Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: A Terminal Classic Maya Household at the Microscale: Social Organization and Foodways in the Puuc Hills, Yucatan, Mexico

博士论文改进补助金：微观尺度上的晚期经典玛雅家庭：墨西哥尤卡坦半岛普克山的社会组织和饮食方式

• 批准号: 1036123
• 负责人: William Saturno
• 金额: $ 2万
• 依托单位: Trustees of Boston University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-08-01 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1036123&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Terminal

Under the supervision of Dr. William A. Saturno, Stephanie Simms will analyze data garnered through archaeological investigations at the Maya site of Escalera al Cielo. Escalera al Cielo is located in the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico, within a network of hills surrounding a nearby urban center. The rural hilltop residence of Escalera al Cielo was intensively occupied between A.D. 800 and A.D. 950, and then abruptly abandoned. Although the causes for this rapid departure remain unknown, rich artifact scatters in and around household buildings provide a snapshot of daily life. Excavations of sleeping structures, kitchens, food storage areas, and adjoining open patios were designed to identify patterns of activities that took place there. Analyses of food residues from ceramic cooking and storage vessels, grinding stones and other stone tools, and sediments will provide new information on food-related activities. There is little direct evidence for ancient Maya foodways (note: foodways refers to a holistic system of food conceptualization, procurement, distribution, preservation, preparation, and consumption shared by all members of a particular group). This results from poor preservation of organic materials in the humid tropics and a general lack of archaeological contexts appropriate for such studies (e.g., kitchen floors covered in artifacts). As a result, scholars tend to employ a direct historical approach to understanding foodways in the Maya area prior to European contact. Neither modern ethnographies nor ethnohistorical documents from the 16th century, however, take into account the effects of the introduction of foreign foodways and the complete disruption of traditional life that occurred during the Spanish conquest. This has been demonstrated to generate misleading assumptions about the cultural conservatism of indigenous societies throughout the Americas. Research at Escalera al Cielo will overcome the difficulties mentioned above through a multidisciplinary investigation of household production and consumption of food in order to illuminate aspects of ancient foodways and land management strategies within the Maya area. By integrating landscape, architecture, artifacts, and new methods for identifying microscopic botanical residues (such as phytoliths and starch grains), these data will be used to assess local as well as regional human-environment interactions and can contribute to models for future sustainability. Specific details about human-environment interactions that are documentedduring this study will inform the efforts of the non-profit Kaxil Kiuic Biocultural Reserve (kiuic.org), of which the archaeological project is only one component. The overarching mission is to create a living laboratory for local and international research and education purposes, sponsoring the conservation of both the natural and cultural landscape of Yucatán. Undergraduate and graduate students from Mexico and the U.S. will continue to receive training during the field and lab dimensions of the project. In addition, the results of this research will be disseminated to the local community of Yaxachen through regular tours given to schoolchildren, posters, and town meetings. Photomicrographs of all botanical remains will be incorporated into an online database (paleobot.org) that will serve as a reference tool for researchers anywhere in the world. The complete study will be distributed to the scientific community in the author's doctoral dissertation and journal articles.

在William A. Saturno，Stephanie Simms将分析通过在Escalera al Cielo的玛雅遗址进行考古调查获得的数据。Escalera al Cielo位于墨西哥尤卡坦半岛，周围是一个城市中心周围的丘陵网络。Escalera al Cielo的乡村山顶住宅在公元800年至公元950年之间被集中占领，然后突然被遗弃。虽然这种快速离开的原因尚不清楚，但散布在家庭建筑物内和周围的丰富人工制品提供了日常生活的快照。睡眠结构，厨房，食物储存区和毗邻的开放式庭院的设计，以确定发生在那里的活动模式。对陶瓷烹饪和储存容器、磨石和其他石器以及沉积物中的食物残留物进行分析，将为与食物有关的活动提供新的信息。 古代玛雅人的饮食方式几乎没有直接的证据（注：饮食方式是指由特定群体的所有成员共享的食物概念化、采购、分配、保存、准备和消费的整体系统）。这是由于潮湿热带地区的有机材料保存不好，以及普遍缺乏适合此类研究的考古背景（例如，厨房地板上覆盖着人工制品）。因此，学者们倾向于采用直接的历史方法来理解欧洲人接触之前玛雅地区的饮食方式。然而，无论是现代民族志还是16世纪的民族历史文献，都没有考虑到西班牙征服期间外国饮食方式的引入和传统生活的彻底破坏所造成的影响。事实证明，这一点产生了对整个美洲土著社会文化保守主义的误导性假设。Escalera al Cielo的研究将通过对家庭生产和食物消费的多学科调查来克服上述困难，以阐明玛雅地区古代饮食方式和土地管理战略的各个方面。通过整合景观，建筑，人工制品和识别微观植物残留物（如植硅体和淀粉粒）的新方法，这些数据将用于评估当地以及区域人类与环境的相互作用，并有助于未来的可持续性模型。在这项研究中记录的关于人类与环境相互作用的具体细节将为非营利性Kaxil Kiuic生物文化保护区（kiuic.org）的努力提供信息，考古项目只是其中的一个组成部分。首要的使命是为当地和国际研究和教育目的创建一个生活实验室，赞助尤卡坦州自然和文化景观的保护。来自墨西哥和美国的本科生和研究生将继续在该项目的实地和实验室方面接受培训。此外，这项研究的结果将通过定期对学童的图尔斯参观、张贴海报和城镇会议传播给亚萨琴当地社区。所有植物遗骸的显微照片将被纳入一个在线数据库（paleobot.org），该数据库将作为世界各地研究人员的参考工具。完整的研究报告将在作者的博士论文和期刊文章中分发给科学界。