Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: An Ethnoarchaeological and Experimental Approach to Understanding the Role of Root and Tuber Crops in Ancient Lowland Maya Subsistence

在斯科特·L·费迪克博士的监督下，露西亚·古迪尔将研究块根作物的存在及其对古代低地玛雅人的意义。虽然古代玛雅人在艺术、建筑、天文学和数学方面的成就众所周知，但他们如何养活自己庞大的人口的基本问题却没有得到很好的理解。最近的古民族植物学研究表明，古代玛雅人的饮食包括广泛的植物食物，但由于热带条件，如高湿度和有害的土壤化学，很难恢复植物遗骸，从而留下了对古代玛雅人生存的认识空白。其中一个差距是块根作物在古代玛雅人饮食中的重要性。虽然从考古沉积物中很少发现根茎作物的脆弱组织，但它们存在的证据已经以微小的淀粉粒的形式被发现。淀粉粒是植物的主要能量形式。淀粉粒的发育和形态是受遗传控制的，因此，不同的植物科、属和种之间的淀粉粒不同，从而可以区分不同植物的淀粉。由于在植物中普遍存在，其形态多样，耐研磨、耐干燥，有时还耐碳化，淀粉已成为记录热带地区古代植物使用和栽培的重要手段。目前很少有研究集中在低地玛雅地区回收淀粉，这项研究将是第一批研究淀粉对记录该地区根茎作物存在的影响的研究之一。这项研究的重点是淀粉粒的分析和数据，这些数据来自于人种学观察、现代家畜取样以及实验和复制研究。文化过程，如食物的位置、准备和处置，以及自然过程，如温度和湿度，在形态、数量、空间和关系上改变了材料遗迹，从而改变了考古记录。为了了解如何在考古记录中获取块根作物的证据，重要的是要说明块根作物是如何在文化上进行加工的，这些过程如何影响其淀粉粒，以及淀粉在什么条件下保存。观察现代玛雅人对根茎作物的使用历史，将有助于理解文化行为与地点、条件以及植物(淀粉)的实物证据如何进入考古记录之间的关系。这项研究的更广泛的影响是，野生和驯化的土著根茎作物品种的活标本对墨西哥机构的植物园的贡献，用于研究、就地保护和维持生物多样性。昆塔纳鲁奥港莫雷洛斯的阿尔弗雷多·巴雷拉·马林植物园的主要目标之一是教育公众理解和尊重传统的玛雅生活方式，根作物标本和数据的贡献将增加这一目标。研究成果将用于与位于尤卡坦梅里达的当地墨西哥大学尤卡坦自治大学以及当地玛雅社区共同开发项目，这些社区寻求记录和保护玛雅传统食物，并在当地社区制定可持续发展计划。尽管块根和块茎作物是发展中国家第二大粮食作物，也是许多热带地区的主食，但对这些作物的研究还不够充分。这项研究将深入了解热带美洲目前研究不足、被低估但非常重要的资源的历史和现代实践。

Under the supervision of Dr. Scott L. Fedick, Lucia Gudiel will examine the presence and significance of root-crops for the ancient lowland Maya. While much is known about the ancient Maya's accomplishments in art, architecture, astronomy, and mathematics, the basic question of how they fed their large populations is not as well understood. Recent paleoethnobotanical research has demonstrated that ancient Maya diet included a wide array of plant foods but due to tropical conditions, such as high humidity and deleterious soil chemistry, the recovery of plant remains is difficult thus leaving gaps in knowledge of ancient Maya subsistence. One such gap is the significance of root-crops in ancient Maya diet. While the delicate tissue of root crops is rarely recovered from archaeological deposits, evidence of their presence has been found in the form of microscopic starch grains. Starch grains are bodies that serve as the primary form of energy for plants. Starch grain development and morphology are under genetic control, thus starch grains differ between plant families, genera and oftentimes species allowing the identification of starch from different plants. Due to its ubiquity in plants, its varied morphology, its resistance to grinding, drying and sometimes carbonization, starch has become a significant means for documenting ancient plant-use and cultivation in tropical areas. There are currently very few studies focused on recovering starch in the lowland Maya region and this study will be one of the first to study the implications of starch for documenting the presence of root-crops in the region. This study focuses on starch grain analysis and data garnered from ethnographic observation, sampling of modern-day houselots, and from experimental and replicative studies. Cultural processes, such as the location, preparation, and disposal of food, and natural processes, such temperature and moisture, alter material remains morphologically, quantitatively, spatially and relationally, thereby transforming the archaeological record. In order to understand how to acquire evidence of root-crops in the archaeological record it is important to account for how root-crops are culturally processed, how these processes affect their starch grains, and in what conditions starch is preserved. Observing modern-day Maya use-history of root-crops will provide an understanding of the relationship between cultural behaviors and the location, condition, and how the physical evidence of the plant (starch) might enter the archaeological record. Broader impacts of this study are the contribution of live specimens of wild and domesticated varieties of indigenous root-crops to botanic gardens at Mexican institutions for study, in situ conservation, and the maintenance of biodiversity. One of the primary objectives of the Alfredo Barrera Marin Botanic Garden in Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo is to educate the public to understand and respect traditional Maya lifeways, and the contribution of root-crop specimens and data will add to this goal. Research results will be used to develop projects with the local Mexican university, Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan located in Merida, Yucatan and with local Maya communities that seek to document and conserve traditional Maya foodways and develop sustainability programs in local communities. Although root and tuber crops are the second most important set of food crops in developing countries and are staples in many tropical areas, these crops are under-researched. This study will yield insight into the history and modern-day practices concerning a currently under-researched, under-valued yet very important resource in tropical America.