the diversity, successes, and failures of ancient cities can contribute to modern discussions of urbanization and policymaking. The proposed work will add some historical depth to understanding the importance of a positive balance of social interactivity, transportation costs, and settlement patterns, which is critical for sensible policymaking. Accordingly, the work has the potential to illuminate the social functions of public goods and the potential drawbacks of privatization.