Dissertation Research: Subsistence Economy and Chiefdom Emergence in the Muisca Area

论文研究：穆伊斯卡地区的自给经济和酋长统治的出现

• 批准号: 1241358
• 负责人: Robert Drennan
• 金额: $ 2.47万
• 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: 2012-09-01 至 2014-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1241358&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Subsistence; Economy; Chiefdom

Muisca societies located in the central mountains of Colombia impressed early Spanish arrivals in the sixteenth century with the power and level of respect commanded by their chiefs and the quality and variety of the crafts their artisans produced, sometimes from raw materials obtained from other regions. Early Spanish accounts especially emphasize the "advanced" economic development of Muisca societies, with what seemed to European eyes especially well organized and flourishing trade and dense populations that were well provisioned despite the fairly cold, wet, high-elevation zone they inhabited. As several regional chiefdoms in northern South America have been studied archaeologically, it has often turned out that their subsistence and craft economies do not involve very high degrees of trade, tribute, or household interdependence. This emerging pattern contrasts with sixteenth-century descriptions of the Muisca. The archaeological evidence of Muisca societies has provided at best only incomplete confirmation of the descriptions in historical sources, particularly in regard to the development of local, regional, and supra-regional patterns of economic interdependence and the importance of such an economy to the emergence of chiefly power.One aspect of economic interdependence specifically discussed in the historical sources, however, has been subject to very little archaeological investigation. This is the agricultural exploitation of warmer low-elevation zones located quite close to some of the principal Muisca chiefly centers. In these areas higher temperatures led to greater productivity as well as protection from the frosts that were a constant risk to agriculture in the Muisca heartland. There are detailed sixteenth-century historical accounts of the importance of these resources for sustaining the very high population densities of the Muisca heartland, high densities fully attested to by both historical and archaeological information.Under the supervision of Dr. Robert D. Drennan, Pedro Argüello will carry out a systematic regional survey of some 100 sq km in the Tena region on the slopes leading down from the western edge of the Muisca heartland toward the valley of the Magdalena River. The Tena region, which ranges from 2200 m above sea level down to about 700 m, is specifically mentioned in sixteenth-century documents as a major source of agricultural produce for the Bogotá chiefdom. If its agricultural resources were increasingly intensively exploited as Muisca chiefdoms emerged and developed and population levels in the high-elevation Muisca heartland grew, this will be reflected in changing patterns of distribution of human occupation in the Tena region. Such a result would provide stronger support for the historical accounts of one of the economic foundations of Muisca chiefly power than has been forthcoming from archaeological investigations of other aspects of Muisca economy. It would help to explain the relatively late but extremely rapid development of the Muisca chiefdoms and to position these societies properly in comparative analysis of the pathways toward the consolidation of political power in general.This project will also have broader impacts. First, it will make a vital contribution to the training of the doctoral candidate as well as to undergraduate students from several Colombian universities who will take part. Second it will contribute to the public appreciation of science through presentations to local communities as well as provide information that will enhance local authorities' efforts to protect their cultural heritage.

哥伦比亚的Muisca社会在16世纪的早期西班牙人留下了深刻的印象。繁荣的贸易和茂密的人口，居住在北部的每个法规。充其量只提供了对毁灭性来源的确认，这是关于经济国际经济国际上的本地和超区域模式的发展，以及这种经济出现的重要性。来源调查。这是对较温暖的低海拔地区的农业开发这些资源的十六世纪历史统计，以维持Muisca Heartland的高度人口密度，这是历史和考古信息完全证明的高密度。从山地山谷的山坡上的Tena地区100平方公里对于波哥大的Cheefdom而言，由于Muisca酋长国的出现和流行，高级Muisca Heartland越来越多地利用其农业，而不是对Muisca的经济基础的支持，而不是对Muisca经济的其他方面的迹象为了解释Muisca Cheefdom的相对较晚但非常迅速的发展，并将这些社会适当地定位在对政治权力的合并中的比较分析。 Severombian的学生将参加文化遗产。