Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Agricultural Consumption Patterns and Formative Period Sociopolitical Developments at the Maya Site of San Estevan

玛丽·波尔博士将指导丹尼尔·宋飞的论文项目，该项目研究了伯利兹北部圣埃斯特万遗址的古代玛雅人的食物消费模式与社会和政治复杂性起源之间的关系。从中世纪开始的过渡(公元前900-300年)到形成后期(公元前300年-公元300年)，伯利兹北部包括圣埃斯特万在内的各个地方都出现了等级统治的发展。在此期间，乡村发展成城市，由精英阶层统治，他们建造了不朽的建筑，并信奉一种因超自然联系而声称享有特权的意识形态。宋飞的工作将通过跟踪圣埃斯特万在形成期中期到后期的食物消费模式，阐明农业和饮食习惯可能如何随着这些发展而改变。这项调查将涉及古植物学(古代植物遗骸)和分子分析材料，这些材料出自该遗址形成中晚期的家庭蚊虫。该项目将采用古植物学和分子技术的创新组合来研究古代食物消费。分析将把古植物学大型遗骸的数据与两种形式的分子分析(整体稳定碳同位素分析和特定化合物稳定碳同位素分析)结合起来，旨在检测陶瓷中吸收的玉米残留物。这些分析之所以有效，是因为玉米与该地区大多数其他陆地植物具有明显的同位素特征。农业消费模式的变化将通过比较来自形成中期和晚期的材料的古植物学和分子分析的结果来确定。该项目的智力价值是提高对农业和饮食实践如何与一种文化的意识形态和社会政治组织的更广泛变化相关的理解。用于探索古代食物消费模式的创新方法组合可能会在未来的研究中使用。该项目将通过为更广泛的学术界做出贡献，并通过培训研究生和本科生，产生超出其近期研究目标的更广泛的影响。目前的项目是圣埃斯特万更广泛的研究工作的一部分，涉及来自多所大学的教职员工和学生，他们在现场学习政治经济学和生存。结果将在一篇论文中公布，该论文将与分析结果数据库一起在线提供。这一论文项目的数据还将通过出版物和在美国和伯利兹的会议报告向更广泛的学术界传播。这些数据的可获得性将有利于进行生存实践比较研究的研究人员。为了完成这个项目，宋飞先生将接受古植物分析和高级分子分析技术方面的培训。该项目还将为本科生志愿者提供培训机会，帮助他们对古植物大型遗骸进行分类，并准备用于分子分析的样本。

Dr. Mary Pohl will supervise Daniel Seinfeld's dissertation project that examines the relationship between food consumption patterns and the origins of social and political complexity among the ancient Maya at the site of San Estevan, northern Belize. The transition from the Middle (900-300 B.C.) to the Late Formative period (300 B.C.-A.D. 300) witnessed the development of hierarchical rulership at sites throughout Northern Belize, including San Estevan. During this time villages developed into cities that were ruled by an elite class who built monumental architecture and espoused an ideology claiming privileges because of supernatural connections. Mr. Seinfeld's work will clarify how agricultural and dietary practices may have changed with these developments by tracking food consumption patterns during the Middle through Late Formative periods at San Estevan. This investigation will involve paleobotanical (ancient plant remains) and molecular analyses of materials excavated from domestic middens dating to the Middle and Late Formative periods at the site.The project will employ an innovative combination of paleobotanical and molecular techniques to study ancient food consumption. Analysis will integrate data from paleobotanical macroremains with two forms of molecular analysis (bulk stable carbon isotope analysis and compound-specific stable carbon isotope analysis) aimed at detecting maize residues absorbed in ceramics. These analyses work because maize has a distinct isotopic signature from most other terrestrial plants in the area. Changes in agricultural consumption patterns will be determined by comparing the results of paleobotanical and molecular analyses on materials from Middle and Late Formative period midden contexts.The project's intellectual merit is to improve understanding of how agricultural and dietary practices relate to wider changes in a culture's ideology and sociopolitical organization. The innovative combination of methods used to explore ancient food consumption patterns may be used in future studies.This project will have broader impacts beyond its immediate research goals by contributing to the wider academic community and by training graduate and undergraduate students. The current project is part of a wider research endeavor at San Estevan involving faculty and students from multiple universities studying political economy and subsistence at the site. Results will be presented in a dissertation that will be available online along with a database of the analytical results. Data from this dissertation project will also be disseminated to the wider academic community through publications and conference presentations in the United States and Belize. The availability of the data will benefit researchers conducting comparative studies of subsistence practices. To complete this project, Mr. Seinfeld will receive training in paleobotanical analysis and advanced molecular analysis techniques. The project will also provide training opportunities for undergraduate volunteers to assist in sorting paleobotanical macroremains and preparing samples for molecular analysis.