The Origins of Domestication in the Mayan Lowlands

玛雅低地驯化的起源

• 批准号: 1216749
• 负责人: Erin Thornton
• 金额: $ 18.59万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-06-15 至 2014-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1216749&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Origins; Domestication; Mayan; Lowlands

With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs. Erin Kennedy Thornton and Kitty Emery, together with collaborators at academic institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico, will re-examine the timing and process of turkey husbandry in the Maya lowlands. Determining when the practice of turkey husbandry was adopted and/or developed by the ancient Maya has important consequences for understanding Maya subsistence systems and long-distance trade connections. Since the turkey is one of only a few animals domesticated in the Americas, this research also has broad ramifications for understanding the process of New World animal domestication and animal management. Archaeologists wish to understand the processes which led to the development of complex social systems. In most instances in which this occurred - both in the Old and New Worlds - the domestication of animals played a significant role in the process. Lowland Middle America is unusual in this regard since it is unclear whether any non-plant species were domesticated there (as opposed to introduced from elsewhere). Drs. Thornton's and Emery's research will directly address this issue.The project is inter-disciplinary: integrating zooarchaeological, osteometric, isotopic, and DNA analysis. These methods will be used to address several questions regarding turkey husbandry in the Mesoamerica. The research will assess when the Mexican turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was first introduced to the ancient Maya and when it was widely adopted. Until recently, the non-local Mexican turkey was thought to have been introduced to the Maya cultural region during the Postclassic period (AD 1000-1500). The recent discovery of Mexican turkeys in Late Preclassic (300 BC-AD 100) deposits at the site of El Mirador (Petén, Guatemala) challenges this assumption, and suggests that the species may have been introduced approximately 1000 years earlier than previously thought. The research will also address whether the ancient Maya maintained captive populations of the wild ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata), which is native to the Maya region. The research will further provide cross-cultural comparison with turkey husbandry in the American Southwest, which has been identified as an independent center of turkey domestication. Such comparisons provide insight into the economic and social motivations for managing natural resources, and will advance our knowledge of ancient North America's only domestic animal. The project will facilitate and develop international collaboration between educational and governmental institutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Belize. These research partnerships are important to several senior project personnel who are early career researchers working to establish professional networks. The research will also provide academic training for both graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Florida, Universidad Autonóma de Yucatan, Trent University, Simon Fraser University, University of New Mexico, and SUNY-Albany. Through open-access data storage and publication, the data generated from this project will contribute to future research. For example, DNA obtained from modern specimens will add to the available genetic sequences for both Meleagris gallopavo and Meleagris ocellata. The zooarchaeological, isotopic and genetic from this project will also be made publicly available through on-line databases, as well as standard publications.

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下。艾琳·肯尼迪·桑顿和基蒂·埃默里将与美国、加拿大和墨西哥的学术机构的合作者一起，重新研究玛雅低地火鸡饲养的时间和过程。确定古玛雅人何时采用和/或发展了火鸡饲养的做法，对了解玛雅人的生存系统和长途贸易联系具有重要意义。由于火鸡是美洲仅有的几种被驯化的动物之一，这项研究也对理解新大陆动物驯化和动物管理的过程具有广泛的影响。考古学家希望了解导致复杂社会系统发展的过程。在发生这种情况的大多数情况下——无论是在旧世界还是在新世界——动物的驯化在这一过程中起了重要作用。美国中部低地在这方面是不寻常的，因为不清楚是否有任何非植物物种是在那里驯化的（与从其他地方引进的相反）。Drs。桑顿和埃默里的研究将直接解决这个问题。这个项目是跨学科的：整合了动物考古、骨测量、同位素和DNA分析。这些方法将用于解决有关中美洲火鸡饲养的几个问题。这项研究将评估墨西哥火鸡（Meleagris gallopavo）何时首次被引入古玛雅，以及何时被广泛采用。直到最近，非本地的墨西哥火鸡被认为是在后古典时期（公元1000-1500年）引入玛雅文化区域的。最近在前古典晚期（公元前300年-公元100年）的El Mirador遗址（危地马拉佩特海姆）发现了墨西哥火鸡，这一发现挑战了这一假设，并表明该物种可能比之前认为的早了大约1000年。这项研究还将探讨古玛雅人是否圈养了原产于玛雅地区的野生斑点火鸡（Meleagris ocellata）。该研究将进一步提供与美国西南部火鸡养殖的跨文化比较，该地区已被确定为火鸡驯化的独立中心。这种比较提供了对管理自然资源的经济和社会动机的深入了解，并将增进我们对古代北美唯一家畜的了解。该项目将促进和发展美国、加拿大、墨西哥和伯利兹的教育机构和政府机构之间的国际合作。这些研究伙伴关系对一些资深项目人员很重要，他们是早期职业研究人员，致力于建立专业网络。该研究还将为来自佛罗里达大学、尤卡坦大学Autonóma、特伦特大学、西蒙弗雷泽大学、新墨西哥大学和纽约州立大学奥尔巴尼分校的研究生和本科生提供学术培训。通过开放获取的数据存储和出版，该项目产生的数据将有助于未来的研究。例如，从现代标本中获得的DNA将添加到骏马和斑点骏马的可用基因序列中。该项目的动物考古学、同位素和遗传学资料也将通过联机数据库和标准出版物向公众提供。