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

在Scott L博士的监督下，费迪克，露西娅Gudiel将检查的存在和根作物的意义，为古代低地玛雅。虽然人们对古玛雅人在艺术、建筑、天文学和数学方面的成就了解很多，但他们如何养活庞大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各种植物性食物，但由于热带条件，如高湿度和有害的土壤化学，植物遗骸的恢复是困难的，从而留下了古代玛雅人生存知识的空白。一个这样的差距是根作物在古代玛雅饮食中的重要性。 虽然根作物的微妙组织很少从考古沉积物中恢复，但它们存在的证据已经以微观淀粉颗粒的形式被发现。 淀粉粒是植物能量的主要形式。 淀粉粒发育和形态受遗传控制，因此淀粉粒在植物科、属和通常物种之间不同，从而允许鉴定来自不同植物的淀粉。 由于其在植物中的普遍存在，其多样的形态，其抗研磨，干燥和有时碳化，淀粉已成为记录热带地区古代植物使用和种植的重要手段。 目前很少有研究集中在恢复淀粉在低地玛雅地区，这项研究将是第一个研究淀粉的影响，记录在该地区的根作物的存在。本研究的重点是淀粉粒分析和数据收集的民族志观察，采样的现代houselots，并从实验和复制研究。 文化过程，如食物的定位、准备和处理，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物质遗存，从而改变了考古记录。 为了了解如何在考古记录中获得根茎作物的证据，重要的是要说明根茎作物是如何在文化上加工的，这些过程如何影响它们的淀粉粒，以及淀粉在什么条件下被保存。 观察现代玛雅人使用根作物的历史将有助于了解文化行为与位置，条件之间的关系，以及植物（淀粉）的物理证据如何进入考古记录。 这项研究的更广泛的影响是土著根茎作物的野生和驯化品种的活标本的贡献，在墨西哥研究机构的植物园，就地保护，维护生物多样性。 位于金塔纳罗奥莫雷洛斯港的阿尔弗雷多·巴雷拉·马林植物园的主要目标之一是教育公众了解和尊重玛雅人的传统生活方式，块根作物标本和数据的贡献将有助于实现这一目标。 研究结果将用于与当地墨西哥大学，尤卡坦自治大学（位于梅里达，尤卡坦）以及当地玛雅社区合作开发项目，旨在记录和保护传统玛雅食物，并在当地社区开发可持续发展计划。虽然块根和块茎作物是发展中国家第二大类粮食作物，是许多热带地区的斯台普斯，但对这些作物的研究不足。 这项研究将深入了解美洲热带地区目前研究不足、价值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.