Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Function of Monumental Construction

Cuny Queens College, Flushing NY

Investigators

Abstract

Debates about the innateness of warfare to human society speak broadly to the inherent peacefulness or violence of human nature. Discussions in this vein naturally turn to the circumstances in which social complexity was first established within various world regions, seeking to assess the degree to which violent conflict was foundational to the process. Archaeological study provides the most robust means of studying these long-ago developments, particularly through the analysis of large-scale features, such as encircling walls and moats, that significantly altered the local landscape. This project led by doctoral student Justin Bracken, will investigate the dynamics of construction of such early features built by the Maya of Peten, Guatemala in the Late Preclassic period (400/300 BC - AD 150). To do so, the project uses traditional archaeological excavation and mapping techniques alongside innovative GIS analyses and spatial theory, offering new approaches to the study of the built environment. The fieldwork component will employ several Guatemalan university students and local residents. This arrangement furthers their understanding of the archaeological past of their home region while offering them valuable fieldwork experience, increasing their employability on other projects. The final results will be published as a dissertation and in academic journals, and also presented at conferences in the United States and Guatemala. They will serve to pinpoint the specific role played by warfare in the rise of complex societies and offer a new angle of insight into the increasingly nuanced understanding of Preclassic Maya developments. The research design of the project is centered on the following question: What roles did cooperation and conflict respectively play in the initial spread of state-level society? The question is investigated by weighing the relative contributions of cooperative behavior (numerous individuals working in concert on a common project) and conflict (the long-term investment in defense that the fortifications represent). This approach does not presuppose a hierarchical arrangement in which an elite class compelled the labor of commoners; instead, it allows for cooperative action as the driving factor. Further, it assesses the multiple effects and levels of significance of the features beyond fortification, analyzing their functions as hydrological controls, social boundaries, and delineators of ceremonial space. The small site of Muralla de Len, which rests upon a natural rise surrounded on three sides by water, provides the setting for the study. With a stone perimeter wall encircling it and a canal bisecting the widest point of access by land, the site appears oriented toward defense. Occupation at the site dates at least back to the Late Preclassic period and likely earlier, with the site layout established early in its history. Excavations into and adjacent to the perimeter wall and canal will aim to establish a firm chronology of construction of each, demonstrating their form through time and their impact upon the flow of water and movements of individuals, thereby defining their impact upon the local and regional social settings in the era of early social complexity. 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.