Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Resource Use, Crop Dispersals, and the Transition to Agriculture in Prehistoric Panama: Evidence from Starch Grains and Macroremains

关于巴拿马古代民族植物学和农业起源的研究将由露丝·迪考在安东尼·J·拉内尔博士的指导下进行。迪考将检查巴拿马一系列考古遗址的土壤样本中的碳化植物遗骸，以及从石器中发现的淀粉颗粒。这些遗址可以追溯到11000到500年前，位于巴拿马西部高地和巴拿马中部。这一时间和空间范围为研究不同地区史前人类对植物资源的开发如何随着时间的推移而变化提供了机会。特别令人感兴趣的是一些植物物种的驯化，它们向巴拿马的扩散，以及从以狩猎和采集为基础的经济向以农业为基础的经济的过渡。一些在新热带地区使用重要农作物的最早证据，如玉米和木薯，已经在巴拿马中部发现，可以追溯到公元前6000-4800年。其他作物，如箭根和南瓜，出现得更早。通过研究巴拿马陶器前遗址的植物遗骸，可以更好地了解驯化物种的引入和传播。巴拿马位于墨西哥和南美洲北部的主要驯化中心之间，加上其地峡狭窄的性质，使其成为研究各种作物物种早期传播的理想地点。对大型植物遗骸和淀粉粒的分析补充了该地区先前对植物硅体和花粉所做的工作。在过去重建人类-植物相互作用方面，使用多种证据是至关重要的，特别是在热带环境中，有机材料的保存并不总是最佳的。大型植物遗骸在确定在热带土著经济中发挥重要作用的树木和棕榈树物种方面特别有用。淀粉粒分析是一项相对较新的考古植物学技术，有可能彻底改变我们对新热带地区农业起源的理解。许多块根作物是现代热带人民的重要主食，在考古遗址几乎看不到，因为块茎通常不能保存下来。然而，最近的研究表明，这些作物在加工它们的石器上留下了诊断淀粉粒，因此可以提供关于这些作物驯化和使用的重要信息。这些技术结合在一起，将提供该地区植物利用的更全面的图景。通过这些技术收集的数据将用于研究史前巴拿马的资源利用问题和驯化植物物种向该地区的扩散。这些驯化植物的采用，以及最终从觅食经济向农业经济的转变，产生了深远的社会、政治和环境后果。巴拿马的研究应该有助于发展一种关于新世界农业起源的更有力的理论。更广泛地说，迪考的研究应该会增进我们对人类如何随着时间的推移与热带环境相互作用的理解，并为进一步洞察热带森林中人类生态的整体性质提供进一步的见解。

Research on paleoethnobotany and the origins of agriculture in Panama will be conducted by Ruth Dickau, under the guidance of Dr. Anthony J. Ranere. Ms. Dickau will examine carbonized plant remains (macrobotanical remains) from soil samples, and starch grains recovered from stone tools, from a range of archaeological sites in Panama. These sites date from 11,000 to 500 years ago, and are located in Western highland Panama and Central Panama. This temporal and spatial range provides an opportunity to examine how the exploitation of plant resources by prehistoric people changed over time in different regions. Of particular interest is the domestication of a number of plant species, their dispersal into Panama, and the transition from an economy based on hunting and gathering to one based on agriculture. Some of the earliest evidence in the Neotropics for the use of important crops such maize and manioc has been found in Central Panama, dating to ca. 6000-4800 BC. Other crops, such as arrowroot and squash, appear even earlier. By examining the botanical remains from pre-ceramic sites in Panama, the introduction and spread of domesticated species can be better understood. Panama's location between the major domestication centers of Mexico and northern South America, and its nature as a narrow isthmus, make it an ideal location to study the early dispersal of various crop species.Analyses of macrobotanical remains and starch grains compliment previous work done on phytoliths and pollen from this region. The use of multiple lines of evidence is critical in the reconstruction of human-plant interactions in the past, particularly in tropical environments where preservation of organic material is not always optimal. Macrobotanical remains are particularly useful in identifying tree and palm species that play an important role in indigenous tropical economies. Starch grain analysis is a relatively recent archaeobotanical technique that has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of agricultural origins in the Neotropics. Many root crops, an important dietary staple of modern tropical peoples, are virtually invisible in archaeological sites because the tubers do not usually preserve. However, recent studies have shown that these crops leave diagnostic starch grains on the stone tools that were used to process them, and therefore can yield important information on the domestication and use of these crops. Combined, these techniques will provide a much more comprehensive picture of plant use in the region.The data collected by these techniques will be used to examine questions of resource use in prehistoric Panama and the dispersal of domesticated plant species into this region. The adoption of these domesticated plants and the eventual transition from a foraging economy to an agricultural economy had profound social, political, and environmental consequences. The research in Panama should contribute to the development of a more robust theory of the origins of agriculture in the New World. More broadly, Ms. Dickau's research should enhance our understanding of how people interacted with tropical environments over time, and provide further insight into the overall nature of human ecology in tropical forests.