Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Rise and Functioning of Status Hierarchies

博士论文改进奖：地位等级制度的兴起和运作

• 批准号: 1914638
• 负责人: Marc Bermann
• 金额: $ 2.52万
• 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: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-05-01 至 2021-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1914638&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Award; Rise

John Walden (University of Pittsburgh) is investigating the ways in which the rise of the Late Classic (AD 600-900) Maya polity of Lower Dover, Belize impacted surrounding local elite families. Scholars have increasingly come to view Classic Maya rulers as being reliant on ceremony to bring followers together, due to a lack of overt political power. In contexts where the ruling classes lack the tangible power to affect the everyday lives of their subjects, intermediate elites (those between the highest rulers and the commoner masses) often fulfill important roles as mediators between the ruling family and their followers. By identifying how the relative wealth and status and ceremonial and economic bases of power of three autonomous local elite families changed as they became co-opted by the emergent Lower Dover polity, Walden will show how incorporation impacted the agency of intermediate elites. Did the local elites lose wealth and status, and their bases of power upon incorporation into a polity? If so, this would suggest Maya rulers wielded high degrees of political, economic and ceremonial power. Conversely, if little change is apparent or the co-opted intermediate elites witness an increase in their power, then this would corroborate current perspectives envisaging ruling elites as lacking explicit political power. The approach is grounded in an anthropological perspective on the co-option of local political leaders by external powers, and consequentially offers a comparative window into contemporary foreign policy and incorporation in the developing world. The results of the study will be made accessible in Walden's dissertation, and a series of academic publications. All data will be freely available through the University of Pittsburgh Center for Comparative Archaeology. The project will form the basis for training local and international students in archaeological practice and serve to educate local Belizeans about their past through a series of outreach events, lectures and workshops. Walden will examine changes at three intermediate elite centers situated around the political capital of Lower Dover; Tutu Uitz Na, Floral Park and Barton Ramie, and include data from the commoner neighborhoods which surrounded each intermediate elite center. Understanding the wealth and quality of life of client commoners will show whether local elites favored more exploitative or communally beneficial strategies in their dealings with their subordinates, and how this changed when the rulers of Lower Dover established themselves. Comparison of possible variability between the three intermediate elite families will allow an understanding of the different factors which structured how much political power intermediate elites retained following the rise of Lower Dover. For instance, did local elites located geographically closer to Lower Dover see a more dramatic reduction in their power, or did more politically powerful local elites possess greater opportunities for negotiating their role in the new polity? Analysis of residential and ceremonial architecture and the changing proportions of utilitarian, high value and ritual items within these structures will show how inequality, patterns of production, consumption and ritual activity changed as the polity rose.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.

约翰·瓦尔登（匹兹堡大学）正在研究伯利兹下多佛尔的晚期古典（公元 600-900 年）玛雅政体的崛起对周围当地精英家庭的影响。学者们越来越多地认为，由于缺乏公开的政治权力，古典玛雅统治者依靠仪式来将追随者聚集在一起。在统治阶级缺乏影响其臣民日常生活的有形权力的背景下，中间精英（最高统治者和平民大众之间的精英）往往扮演着统治家族与其追随者之间调解人的重要角色。通过确定三个自治地方精英家族在被新兴的下多佛政体收编后，相对财富和地位以及仪式和经济权力基础如何变化，瓦尔登湖将展示合并如何影响中层精英的机构。地方精英是否因纳入政体而失去了财富和地位以及权力基础？如果是这样，这表明玛雅统治者拥有高度的政治、经济和礼仪权力。相反，如果变化不大，或者增选的中间精英的权力有所增加，那么这将证实当前的观点，即统治精英缺乏明确的政治权力。该方法以人类学视角为基础，探讨外部势力对当地政治领导人的选举，从而为了解发展中国家的当代外交政策和融入提供了一个比较窗口。该研究的结果将在沃尔登的论文和一系列学术出版物中公布。所有数据都可以通过匹兹堡大学比较考古学中心免费获得。该项目将为培训当地和国际学生进行考古实践奠定基础，并通过一系列外展活动、讲座和讲习班来教育当地伯利兹人了解他们的过去。瓦尔登湖将研究位于政治首都下多佛尔周围的三个中级精英中心的变化； Tutu Uitz Na、Floral Park 和 Barton Ramie，并包括来自每个中级精英中心周围的平民社区的数据。了解附庸平民的财富和生活质量将表明当地精英在与下属打交道时是否倾向于更具剥削性或对公共有利的策略，以及当下多佛的统治者建立自己的地位时，这种情况如何改变。比较三个中层精英家族之间可能存在的差异，将有助于了解影响下多佛崛起后中层精英保留多少政治权力的不同因素。例如，地理位置靠近下多佛尔的地方精英是否会看到他们的权力被更大幅度地削弱，或者政治上更强大的地方精英是否拥有更多的机会来谈判他们在新政体中的角色？对住宅和仪式建筑以及这些结构中功利性、高价值和仪式性物品的比例变化的分析将显示不平等、生产模式、消费和仪式活动如何随着政体的兴起而变化。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被视为值得通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

项目成果

Thirty-Two Years of Integrating Archaeology and Heritage Management in Belize: A Brief History of the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance (BVAR) Project’s Engagement with the Public

伯利兹考古学与遗产管理相结合的三十二年：伯利兹谷考古勘察 (BVAR) 项目与公众接触的简史

• DOI: 10.3390/heritage3030040
• 发表时间: 2020-09
• 期刊: Heritage
• 影响因子: 1.7
• 作者: Hoggarth, Julie A.;Awe, Jaime J.;Ebert, Claire E.;Guerra, Rafael A.;Beardall, Antonio;Watkins, Tia B.;Walden, John P.
• 通讯作者: Walden, John P.