Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Process of Agricultural Transformation among the Coastal Osmore Springs of Southern Peru

博士论文改进补助金：秘鲁南部沿海奥斯莫尔温泉的农业转型过程

• 批准号: 0222040
• 负责人: Garth Bawden
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of New Mexico
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-09-01 至 2004-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0222040&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Process

With National Science Foundation support, Mr Gregory Zaro will conduct doctoral disserrtation research on the far south coast of Peru. The study seeks to explain the process of agricultural development in the coastal Osmore region of southern Peru between AD 300 and 1700 by understanding the interplay of both cultural and ecological variables that condition agricultural decisions. Previous research suggests the coastal Osmore springs fell in and out of production throughout the period of investigation, and today some remain under cultivation while others lie completely abandoned. For millennia the climate of this typically dry region has experienced punctuated interruptions in the form of periodic el Nino events, tectonic activity, and gradual oscillating periods of above- and below-normal highland precipitation. The Osmore drainage also played host to a complex history that witnessed the rise and fall of ancient political powers such as Tiwanaku and Wari. An adequate understanding of how agriculture transformed along this hyper-arid coastline requires archaeologists to first identify the often-ephemeral indicators of past agrarian activities and situate them in their cultural and ecological contexts. For this study, emphasis is placed on the well-preserved site of Wawakiki, one of a series of prehistoric/historic spring-fed agricultural systems along the desert coast. The project will document diachronic changes in agricultural infrastructure and crop selection at Wawakiki, and place them in the context of wider patterns of resource exploitation among its neighboring spring systems north of the Osmore River. The resulting data will be analyzed using ESRI ArcGIS Desktop and ultimately interpreted against already defined sociocultural and environmental sequences from the main Osmore River valley. Excavations at Wawakiki are designed to generate data pertaining to the chronology of agricultural infrastructure and crop selection at Wawakiki, while analyses of semi-regional patterns of resource exploitation along the coast will be achieved using a survey database generated by Peruvian archaeologist Adan Umire. Wawakiki exhibits a well-preserved array of stone-faced terraces, furrows, seedling beds, and water impoundment tanks, and chronological development of these features represents agrarian technology, engineering skills, and the relative amounts of labor invested at a site. In addition, plant materials in archaeological contexts may provide direct insight into the nature of prehistoric agricultural production activities. Changes in crop selection reflect changing emphases on subsistence crops (e.g., maize), industrial crops (e.g., cotton), or both, and relative proportions of specific plants suggest the degree to which farmers specialized their production of particular cultigens. To determine the kinds of plants cultivated prehistorically, phytoliths, pollen, and macrobotanical remains from ancient fields at Wawakiki will be analyzed. Finally, these data will be contextualized within the regional sociopolitical and environmental setting of the Osmore drainage to understand the interplay of cultural and ecological variables that shape agricultural decisions at the local level. This research is important for several reasons. It will highlight the manners in which local communities sustained themselves agriculturally in this hyper-arid environment, and explain the degree to which cultural and natural factors contributed to agricultural decline and rebirth among the coastal Osmore springs.

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Gregory Zaro先生将在秘鲁遥远的南部海岸进行博士论文研究。该研究试图通过了解影响农业决策的文化和生态变量的相互作用，来解释公元300年至1700年间秘鲁南部沿海奥斯莫尔地区的农业发展过程。先前的研究表明，在调查期间，沿海的奥斯莫尔泉断断续续地生产，今天一些仍在耕种，而另一些则完全被遗弃了。几千年来，这个典型的干旱地区的气候经历了周期性厄尔尼诺事件、构造活动和高原降水高于或低于正常水平的逐渐振荡期的间断。奥斯莫尔流域还见证了一段复杂的历史，见证了蒂瓦纳库（Tiwanaku）和瓦里（Wari）等古代政治力量的兴衰。要充分了解农业是如何沿着这条极度干旱的海岸线转变的，就需要考古学家首先确定过去农业活动的往往是短暂的指标，并将它们置于其文化和生态背景中。在这项研究中，重点放在保存完好的Wawakiki遗址上，这是沿沙漠海岸的一系列史前/历史spring- feed农业系统之一。该项目将记录瓦瓦基基农业基础设施和作物选择的历时性变化，并将其置于奥斯莫尔河以北邻近泉水系统更广泛的资源开发模式的背景下。结果数据将使用ESRI ArcGIS Desktop进行分析，并最终根据已经定义的主要奥斯莫尔河谷的社会文化和环境序列进行解释。在瓦瓦基基进行挖掘的目的是产生有关瓦瓦基基农业基础设施年表和作物选择的数据，同时将利用秘鲁考古学家Adan Umire编制的调查数据库来分析沿海岸的半区域资源开发模式。Wawakiki展示了保存完好的石面梯田、沟槽、苗床和蓄水池，这些特征的时间顺序发展代表了农业技术、工程技能和在一个地点投入的相对劳动力数量。此外，考古背景下的植物材料可以为史前农业生产活动的性质提供直接的见解。作物选择的变化反映了对自给作物（如玉米）、经济作物（如棉花）或两者的重视程度的变化，而特定植物的相对比例表明农民对特定作物生产的专业化程度。为了确定史前种植的植物种类，将分析瓦瓦基基古代田野的植物岩、花粉和大型植物遗骸。最后，这些数据将在奥斯莫尔流域的区域社会政治和环境背景下进行分析，以了解影响当地农业决策的文化和生态变量之间的相互作用。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将突出当地社区在这种极度干旱的环境中维持自身农业的方式，并解释文化和自然因素对沿海奥斯莫尔泉农业衰退和重生的影响程度。