Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Power Relations in the Context of Agricultural Production

西北大学的博士生凯西·格劳尔将与来自美国和伯利兹的同事一起进行研究，研究权力、地位和生态是如何在缺水和政治不稳定时期促进社区生存的。成功的资源管理对社会繁荣至关重要，尤其是在动荡时期。从长远的角度来看，考古学非常适合评估资源管理战略，因为短期内成功的东西可能不会在数百年或数千年后成功。动荡的时代并不会平等地影响所有人，这个项目将解决如何随着政治和生态环境的变化而获得资源的程度的变化。在整个研究项目过程中，伯利兹公民和西北大学的本科生都将接受考古方法培训。这项研究的结果将通过社区活动、公开演讲、学术文章和一个在线平台分享，以便包括科学家、政府官员和普通公众在内的一系列个人能够接触到它的发现。格劳尔和她的研究团队将调查在一个经历了缺水和政治不稳定时期的城市里，普通民众获得资源的程度是如何发生变化的。这项研究将在伯利兹最北端的中型古玛雅城市阿文图拉进行。这座城市在公元前750-1100年间繁荣起来，当时许多大型玛雅城市因干旱和政治动荡而被遗弃。Aventura市内的重要资源是袖珍Bajos，这是土地上的小型非排水凹地，过去要么用于水资源管理，要么用于农业。这项研究将确定袖珍巴霍人是如何使用的，以及谁可以访问他们提供的资源。该项目将评估随着地区干旱和政治不稳定的加剧，普通民众获得袖珍巴乔资源的方式发生了怎样的变化。研究小组将对一个普通家庭进行系统的挖掘，并从Aventura的一个口袋Bajos中提取土壤岩心。他们将分析文物和植物遗骸，以确定年表，并评估随着时间的推移，谁可以获得这些重要资源，以及在生态和政治不稳定期间，什么权力配置允许成功的资源管理。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Doctoral candidate Kacey Grauer of Northwestern University, along with colleagues from the United States and Belize, will undertake research to study how power, status, and ecology intersect to foster community survival during times of water scarcity and political instability. Successful resource management is essential for societies to prosper, particularly during turbulent times. With a long-term perspective, archaeology is well-suited to assess resource management strategies because what is successful in the short-term may not be successful over hundreds or thousands of years. Turbulent times do not affect all people equally, and this project will address how degrees of access to resources change as political and ecological environments change. Throughout the course of this research project, both Belizean citizens and Northwestern University undergraduates will be trained in archaeological methods. The results of this research will be shared through community events, public talks, academic articles, and an online platform so that a range of individuals including scientists, government officials, and the general public will have access to its findings.Grauer and her research team will investigate how degrees of commoner access to resources changed in a city that thrived through times of water scarcity and political instability. The research will take place at Aventura, a medium-sized ancient Maya city in northernmost Belize. The city flourished from 750-1100 CE, a time when many large Maya cities were abandoned due to a combination of drought and political upheaval. Important resources within the city of Aventura were pocket bajos, small non-draining depressions in the land that were either used for water management or agriculture in the past. This research will determine how pocket bajos were used and who had access to the resources they provided. The project will assess how commoner access to pocket bajo resources changed as drought and political instability increased regionally. The research team will conduct systematic excavations of a commoner household and take soil cores from a pocket bajos in Aventura. They will analyze artifacts and botanical remains to determine chronology and assess who had access to these important resources through time, as well as what configurations of power allowed for successful resource management during ecological and political instability.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.