Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Integrative role of ancestor veneration in the multiethnic Middle Sican state (AD 950-1100): A perspective from food practices

博士论文改进补助金：祖先崇拜在多民族的中西坎国家（公元 950-1100 年）中的综合作用：从饮食实践的角度

• 批准号: 1339599
• 负责人: Izumi Shimada
• 金额: $ 2.52万
• 依托单位: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-08-15 至 2014-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1339599&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Integrative

Under the guidance of Dr. Izumi Shimada, Go Matsumoto will undertake four separate analyses of archaeological materials excavated in 2006 and 2008 at the site of Sicán in the mid-La Leche Valley, northern Peru. The site was the capital of a multiethnic, theocratic state that flourished between AD 950 and 1100 and was reserved primarily for funerary and ceremonial purposes. Therefore, it provides a unique opportunity to investigate the role of mortuary practice in the social development and maintenance. The excavations targeted the ceremonial core of the capital, which consists of a large rectangular plaza and surrounding platform mounds with elite cemeteries, and documented material traces of preserving and caring the dead bodies as well as other contemporaneous activities within the plaza. The four analyses proposed by Mr. Matsumoto will focus on the food preparation and consumption among others and explore its nature and relation to the mortuary practice. Mr. Matsumoto hypothesizes that central to the Sicán religion was ancestor veneration, and that it served to consolidate this plural society through attendant feasting activities.In traditional as well as modern societies shared beliefs and practices serve to create group identity and promote integration among often disparate social elements. Practices relating to religion and burial play such a role. Thus this study has present day relevance because it directly addresses issues of social cohesion and factors which promote social solidarity and effective function.When explaining why ancestor veneration was practiced, archaeologists have emphasized its economic merits for the cult followers and argued that it helped them demand their rights for limited lands and resources on the basis of their continued occupancy. Contrarily, they have paid little attention to the ideological aspect of ancestor cult, which has been well documented by ethnographers. Mr. Matsumoto focuses on the latter aspect and explores the role of ancestor veneration as a form of ideology for social integration and differentiation through commensal hospitality among the dead and the living of intracultural variability such as social identity and status. Furthermore, many previous studies of mortuary contexts have uncritically invoked ancestor veneration without sufficient empirical support to the point that it was once decried by a British archaeologist that there were too many ancestors. In contrast, Mr. Matsumoto will take a meticulous look at both archaeological contexts and materials to better characterize ancestors and their veneration with reference to ethnological and ethnohistorical resources, and demonstrate how one should approach ancestor veneration and what evidence one would need in order to more appropriately define it in archaeological record.New findings from this study will enhance the local identity and appreciation of prehispanic predecessors literally as remote ancestors. Recent DNA analyses revealed a genetic link between the Sicán and the present people of the area. The contribution of this study will not be confined to the local level. The "Sicán Deity" that represents the Sicán religious art has long been an important icon directly linked to the national identity of modern-day Peru (e.g., the company logo of the national flag carrier and the first of 24 designs for the new coin series). In spite of such a national-level recognition and visibility, however, the nature of the prehispanic religion that created this image is yet to be fully understood. This study will help to orient people's interests not only toward the aesthetics of the representative image, but also toward a better understanding of the Sicán religion and its significance in the Peruvian prehistory. For these purposes, the data and results will be actively made public in different languages in various settings, professional and non-professional.

在Izumi Shimada博士的指导下，Go Matsumoto将对2006年和2008年在秘鲁北部La Leche Valley的Sicán遗址进行四个单独的档案材料分析。该地点是公元950年至1100年之间荧光的多种族，神权状态的首都，以葬礼和礼仪目的保留。因此，它提供了一个独特的机会，可以调查针对资本仪式核心的发掘，该发掘由一个大型的矩形广场和周围的平台丘组成，上面有精英墓地，并记录了保存和携带尸体的物质痕迹，以及Plaza中的其他现代活动。 Matsumoto先生提出的四个分析将重点关注食物的准备和消费，并探索其与Mortuary实践的性质和关系。 Matsumoto先生假设，Sicán宗教的核心是祖先的场所，它通过有效的盛大活动来巩固这个多元社会。在传统和现代社会中，共享的信仰和实践有助于建立群体认同并促进经常不同的社会成分之间的融合。与宗教和埋葬有关的实践扮演着这样的角色。这项研究呈现了日期的相关性，因为它直接解决了社会凝聚力和促进社会团结和有效功能的因素。解释为什么祖先的饰面是实践的，考古学家已经强调了其对文化追随者的经济优势，并认为它帮助他们在继续居住的基础上帮助他们对有限土地和资源要求他们的权利。相反，他们很少关注祖先文化的理想方面，该文化已被民族志学家很好地证明。 Matsumoto先生专注于后一个方面，并探讨了祖先发行作为一种理想主义的形式，可以通过死者之间的共同款待和诸如社会认同和地位等文化内变异的生活来进行社会融合和分化。此外，许多先前对Mortuary环境的研究都在不严格地引用祖先的发病，而没有足够的经验支持，以至于英国考古学家曾经宣布过太多祖先。相反，马苏托先生将对考古环境和材料都进行细致的研究，以更好地表征祖先及其在参考民族学和民族历史资源方面的发挥作用，并证明人们应该如何处理祖先的经理，以及如何在考古记录中依赖于本地的挑战。祖先。最近的DNA分析揭示了Sicán与该地区当前人员之间的遗传联系。这项研究的贡献将不仅限于地方一级。长期以来，代表Sicán宗教艺术的“Sicán神”一直是与现代秘鲁的民族身份有关的重要偶像（例如，国旗航空公司的公司徽标，以及新硬币系列的24种设计中的第一个）。然而，尽管有这样的国家水平的认可和知名度，但创造这种形象的前宗教宗教的本质尚未完全理解。这项研究将有助于使人们的利益不仅使人们对代表形象的美学，还可以更好地理解Sicán宗教及其在秘鲁史前的意义。为了这些目的，数据和结果将在各种环境中以不同的语言为专业和非专业的不同语言积极公开。