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

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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.