Development of Social Complexity in a Tropical Environment

该项目考虑了在茂密的热带森林环境中，从狩猎和采集到农业的过渡的环境和社会战略过程。以前对该地区的研究主要集中在具有纪念性建筑的较大遗址上，但最近机载激光扫描的应用现在允许研究代表该地区最早农业定居点的最小遗址。这项考古调查的重点不仅在于了解建立这些最早定居点的策略，还在于了解它们在最终被遗弃之前是如何随着时间的推移而变化的。因此，考古学的观点允许对小规模社区如何在几个世纪内形成、演变和解散进行全面的说明。该项目的首要任务是对来自西班牙裔和少数民族服务机构的本科生进行科学研究方法的教育。学生项目助理从实地考察和专业合作的高影响力实践中受益匪浅。此外，该项目还收集了小型考古遗址和特征的数据，以帮助保护它们免受该地区持续的人口和环境变化的影响。该项目的另一个重点是与学生合作，通过使用面向公众的媒体，弥合学术界与对理解现代社会起源感兴趣的广大受众之间的鸿沟。机载激光扫描技术的最新进展，现在可以识别该地区最早的小规模定居点，这些定居点没有被后来考古时期的建筑所覆盖。了解该地区最初是如何由农民定居下来的，可以为了解社会复杂性的起源提供关键的见解，因为该地区缺乏任何可以全年维持存在的自然地表水资源。该项目在理解人类如何适应可能需要新型社会组织形式的具有挑战性的环境方面取得了重大进展。最早的农业移民使用了什么样的环境和社会策略来在该地区获得永久立足点？是什么因素导致这些最早的定居点在500年后最终被遗弃？该项目有助于更广泛地了解在热带森林环境中成功维持全年定居点所需的农业技术、水管理基础设施和社会政治组织。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project considers the environmental and social strategies processes underpinning the transition from hunting and gathering to farming in a dense forest tropical context. Previous research in the region has focused mainly on larger sites with monumental architecture, but the recent application of airborne laser scanning now allows for the study of the smallest sites that represent the earliest agricultural settlements in the region. This archaeological investigation focuses on understanding not only the strategies used to establish these earliest settlements, but to understand how they changed over time before they were ultimately abandoned. The archaeological perspective thus allows for a full accounting of how small-scale communities form, evolve, and dissolve over multiple centuries. A top priority for this project is also to educate undergraduate students from a Hispanic and minority serving institution in scientific research methodologies. Student project assistants benefit tremendously from the high-impact practices of fieldwork and professional collaboration. Additionally, the project collects data on smaller archaeological sites and features to help protect them against ongoing demographic and environmental changes in the region. Another key focus of the project is to work with students to bridge the divide between academia and a broader audience interested in understanding the origins of modern society through the use of public-facing media.Recent advances in airborne laser scanning technology now allow for the identification of the smallest-scale earliest settlements in the region that were not covered by constructions from later archaeological periods. Understanding how the region was first settled by farmers can provide critical insights into the origins of social complexity because the region lacks any natural surface water resources that could be expected to sustain a year-round presence. The project is well placed to make significant advances toward understanding how people adapted to challenging environments that likely required new forms of social organization. What sorts of environmental and social strategies did the earliest agricultural settlers use to gain a permanent foothold in the region? What factors led to the eventual abandonment of these earliest settlements 500 years later? This project contributes to broader understandings of the agricultural techniques, water management infrastructure, and socio-political organization needed to successfully maintain year-round settlements in a tropical forest environment.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.