Plant cultivation and forest clearance by prehistoric North Americans: pollen evidence from Fort Ancient, Ohio, USA
Plant cultivation and forest clearance by prehistoric North Americans: pollen evidence from Fort Ancient, Ohio, USA
复制标题
史前北美人的植物种植和森林砍伐：来自美国俄亥俄州古堡的花粉证据
DOI：
--
复制
发表时间：
2003
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
K. McLauchlan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
K. McLauchlan
考古记录显示，早在公元前 2000 年至公元前 1500 年，美国东部的美洲原住民就驯化了一组含有淀粉或油性种子的本土植物物种，这些种子有助于支持广泛的林地社会。此前，这些古老农作物的种植地点和范围尚不清楚，但推测是河流漫滩上的小间隙。这里，对来自俄亥俄州西南部霍普威尔高地考古遗址古堡的两份 2000 年前的沉积物记录进行的花粉分析显示，来自栽培植物的花粉数量异常高——青花菜、直立蓼和藜，这些花粉是在霍普韦尔占领该遗址期间（公元前 100 年至公元 400 年）沉积的。该土方工程很可能是史前耕作场所，而不仅仅是仪式性建筑。花粉光谱表明池塘周围地区的森林大部分被砍伐，沉积物记录表明这段时间侵蚀率很高。因此，北美林地社会可能通过农业和其他土地清理活动比以前假设的更广泛地改变植被。
Archaeological records show that, as early as 2000–1500 bc, Native Americans in the eastern USA domesticated a group of native plant species with starchy or oily seeds that helped support extensive Woodland societies. Previously, the location and extent of cultivation of these ancient crop plants has been unknown, but was hypothesized to be small clearances on river floodplains. Here, pollen analyses of two 2000-year-old sediment records from Fort Ancient, an upland Hopewell archaeological site in southwestern Ohio, show exceptionally high amounts of pollen from cultigens- Iva annua, Polygonum erectum and Chenopodium – deposited during Hopewell occupation of the site (100 bc to ad 400). It is likely that this earthwork is a site of prehistoric cultivation, not exclusively a ceremonial structure. Pollen spectra indicate the area surrounding the ponds was largely deforested, and the sediment record indicates high rates of erosion during this time. Therefore, North American Woodland societies were likely modifying vegetation more extensively through agriculture and other land-clearing activities than has been assumed previously.