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。她将讨论美国西南部考古发展的一个重要问题，并分析在两个地点挖掘过程中发现的植物遗骸。与世界上许多其他地区一样，这个地区的史前人口逐渐将他们的生存基础从狩猎和采集食物转变为通过种植国内植物获得的食物。虽然因果关系尚不清楚，但这种转变通常伴随着从高度移动到更久坐的生活方式的转变。聚落规模增加，更复杂的社会组织形式也出现了。在美国西南部，这种变化被称为“从坑屋到普韦布洛”的转变，因为人们放弃了几百年来作为基本房屋类型的坑屋结构，开始建造大型的地上多室普韦布洛房屋。考古学家传统上认为，这一转变也标志着对农业的依赖程度增加。然而，近年来，这一立场受到质疑，一些人认为，pithouse民族实行完全以农业为基础的经济，另一些人认为，在pithouse时期，对农业的依赖程度逐渐增加。虽然迄今为止收集到的大多数证据都是间接的，但布朗女士建议分析从两个地点找到的植物材料，分别是位于新墨西哥州的南牧场和老城。两者都包含了跨越过渡时期的碉堡和普韦布洛人。在这两处沉积物中都发现了大量的植物遗迹。布朗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。她不仅将关注已知的驯化品种，还将关注在农业环境中蓬勃发展的杂草物种，从而提供关于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，如苋菜。她产生的数据应该有助于在相互竞争的假设中进行选择。结合建筑分析和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。该项目还将对青年科学家的智力和专业发展作出重大贡献。

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.