Doctoral Dissertation Grant: Exploring Diverse and Shifting Subsistence Choices During the Formative Period at Chiquiuitan

Chiquiuitan的早期和中期形成遗址位于危地马拉的太平洋海岸，是东南沿海地区已知最早的遗址，可追溯到公元前1450-600年。然而，在中美洲史前史的这一关键时期，该遗址在定居、生存、贸易和社会组织方面发生了重要的转变，却很少得到学术界的关注。这些转变为后来的奥尔梅克、玛雅和阿兹特克等高级文化体系奠定了基础，因此对理解中美洲文化体系的基础至关重要。在小威廉·福勒博士的监督下，莫莉·摩根将通过研究植物和动物遗骸以及从先前在奇基奎坦发现的沉积物中获得放射性碳的年代来评估生存变迁。摩根在2006年和2007年的挖掘集中在家庭背景上，为这个村庄的居民做出的家庭选择提供了充足的证据，包括与食物采购有关的选择。新研究的结果将是详细重建奇基伊坦人最初定居期间和之后的生存多样性和变化。这个项目的学术价值在于，它将对早期中美洲史前史的一个关键时期的考古学做出重要贡献。通过收集多种与生存相关的证据，本研究将通过检查饮食的可变成分及其随时间的变化情况，阐明奇基奎坦人的资源开发选择。本研究将采用三种材料分析：(1)古植物学研究，以确定植物种类；(2)古动物分析，以确定动物遗骸；(3)AMS放射性碳定年，以加强奇基奎坦沉积物的年代重建。这些研究将由该领域经验丰富的专家进行，即芝加哥伊利诺伊大学的安德鲁·怀亚特博士负责古民族植物学，佛罗里达自然历史博物馆的凯蒂·埃默里博士负责古动物。确定粮食生产的程度以及在中期形成时期（公元前950-600年）之前是否适应了自给经济将是主要目标。总之，本项目采用的方法结合了人类与环境相互作用的动物学和植物学观点，以及通过绝对定年方法获得的动态感知。这项研究产生的更广泛的影响将有三个方面：该项目将有助于研究生培训，促进美国和拉丁美洲学者之间更多的信息交流，并有助于更广泛地研究人类群体如何获取食物。通过支持从奇奎坦遗址收集的数据，这项工作将大大加强对摩根论文中提出的早期社会转型的解释。所获得的信息将有助于新大陆学者对向复杂社会过渡的总体理解，因为它为采用农业提供了一个详细的模型，其他地区可以与之比较。最后，在一个缓慢的食品革命时代，呼吁回归自然和有机食品生产方法，以及对我们食物来源的高度关注，这项研究将解释一个古老的群体如何处理他们那个时代的生存问题，为我们如何探索我们自己在食品采购方面的挑战提供思路。

The Early and Middle Formative site of Chiquiuitan is located on the Pacific coast of Guatemala and is distinguished as the earliest known site in the southeastern coastal region, dating to 1450-600 B.C. Yet, the site has received little consideration in the scholarship of this crucial time in Mesoamerican prehistory, when important transitions were taking place in sedentism, subsistence, trade, and social organization. These transitions laid the groundwork for subsequent high cultural systems such as the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec, and thus are central to understanding the foundations of Mesoamerican cultural systems. Under the supervision of Dr. William R. Fowler, Jr., Molly Morgan will evaluate subsistence transitions by studying plant and animal remains and obtaining radiocarbon dates from previously recovered deposits at Chiquiuitan. Morgan's 2006 and 2007 excavations focused on household contexts, providing ample evidence for domestic choices made by the inhabitants of this village, including those related to food procurement. The result of the new research will be a detailed reconstruction of subsistence diversity and change during and immediately following Chiquiuitan's initial settlement.The intellectual merit of this project lies in the important contribution that will be made to the archaeology of a crucial period in early Mesoamerican prehistory. Through gathering multiple types of subsistence-related evidence, this research will clarify resource exploitation choices at Chiquiuitan by examining variable components of the diet and how they changed through time. This research will employ three materials analyses: (1) paleobotanical research aimed at identifying plant species, (2) analysis of archaeofauna to identify animal remains, and (3) AMS radiocarbon dating to enhance the chronological reconstruction of deposits from Chiquiuitan. These studies will be conducted by experienced specialists in the field, namely Dr. Andrew Wyatt at the University of Illinois at Chicago for paleoethnobotany, and Dr. Kitty Emery at the Florida Museum of Natural History for archaeofauna. Determining the extent of food production and if a subsistence economy was adapted before the Middle Formative (950-600 BC) will be primary goals. In summary, the approach taken by this project combines zoological and botanical perspectives of human-environment interactions with the dynamic perception gained through absolute dating methods. The broader impacts resulting from this research will be threefold: this project will assist in graduate student training, foster a greater exchange of information between U.S. and Latin American scholars, and contribute to the wider study of how human groups procure food. By bolstering the data collected from the site of Chiquiuitan, this work will significantly enhance the interpretations made regarding early social transitions proposed in Morgan"s dissertation. The information gained will contribute to the general understanding among New World scholars of the transition to complex society by providing a detailed model for the adoption of agriculture to which other areas may be compared. Lastly, in an age of slow food revolutions, the call for a return to natural and organic food production methods, and a heightened concern for where our food is coming from, this study will explain how an ancient group dealt with issues of subsistence in their time, offering ideas for how we might explore our own challenges in food procurement.