Doctoral Dissertation: Agricultural Dependence at NAN Ranch and Old Town During the Pithouse to Pueblo Transition

在Gail Fritz博士的指导下，Malaina Brown女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将解决美国西南部考古发展的一个重要问题，并分析在两个遗址的挖掘过程中发现的植物遗骸。 与世界上许多其他地区一样，这一地区的史前人口逐渐将其生存基础从狩猎和采集食物转移到通过种植家养植物获得的食物。虽然因果关系还不清楚，但这种转变通常伴随着从高度移动的生活方式向久坐不动的生活方式的转变。定居点的规模扩大了，更复杂的社会组织形式也出现了。在美国西南部，这一变化被称为“皮特乌斯到普韦布洛”的过渡，因为人们放弃了数百年来一直作为基本房屋类型的皮特乌斯结构，并开始建造大型地上多房间的普韦布洛。考古学家传统上认为，这种转变也标志着对农业的依赖增加。然而，近年来，这一立场受到质疑，有人认为皮库人民实行完全以农业为基础的经济和其他假设，农业的依赖程度逐渐增加，在皮库时期。虽然迄今为止收集的大多数证据都是间接的，布朗女士提出分析两个地点，NAN牧场和老城区都位于新墨西哥州恢复的植物材料。两者都包含跨越过渡的pithouses和pueblos。在这两个沉积物与丰富的植物遗骸已恢复。布朗女士将使用浮选技术将这些物质从地质基质中分离出来，并确定存在的物种范围。她将不仅关注已知的驯化植物，而且关注在农业环境中蓬勃发展的杂草物种，从而提供有关种植重要性的间接信息。她还将确定是否存在不太重要的家养物种，如阿马兰斯。她提供的数据应该有助于在相互竞争的假设中做出选择。结合建筑分析和对物质文化其他方面的研究，应该有可能对西南地区文化复杂性的发展有更深入的了解。该项目还将大大有助于青年科学家的智力和专业发展。

Under the direction of Dr. Gail Fritz, MS Malaina Brown will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will address an important question of archaeological development in the United States Southwest and analyze plant remains recovered during the excavation of two sites. In common with many other parts of the world, prehistoric populations in this region gradually shifted their subsistence base from hunted and gathered foods to those acquired through cultivation of domestic plants. Although cause and effect is not well understood, this transformation was generally accompanied by a shift from a highly mobile to a more sedentary lifestyle. Settlement sizes increased and more complex social forms of organization also emerged. In the US Southwest this change is referred to as the "Pithouse to Pueblo" transition because groups abandoned pithouse structures which, for hundreds of years has served as basic house type, and began to construct large above ground multi-room pueblos. Archaeologists traditionally believed that this shift also marked increased reliance on agriculture. However in recent years this position has been questioned with some arguing that pithouse peoples practiced a fully agriculturally based economy and other postulating that the degree of agricultural dependence gradually increased during the Pithouse Period.While most of the evidence marshaled thus far has been indirect, MS Brown proposed to analyze the botanical materials recovered from two sites, the NAN Ranch, and Old Town both located in New Mexico. Both contain both pithouses and pueblos which span the transition. At both sediments with abundant botanical remains have been recovered. MS Brown will use a flotation technique to separate these materials from the geological matrix and identify the range of species present. She will focus not only on known domesticates but also on weedy species which flourish in agricultural contexts and thus provide indirect information on the importance of cultivation. She will also determine whether less important domestic species such as amaranth are present. The data she produces should help to select among competing hypotheses. In conjunction with architectural analysis and study of other aspects of material culture it should be possible to gain increased insight into the development of cultural complexity in the Southwest. The project will also significantly contribute to the intellectual and professional development of a young scientist.