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

在国家科学基金会的支持下，马克·奥尔登德费尔博士将在玻利维亚高原的喀喀湖盆地地区进行为期两个季节的考古田野工作。他将把重点放在5000到3200年前，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生的生活方式，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，阿尔登德费尔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。在这一过程中，他将展示较大的水平区域，这将允许确定群体规模和社会组织。对植物和动物遗骸的分析将为我们提供从野生物种到驯化物种的转变的洞察。该团队将采用新技术，在用于准备食物的石器上识别淀粉颗粒，以弥补许多考古遗址所特有的大型植物遗骸的缺乏。新石器时代革命，即从狩猎和采集转变为以国内食物种类为基础的更稳定的生活方式，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，这种转变是独立发生的，大约在同一时间，在世界上的许多地方，因此认为原因不在于历史上的偶然，而是一个更根本的过程。通过对个别独立案例的比较，希望能够揭示因果关系的机制。在东半球的驯化中心，如中国和近东，植物和动物物种都发生了转变。在新大陆，除了一个例外，只涉及植物物种。在安第斯山脉，包括喀喀山盆地，骆驼物种和植物被驯化，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导致这种全球变化的各种原因，目前还不可能在其中进行选择。阿尔登德费尔博士认为，由于他提议在安第斯山脉开展的工作，可以进行选择。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。它将提供许多考古学家感兴趣的数据，并导致研究生的培训。

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.