Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant:Assessing Carbonized Archaeological Cooking Residues:Evaluation of Maize Phytolith Taphonomy & Density through Experimental Residue Anal

在Lovis博士的指导下，Maria Raviele女士将研究美国东部采用早期玉米(玉米)农业的过程。北美东部的一个研究区域，密歇根州的萨吉诺河流域，将被用来专门解决早期使用玉米的问题(公元1000年之前)，以及这种栽培作物如何被纳入现有的狩猎-采集生存系统。从可见的考古遗迹，如玉米棒，我们知道玉米是在公元1000年以后种植的。然而，有证据表明，在所谓的流动的低水平粮食生产经济中，玉米和其他栽培植物在此之前被狩猎-采集者越来越多地使用。一种相对较新的方法技术--植硅体分析--被用来检查植物使用的证据。植硅体是硅石的微小沉积物，在植物的每一个部位都有不同的出现频率。植硅体可以用来诊断特定的植物，并被用来从考古环境中识别物种，在那里，更大的、可见的植物遗骸没有得到保存。这项研究从附着在陶片内部的烧焦的食物残渣中提取植物硅体。这将允许直接识别正在锅中烹调的植物食物。预计其中一种被确认的植物将是玉米。待检验的烧焦食物取自陶瓷碎片，可以追溯到公元1000年之前和之后。这一时间跨度涵盖了林地中期(公元前200年-公元500年)和林地晚期(公元600年-公元1400年)。除了研究考古烧焦的食物残留物外，还创建了系统的实验食物残留物，特别是使用玉米，以确定是否有可能对残留物中发现的植硅体进行量化。这一点很重要，因为当前的分析只记录存在/不存在。如果量化是可能的，这将使研究人员能够解决一些问题，如植物被使用了多少，在烹饪之前植物是如何加工的，以及这种植物食物在史前饮食中有多重要。这个项目展示了考古学中跨学科和实验工作的重要性，因为它利用了生命科学和环境科学的学科。还讨论了人类对引进和采用新食物来源的反应，并与当代生存变化的平行问题有关。这里应用的实验方法有可能应用于其他以经济为基础的植物利用研究，因此其地理范围延伸到北美东部以外。博物馆藏品的使用还引起了关于残留物的长期管理和处理的几个方法学问题。这些都与其他研究人员以及机构管理人员在决定如何照顾这些有限的资源时有关。最后，这个项目为研究生研究人员提供了植硅体分析的全面经验，然后他们可以用这种方法培训未来的学生。

Under the direction of Dr. Lovis, Ms Maria Raviele will examine the process by which early maize (corn) agriculture was adopted in the eastern United States. A study area within eastern North America, the Saginaw River valley of Michigan, will be used to specifically address the problem of early use of maize (prior to AD 1000) and how this cultigen was incorporated into an already existing hunter-gatherer subsistence system. It is known from visible archaeological remains, such as cobs, that maize was grown after AD 1000. However, evidence suggests that maize and other cultivated plants were increasingly used by hunter-gatherers before this time in what is called a mobile low-level food production economy.A relatively new methodological technique, phytolith analysis, is adopted to examine evidence for plant use. Phytoliths are microscopic deposits of silica which occur with varying frequency in every plant part. Phytoliths can be diagnostic of particular plants and are used to identify species from archaeological contexts where larger, visible plant remains are not preserved. This study extracts phytoliths from charred food remains adhering to ceramic sherd interiors. This will allow for the direct identification of plant foods being cooked in a pot. It is expected that one of the plants identified will be maize. The charred food remains to be examined are taken from ceramic sherds, dating both before and after AD 1000. This time span covers the Middle Woodland (200 BC-AD 500) and Late Woodland (AD 600-AD 1400) periods.In addition to examining archaeological charred food remains, systematic experimental food residues, specifically using maize, were created to determine if quantifying phytoliths found in a residue is possible. This is important because current analysis simply records presence/absence. If quantification is possible, this would allow researchers to address issues such as how much of a plant was used, how the plant was processed prior to cooking and how important this plant food was in a prehistoric diet.This project demonstrates the importance of interdisciplinary and experimental work within archaeology since it draws on disciplines in the life and environmental sciences. Human responses to the introduction and adoption of a new food source are also addressed and are pertinent to parallel issues of contemporary subsistence change. The experimental method applied here has the potential to be applied to other economically based plant utilization studies and thus has a geographical range extending beyond eastern North America. The use of museum collections also raises several methodological issues in regards to long-term curation and processing of residues. These are pertinent to other researchers as well as institutional administrators in their decisions about how to care for these finite resources. Finally, this project provides comprehensive experience in phytolith analysis for a graduate student researcher who can then train future students in this method.