Sedentarization and Resource Intensification in the Southwestern Lake Titicaca Basin: 5000-3200 BP

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，马克·阿尔登德弗博士将在玻利维亚高地的的的喀喀湖盆地地区进行两季的考古实地考察。他将把重点放在5000年前到3200年前这段时间，在这段时间里，人们放弃了游牧狩猎和采集的生活方式，发展了以家养动植物为基础的生活方式，并建立了越来越大的定居村庄。在过去对该地区的研究过程中，Aldenderfer博士进行了磁力计调查，并确定了跨越这一时期的埋藏地点。他将挖掘其中的三个。在这个过程中，他将暴露出大片的水平区域，这将有助于确定群体规模和社会组织。对植物和动物遗骸的分析将有助于了解从野生物种到驯化物种的转变。研究小组将采用新技术，通过鉴定用于制备食物的石器上的淀粉粒来弥补许多考古遗址缺乏宏观植物遗迹的特点。“新石器时代革命”，即从狩猎和采集向以家养食物为基础的更稳定的生活方式的转变，构成了人类史前最重大的变化。它为国家和文明的兴起提供了基础。考古学家认识到，这种转变在世界上许多地方几乎同时独立发生，因此他们认为，这种转变的原因不是偶然的历史事件，而是一个更基本的过程。通过个体独立案例的比较，希望揭示因果机制。在旧大陆的驯化中心，如中国和近东，植物和动物物种都发生了变化。在新大陆，除了一个例外，只涉及植物物种。在安第斯山脉，包括的的喀喀湖盆地，骆驼种类和植物都被驯化，因此该地区提供了一个潜在的重要比较案例。考古学家已经假设了造成这一世界性转变的各种原因，但目前还无法从中做出选择。Aldenderfer博士认为，根据他在安第斯山脉提出的工作结果，可以做出选择。这项研究很重要，因为它解决了一个非常重要的人类学问题。它将为许多考古学家提供感兴趣的数据，并有助于培养研究生。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Mark Aldenderfer will conduct two seasons of archaeological fieldwork in the Lake Titicaca Basin region of highland Bolivia. He will focus on the period between 5,000 and 3,200 years ago, a time interval during which populations abandoned a nomadic hunting and gathering way of life, developed a subsistence based on domestic plants and animals and established increasingly large settled villages. In the course of past research in the region Dr. Aldenderfer has conducted magnetometer surveys and located buried sites which span this time period. He will excavate three of these. In the process he will expose large horizontal areas which will allow determination of both group size and social organization. Analyses of both botanical and faunal remains will provide insight into the shift from wild to domesticated species. The team will employ new techniques in which identification of starch grains on stone tools used to prepare food compensate for the lack of macrobotanical remains characteristic of many archaeological sites.The 'Neolithic Revolution", the shift from hunting and gathering to a more settled way of life based on domestic food species constitutes the most significant change in human prehistory. It provided the foundation which led to the rise of states and civilization. Archaeologists recognize that this transformation occurred independently, at roughly the same time, in many parts of the world and therefore believe the cause rests not in historical accident but rather a more fundamental process. Through the comparison of individual independent cases it is hoped that causal mechanisms will be revealed. In Old World centers of domestication such as China and the Near East, both plant and animal species were transformed. In the New World, with one exception, only plant species were involved. In the Andes, including the Titicaca basin, camelid species as well as plants were domesticated and therefore the region provides a potentially important comparative case. Archaeologists have postulated various causes responsible for this worldwide shift and currently, it is not possible to choose among them. Dr. Aldenderfer believes that as the result of his proposed work in the Andes, a selection can be made.This research is important because it addresses a highly significant anthropological question. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and result in the training of graduate students.