Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Agricultural Intensification and the Emergence of Complex Societies on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia

在大卫·布朗曼博士的指导下，玛丽亚·布鲁诺将研究玻利维亚塔拉科半岛形成时期(公元前1500年-公元500年)农业集约化的过程及其在早期政治发展中的作用。塔拉科半岛位于南美洲安第斯山脉的喀喀湖盆地南岸，先前的考古调查表明，第一个地区政体--塔拉科半岛政体--出现于公元前250年左右。弄清这种地区性政体的发展对于理解该盆地第一个国家级社会--公元5000年提瓦纳库的出现是必要的。一些研究人员认为，农业生产的增加在这些早期政体和提瓦纳库州的发展中发挥了中心作用。人们假设，新兴精英通过精心策划农产品产量的增加，创造了经济盈余。然而，目前对喀喀湖盆地农业集约化的了解仅基于对聚落模式、石器使用和对农作物的古民族植物学分析的研究。尽管这些研究记录了农业生产在整个形成过程中不断增加，但现有的数据集过于粗略，无法验证农业生产变化与随之而来的社会政治发展之间的假定联系。布鲁诺建议通过对玻利维亚塔拉科半岛目前的农业实践进行民族植物学研究来解决这一问题。这项研究将对来自同一地区的两个形成时期遗址Kala Uyuni和Yanapata的考古植物遗骸进行分析和解释。通过13个月的塔拉科半岛Aymara社区的民族植物学田野工作，包括访谈、参与农业活动和农民指导的植物收藏，Bruno将创建反映当地农业生产的比较花卉收藏。人种学的比较收集不仅将为鉴定考古植物分类群提供必要的数据，而且还将提供关于人类活动的推论数据，这些数据在植物形态和生态中创造了可观察的模式。这些数据将有助于分析由Christine Hastorf博士和Matthew Bandy博士指导的Taraco考古项目在Kala Uyuni和Yanapata的挖掘中发现的考古植物遗骸。利用古民族植物学分析技术的组合，布鲁诺将追踪不同考古背景下所有植物分类群的频率。特别是，将分析农作物和杂草植物分类群，以阐明形成期农业集约化的时间和特征。对碳化植物遗骸的AMS测年将使农业变化与记录在案的气候和社会政治变化进行精确比较。这种综合方法将使布鲁诺能够澄清农业集约化在塔拉科半岛政治发展中的作用，并有助于更广泛的农业集约化和复杂社会出现的人类学理论。

Under the supervision of Dr. David Browman, Maria Bruno will investigate theprocess of agricultural intensification and it role in the development of earlypolities during the Formative Period (1500 B.C. - A.D. 500) on the TaracoPeninsula, Bolivia. The Taraco Peninsula is located in on the southern shoresof the Lake Titicaca Basin in the Andean South America and previousarchaeological investigations here suggest that the first regional polity, theTaraco Peninsula Polity, emerged c. 250 B.C. Clarifying the development of suchearly regional polities is necessary for understanding the emergence of thebasin's first state-level society, Tiwanaku, c. A.D. 500.Several researchers suggest that increased agricultural production played acentral role in the development of these early polities and the Tiwanakustate. It is hypothesized that emerging elites created an economic surplus byorchestrating the increased production of agricultural goods. Currentunderstanding of agricultural intensification in the Lake Titicaca Basin,however, is based only on studies of settlement patterns, stone tool use, andpaleoethnobotanical analysis of crop plants. Although these studies documentincreasing agricultural production throughout the Formative, available datasets are too coarse-grained to verify postulated links between changes inagricultural production and concomitant socio-political developments. Brunoproposes to resolve this issue by conducting an ethnobotanical study of present-day agricultural practices on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia. This study willaid in the analysis and interpretation of archaeological plant remains from twoFormative period sites, Kala Uyuni and Yanapata, from the same region.Through 13 months of ethnobotanical fieldwork among Aymara communities on theTaraco Peninsula, including interviews, participation in agriculturalactivities, and farmer-guided plant collections, Bruno will create acomparative floral collection that reflects local agricultural production. Theethnographically derived comparative collection will not only provide datanecessary for the identification of archaeological plant taxa, but also willfurnish corollary data on human activities that create observable patterns inplant morphology and ecology. These data will aid in the analysis of archaeological plant remains recovered from the Taraco Archaeological Project's excavations at Kala Uyuni andYanapata, directed by Drs. Christine Hastorf and Matthew Bandy. Using acombination of paleoethnobotanical analytical techniques, Bruno will track thefrequency of all plant taxa through time across different archaeologicalcontexts. In particular, crops and weedy plant taxa will be analyzed toelucidate the timing and character of Formative period agriculturalintensification. AMS dating of carbonized plant remains will allow precisecomparison of agricultural change with documented climatic and socio-politicalchanges. This integrative approach will permit Bruno to clarify the role ofagricultural intensification in the development of the Taraco Peninsula Polity,as well as contribute to more general anthropological theories of agriculturalintensification and the emergence of complex societies.