Doctoral Dissertation Research: Sources of Power and the Development of Sociopolitical Complexity in Malagana, Southwestern Colombia

博士论文研究：哥伦比亚西南部马拉加纳的权力来源和社会​​政治复杂性的发展

• 批准号: 1157719
• 负责人: Robert Drennan
• 金额: $ 1.93万
• 依托单位: University of Pittsburgh
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-01-15 至 2013-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1157719&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Sources; Power

Under the supervision of Dr. Robert D. Drennan, Hernando Giraldo will carry out a program of intensive surface collection and test excavations at the Malagana site in the Cauca River valley of southwestern Colombia. The earliest written documentation of Cauca valley societies, dating to the sixteenth century, describes wealthy and powerful chiefs leading small regional polities engaged in intensive conflict with each other. These historical sources have inspired much generalization about the role of conflict and warfare in early complex societies. There is, however, very little direct archaeological documentation of the developmental trajectories of Cauca valley societies or the bases of chiefly power in them. Thus one knows little about the social forces that produced the situation described in the accounts of early Spanish Conquistadores. Tombs excavated at the Malagana site have often contained extremely elaborate offerings of gold, ceramics, and other materials, and these are often taken as evidence of considerable wealth accumulation by the community's elites. In an unusually conspicuous suggestion of conflict, the site is surrounded by a ditch and embankment which may have served defensive purposes.This research is important because it will contribute to understanding of the formation and maintenance of social inequalities and the nature of social power. The level of social complexity exhibited at Malagana is duplicated in many regions of the developing world today and through examination of an archaeological case where such processes can be followed across centuries significant insights can be gained.Mr. Giraldo will systematically collect artifacts available on the surface of the densely occupied residential zone associated with the Malagana cemetery and ditch feature. Analysis of these artifacts will enable him to assess differences in the nature and costliness of possessions in different households and in the nature and intensity of both ritual and productive activities carried out in different places. His mapping of the residential zone will delineate its relationship to the possible defensive wall and help to determine whether that is in fact its function. Such information will make possible an assessment of the importance of several potential sources of social power that have been suggested for Cauca valley societies, including wealth accumulation based on agricultural surpluses, control over specialized craft production, participation in long-distance networks of exchange of prestige goods, leadership in warfare, and manipulation of belief systems. The Malagana site provides an extraordinary opportunity to increase understanding of the ways in which early leaders gained and used social and political power, and of how these strategies were modified through time.The research will also have broader impacts. It will strengthen existing collaborative ties between U.S. researchers and those in several Colombian institutions. Its findings will be disseminated in national and international conferences and peer-review journal articles; the raw data will be available to scholars and the public online in the University of Pittsburgh's Comparative Archaeology Database. The field work will provide training to U.S. and Colombian students in archaeological field methods and in processing and analyzing cultural materials in the laboratory. The project will contribute to the local community's ongoing efforts to create an archaeological museum, combat the illicit excavation of archaeological sites, and enhance public understanding of the cultural and scientific value of archaeological remains.

在罗伯特·D·德伦南（Robert D. Drennan）博士的监督下，埃尔南多·吉拉尔多（Hernando Giraldo）将在哥伦比亚西南部高卢河谷的马拉加纳遗址进行密集的地面收集和测试发掘计划。可追溯至十六世纪的古尔加谷社会最早的书面文件描述了富裕而有力的酋长领导的小型区域政治彼此之间进行了强烈的冲突。这些历史资料激发了人们对冲突和战争在早期复杂社会中的作用的广泛概括。但是，几乎没有直接的考古文献记录了古尔加河谷社会的发展轨迹或主要权力的基础。因此，人们对产生了西班牙早期征服的叙述中描述的局势的社会力量一无所知。在马拉加纳遗址发掘的坟墓经常包含极其精心的黄金，陶瓷和其他材料，这些产品通常被视为社区精英积累的大量财富积累的证据。在一个异常引人注目的冲突建议中，该地点被沟渠和路堤包围，该沟渠和路堤可能具有防御目的。这项研究很重要，因为它将有助于理解社会不平等的形成和维护和社会权力的本质。在当今发展中国家的许多地区以及考古案例中，可以在几个世纪以来，可以获得多个重要的见解。 Giraldo将系统地收集与马拉加纳公墓和沟渠特征相关的密集居住区的表面可用的人工制品。对这些工件的分析将使他能够评估不同家庭中财产的性质和成本的差异，以及在不同地方进行的仪式和生产活动的性质和强度。他对住宅区的映射将描述其与可能的防御墙的关系，并有助于确定这是否实际上是其功能。此类信息将使您可以评估已提出的几种潜在社会权力来源的重要性，这些社会权力来源已被建议对高加索谷社会，包括基于农业盈余的财富积累，对专业工艺生产的控制，参与Prestige的长途交流网络商品，战争领域的领导以及对信仰体系的操纵。马拉加纳（Malagana）的网站提供了一个非凡的机会，以增加对早期领导人获得和使用社会和政治权力的方式的理解，以及如何随着时间的推移对这些策略进行修改。研究也将产生更广泛的影响。它将加强美国研究人员与哥伦比亚几个机构中的研究人员之间的现有合作关系。它的发现将在国家和国际会议和同行评审期刊文章中传播；原始数据将在匹兹堡大学比较考古数据库的学者和公众在线提供。现场工作将为美国和哥伦比亚学生提供考古田间方法的培训，以及在实验室中的文化材料进行处理和分析。该项目将有助于当地社区创建考古博物馆，与考古遗址的非法发掘，并增强公众对考古遗骸的文化和科学价值的理解。