Early Agriculture in the Gulf Coast Lowlands of Mexico

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With National Science Foundation support Dr. Mary Pohl and her collaborators will conduct three seasons of archaeological and paleoecological research in the state of Tabasco, Mexico. The earliest Middle American civilization, the Olmec, appeared in the lowland tropical Gulf Coast region of Tabasco and the team wishes to understand the process which underlies this development. It is very likely that, contrary to common archaeological belief, domestication of several important new world food plants occurred in a lowland rather than highland context and the group will search for indications of early agriculture associated with Olmec precursors. Prior work by Pohl and her colleagues in lowland Belize suggests that environmental changes related to shifts and sea level and availability of fresh water provided a context which fostered agriculture and the present project is designed to test and further develop this idea. The project has two major components. The first involves an intensive program of core transects along the past and present river channels in the vicinity of the Olmec site of La Venta. With the sedimentological, pollen and phytolith data thus obtained it should be possible to reconstruct environment and determine how it changed over the relevant interval of time. Analysis of cores often provides information on the presence and importance of agriculture both through the presence of pollen from domestic species and the amount of charcoal which is indicative of forest clearing. The group will also conduct archaeological excavations to recover cultural data. Faunal remains, lithics and ceramics should provide insight into both diet and group organization. The `Neolithic Revolution` marked by the domestication of plants and animals constitutes a central turning point in human prehistory. The process occurred independently in many parts of the world and provided the basis for the rise of complex societies. In Middle America archaeologists do not know when or where such important crops as corn and beans were domesticated. They also do not understand why after thousands of years as hunters and gatherers people altered their subsistence practices in such a basic way. Several hypotheses have been proposed and the data that Dr. Pohl and her colleagues will collect will allow selection among several. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide insight into the processes which gave rise to complex Middle American societies. The environmental and archaeological data which will result will be of interest to a wide range of scientists.