Dissertation: Formative Subsistence Economy in the Tuxtla Region of Southern Veracruz, Mexico

在Margaret Scarry博士的指导下，MS Amber VanDerwarker将为她的博士论文收集数据。她的工作目标是了解导致墨西哥湾沿岸奥尔梅克文明兴起的过程。最早的奥尔梅克遗址可以追溯到公元前1400年左右，因为它们是如此之早，一直是考古学关注的焦点。奥尔梅克人最出名的是他们从玄武岩巨石上雕刻出的重达数吨的巨大石头，然后运送到主要地点。作为中美洲已知最早的文明，它们为玛雅和其他文化提供了基础。虽然现在对主要的奥尔梅克遗址了解很多，但很明显，它们位于更广泛的社会和地理背景中，而许多奥尔梅克人广泛分布在内陆地区。在这些地区进行的考古工作很少。目前尚不清楚大型区域中心是如何发展起来的，以及当地是否能够生产足够的粮食来支持这样的人口聚集。一些考古学家假设了一种贸易体系，用边远地区的农产品交换专业生产的“城市”商品，并推测这种类型的交易促进了等级社会分层社会的进一步发展。然而，人们对内陆地区的生存和农业实践知之甚少。范德沃克将分析在墨西哥韦拉克鲁斯州南部图克斯特拉山脉的两个地点——拉霍亚和贝祖阿潘——发现的动植物遗骸。它们加在一起跨越了奥尔梅克文明兴起的时期。她将确定存在的植物和动物食物的范围，确定每种食物的相对频率，并研究它们是如何随时间变化的。数据将揭示居民对狩猎和采集食物的依赖程度，而不是农业食品，是否全部是当地生产的还是通过贸易获得的，以及当地种植的食物是否经过批量加工以供运输。她还将收集人类骨骼样本进行同位素分析，这将揭示玉米和动物蛋白在饮食中的重要性。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为许多考古学家提供感兴趣的数据。它将为中美洲第一个文明的兴起提供重要的线索，并将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Margaret Scarry, MS Amber VanDerwarker will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. The goal of her work is to understand the processes which led to the rise of Olmec civilization on the Gulf coast of Mexico. The earliest Olmec sites date to ca. 1,400 BC and because they are so early, have been the focus of considerable archaeological attention. The Olmec are best known for the massive, multi-ton stone heads which they carved from basalt boulders and then transported to major sites. As the earliest known civilization in Middle America, they provided the general base on which Mayan and other cultures were based. While a great deal is now known about major Olmec sites, it is clear that they were situated in a broader social and geographic context and than many Olmec people were broadly distributed across hinterland regions. Very little archaeological work has been conducted in these areas. It is not understood how large regional centers developed and whether enough food could be produced locally to support such population aggregations. Some archaeologists have postulated a trade system which exchanged agricultural produce from outlying areas for specialist produced "urban" goods and have speculated that transactions of this type facilitated the further development of a ranked socially stratified society. However very little is known about the subsistence and agricultural practices in hinterland areas.MS VanDerwarker will analyze faunal and flora remains recovered from two sites - La Joya and Bezuapan - both located in the Tuxtla Mountains in southern Veracruz, Mexico. Taken together they span the period which saw the Olmec rise. She will identify the range of plant and animal foods present, determine the relative frequency of each and examine how these changed over time. Data will reveal the extent to which inhabitants depended on hunted and gathered, as opposed to agricultural foods, whether all were produced locally or some obtained through trade, and whether locally grown foods were bulk processed for transport. She will also collect samples of human bone for isotopic analysis which can reveal the importance of maize and animal protein in the diet.This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will shed important light on the rise of the first civilization in Middle America and will assist in training a promising young scientist.