Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Ocampo Caves in Context: Agricultural Development in Southwestern Tamaulipas, Mexico

博士论文研究：奥坎波洞穴背景：墨西哥塔毛利帕斯州西南部的农业发展

• 批准号: 0507899
• 负责人: Gayle Fritz
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-03-01 至 2007-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0507899&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Ocampo; Caves

Under the direction of Dr. Gayle Fritz, J. Kevin Hanselka will conduct an archaeological survey within a 3,600 ha area near Ocampo, southwestern Tamaulipas, Mexico. Evidence obtained in the 1950s from three caves in this area influenced leading regional models concerning the shift from mobile hunting and gathering to settled agricultural village life in Mesoamerica. Cave occupations represent only one aspect of a greater settlement pattern, however, and little has been done to clarify the non-cave land use activities of prehistoric peoples in the Ocampo area. Hanselka's survey will document land use and resource extraction in the vicinity of the caves. An examination of the abundant plant remains obtained from previous excavations and curated at various institutions will produce a fresh perspective on prehistoric plant subsistence in the Ocampo caves, to be compared with simultaneous changes in settlement patterns detected during the survey. From an intellectual standpoint, this research is important for several reasons. First, it will incorporate all aspects of the available plant subsistence data into a comprehensive reconstruction of plant diet in the Ocampo caves. Although archaeologists have been interested in these materials for decades, they remain largely unpublished, except in brief synthetic articles and broad overviews of the corn, bean, squash, and gourd collections. This study will draw this data together into a detailed record of the plant contents of each excavation level, to be made more readily accessible to the archaeological community. This research will also place this cave data into the context of a broader yet localized cultural system that existed outside of the caves. Regional models hold that major Mesoamerican crop plants were domesticated in widely scattered areas at different times, and were incorporated into local diets over several thousand years as they spread until fully agricultural villages were established. Prehistorians now recognize rich diversity among mixed foraging-farming systems, and that more intricate localized processes characterized the forager-farmer transition than general models address. Many past societies did not comfortably fit into the hunter-gatherer or agriculturalist categories, but instead differentially incorporated diverse gathered wild foods, managed non-domesticates, and/or domesticated foods into their local diets. Between the first appearance of domesticated plants and the first agricultural villages, such mixed, or low-level food producing, economies operated under diverse environmental and cultural contexts in Mexico. These notions demonstrate the necessity of examining agricultural development on a case-by-case basis. The present research will clarify the Ocampo low-level food production situation region in light of contemporary Mesoamerican and North American archaeology, by examining the range of settlement types and the use of diverse environmental settings in the area over time, and how or if these developments correlate with changes in dependence on wild vs. domesticated resources. As similar case studies from other localities accumulate, broader regional models of ancient Mesoamerican food production can be continuously refined.This project will also have a significance beyond anthropological research concerns. As the project will be supported by a doctoral dissertation improvement grant, it will contribute to the professional training of a graduate student who plans to go on to educate future professionals. The project will also have positive implications for the residents of communities near the Ocampo caves, as it will expand on knowledge of local heritage and patrimony, engendering a greater understanding of the Ocampo region's place in the greater context of Mexican prehistory. Much of the local populace currently earns its living through subsistence/small-scale commercial farming; these will gain an awareness and appreciation of how earlier populations met similar environmental conditions and challenges before globalization provided alternatives. The research findings will be disseminated within Ocampo and other small communities in the area for educational purposes. In addition, this research will foster future collaborative efforts between scholars in Tamaulipas and the United States.

在盖尔·弗里茨（Gayle Fritz）博士的指导下，j·凯文·汉塞尔卡（J. Kevin Hanselka）将在墨西哥塔毛利帕斯州西南部奥坎波（Ocampo）附近3600公顷的区域内进行考古调查。20世纪50年代从该地区的三个洞穴中获得的证据影响了中美洲从移动狩猎和采集到定居农业村庄生活转变的主要区域模式。然而，洞穴占领只是一个更大的定居模式的一个方面，而且几乎没有做过什么来澄清奥坎波地区史前人类的非洞穴土地利用活动。Hanselka的调查将记录洞穴附近的土地使用和资源开采情况。对从以前的挖掘中获得的大量植物遗骸进行检查，并在不同的机构中进行管理，将对奥坎波洞穴中的史前植物生存产生新的视角，并将其与调查期间发现的定居模式的同时变化进行比较。从知识分子的角度来看，这项研究有几个重要的原因。首先，它将把现有植物生存数据的所有方面纳入奥坎波洞穴中植物饮食的全面重建。尽管考古学家对这些材料感兴趣已经有几十年了，但除了简短的综合文章和对玉米、豆类、南瓜和葫芦收藏的广泛概述外，它们基本上没有发表。这项研究将把这些数据汇总成每一挖掘层植物内容的详细记录，以便考古界更容易获得。这项研究还将把这些洞穴数据置于洞穴之外存在的更广泛但本地化的文化系统的背景下。区域模型认为，主要的中美洲作物在不同时期在广泛分散的地区被驯化，并在几千年的时间里被纳入当地的饮食中，直到完全农业村庄建立起来。史前学家现在认识到，在混合的觅食-耕作系统中存在丰富的多样性，并且比一般模型所描述的更复杂的局部过程是觅食-耕作过渡的特征。许多过去的社会并不适合狩猎采集者或农业者的类别，而是以不同的方式将各种采集的野生食物、管理的非驯化食物和/或驯化食物纳入当地饮食。在驯化植物第一次出现和第一个农业村庄之间，比如混合或低水平的粮食生产，墨西哥的经济在不同的环境和文化背景下运行。这些概念表明，必须在个案基础上审查农业发展。目前的研究将根据当代中美洲和北美考古学来澄清奥坎波低粮食生产状况地区，通过检查该地区长期以来的定居类型范围和不同环境设置的使用，以及这些发展如何或是否与对野生资源与驯化资源的依赖变化相关。随着其他地区类似案例研究的积累，古代中美洲粮食生产的更广泛的区域模式可以不断完善。这个项目也将具有超越人类学研究关注的意义。由于该项目将得到博士论文改进基金的支持，它将有助于研究生的专业培训，他们计划继续教育未来的专业人士。该项目还将对奥坎波洞穴附近社区的居民产生积极影响，因为它将扩大对当地遗产和遗产的了解，使人们更好地了解奥坎波地区在墨西哥史前大背景下的地位。许多当地居民目前通过自给自足/小规模商业农业谋生；这些活动将使人们认识到，在全球化提供替代办法之前，早期人口是如何遇到类似的环境条件和挑战的。研究结果将在奥坎波和该地区其他小社区内传播，用于教育目的。此外，这项研究将促进塔毛利帕斯州和美国学者之间未来的合作努力。