Dissertation Research: Prehispanic Subsistence Patterns in the Middle Orinoco Basin, Venezuela

在岛田泉博士和乔纳森·希尔博士的指导下，琳达·佩里女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将开发一种技术来测试考古沉积物中是否存在苦木薯，然后将其应用于从委内瑞拉亚马孙中奥里诺科河地区的一系列遗址挖掘出的石器。苦木薯是亚马逊地区一种重要的传统食物，根据间接证据，人们认为它是在这一地区驯化的。人类社会组织的一次重大变革与“新石器时代革命”有关，即从以狩猎和采集的食物为生转变为依赖驯养的动植物。考古学家希望了解在世界许多地方独立导致各种物种驯化的过程。由于考古遗址中的动物骨骼经常保存完好，因此人们对哺乳动物物种的驯化有很多了解。然而，植物，特别是热带环境中的根茎作物，受到迅速破坏，其历史不太为人所知。植物学家早就认识到，许多这样的植物产生淀粉粒，这些淀粉粒可以作为独特的物种标志，在考古情况下得到完好保存。这些颗粒通常附着在用于加工植物的石器上，对这些石块的检查可以提供关于特定物种存在的明确信息。然而，这项技术尚未应用于苦木薯。佩里女士将分析苦木薯样品，以确定苦木薯淀粉颗粒的结构，然后采用现有技术并制定适当的分析方案。然后，她将在目前美国收藏的一批挖掘良好的藏品上进行测试。当成功完成后，她将前往委内瑞拉，检查来自中奥里诺科州一系列遗址的材料。该地区有几个主要的文化传统，这些遗址加在一起，每个遗址都可以追溯到大约3000年的时期。这项研究将把这种复杂的文化历史与苦木薯的驯化和利用联系起来。这个项目之所以重要，有几个原因。它将开发一种在热带新大陆具有广泛考古学适用性和价值的分析技术。它将为一个重要的传统家养动物的驯化提供新的线索，并有助于阐明南美文化史。这也将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Drs. Izumi Shimada and Jonathan Hill, MS Linda Perry will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will develop a technique to test for the presence of bitter manioc (Manihot esculenta Crantz) in archaeological deposits and then apply it to stone artifacts excavated from a series of sites from the Amazonian Middle Orinoco region of Venezuela. Bitter manioc is an important traditional Amazonian food and, based on indirect evidence, is believed to have been domesticated in this region. A major transformation in human social organization is associated with the "Neolithic Revolution", the shift from subsistence based on hunted and gathered foods to reliance on domesticated plants and animals. Archaeologists wish to understand the process that led independently to the domestication of a variety of species in many parts of the world. Because animal bones are often well preserved in archaeological sites, a great deal is known about domestication of mammalian species. However plants, especially root crops in tropical environments, are subject to rapid destruction and their history is less well understood. Botanists have long recognized that many such plants produce starch grains which are can serve as unique species markers and which are well preserved in archaeological situations. These grains often adhere to stone implements used to process the plants and examination of these lithics can provide unequivocal information on the presence of specific species. The technique however has not yet been applied to bitter manioc.MS Perry will analyze samples of bitter manioc to determine the configuration of bitter manioc starch grains and then adapt available techniques and develop an appropriate analytic protocol. She will then test it on a well excavated collection currently housed in the United States. When successfully completed she will then travel to Venezuela and examine materials from a series of Middle Orinoco sites. Several major cultural traditions were present in the region and together the sites trace each over a period of ca. 3,000 years. The research will relate this complex culture history to bitter manioc domestication and utilization.This project is important for several reasons. It will develop an analytic technique of wide archaeological applicability and value in the tropical New World. It will shed new light on the domestication of an important traditional domesticate and help to elucidate South American culture history. It will also help to train a promising young scientist.