Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: A Case Study in Agricultural Practice and Domestication

在“新石器时代革命”--植物和动物的驯化--期间，人类与他们生活的环境之间的关系发生了根本性的变化。这项研究的一个中心目标是深入了解这一过程背后的力量。在盖尔·弗里茨博士的指导下，娜塔莉·米勒将进行博士论文研究。从公元前1000年至公元1400年，一套被称为东部农业复合体(EAC)的本地种子作物在北美东部(ENA)被种植。以前的研究表明，其中一些作物是根据种子形状、大小、种皮或果皮厚度和质地等形态变化而驯化的。EAC的两个成员，向日葵(Heliantus annuus var.)和橡子南瓜(Cucurbita Pepo SSP.佩波·瓦尔。卵)，仍然是人们熟悉的食物，但作物复合体的其他成员已经几百年没有种植了。这些失去的作物包括两种驯化的植物：藜草。Jonesianum，是藜麦的本地近缘种；大果树)。对于一种重要的古老作物--虎杖，复杂多变的种子形态到目前为止阻碍了建立驯化标准的努力。这一案例研究将开发新的形态计量学方法来检查虎杖的形态变化，并确定它是否被驯化。驯化植物的形态变化是人类选择和生态系统工程的结果。过去的农业实践可以从它们对动植物造成的改变中推断出来。这项研究将使用多变量和空间技术来揭示虎杖的形态变化与环境、考古和时间因素之间的相关性。这些相关性将被用来重建被遗忘的农业实践。在ENA中恢复农业经济的细节特别有趣，因为该地区的早期农民虽然发展了一个高产的农业系统，但并没有遵循典型的新石器时代革命的轨迹，走向制度化的社会分层和城市化。该项目使用一种重要作物的案例研究，以获得对这一独特农业经济发展的新见解，同时增进对一种曾经是ENA中重要作物的植物的了解。在一个新的种子作物迅速发展的时代，这项研究是评估其对现代社会潜在用处的第一步。这项研究也将为专业考古学家和学生提供几个具体的好处。该项目将从出版物和收藏品中生成一个综合考古和植物学数据的网络数据库，这些数据目前分散在无法查阅的报告中。在本项目过程中开发的方法也将被用作教学工具。参与这项研究的机会将被打造成一门新的多学科课程：北美历史生态学。利用数码摄影和形态测量学研究驯化的新方法将丰富华盛顿大学的古民族植物学实验室，该实验室的学生和教职员工参与研究世界各地农业的起源。这一方法也将被整合到考古学家的显微镜课程中。这项拟议的研究是一个更大的运动的一部分，该运动旨在对前哥伦布时代的美洲进行历史化。传播这项研究的目的将是提高公众和学术界对ENA这一区域的认识，该区域具有悠久而丰富的殖民前历史，与了解全球进程有关。

During the "Neolithic Revolution" - the domestication of plants and animals - a fundamental change occurred in the relationship between humans and the environment in which they lived. A central goal of this research is to gain insight into the forces which underlie this process.Under athe direction of Dr. Gayle Fritz, Natalie Mueller will conduct doctoral dissertation research. From c. 1000 BCE - 1400 CE, a suite of native seed crops known as the Eastern Agricultural Complex (EAC) was cultivated in Eastern North America (ENA). Previous studies have demonstrated that several of these crops were domesticated based on morphological changes such as seed shape, size, seed or fruit coat thickness, and texture. Two members of the EAC, sunflower (Helianthus annuus var. macrocarpus) and acorn squash (Cucurbita pepo ssp. pepo var. ovifera), are still familiar foods, but the other members of the crop complex have not been cultivated for several hundred years. These lost crops include two domesticated plants: Chenopodium berlandieri ssp. jonesianum, which is a native relative of quinoa; and a species of marshelder (Iva annua var. macrocarpa). For one important ancient crop, knotweed (Polygonum sp.), complex and variable seed morphology has so far stymied efforts to establish criteria for domestication. This case study will develop new morphometric methods to examine changes in the morphology of knotweed and determine whether or not it was domesticated. Morphological changes in domesticated plants are the result of human selection and ecosystem engineering. Past agricultural practices can be inferred from the modifications they caused in plants and animals. This study will use multivariate and spatial techniques to uncover correlations between morphological changes in knotweed and environmental, archaeological, and temporal factors. These correlations will be used to reconstruct forgotten agricultural practices. Recovering the details of agricultural economies in ENA is particularly interesting because early farmers in this region, while developing a highly productive agricultural system, did not follow the archetypal Neolithic Revolution trajectory towards institutionalized social stratification and urbanism. This project uses a case study of one important crop to gain new insights into the development of this unique agricultural economy, while enhancing understanding of a plant that was once an important crop in ENA. In an era when new seed crops are rapidly being developed, this study is a first step to assessing its potential usefulness to modern society.This research will also provide several concrete benefits to professional archaeologists and students. This project will generate a web database of integrated archaeological and botanical data from publications and collections that are currently scattered in inaccessible reports. The methods developed in the course of this project will also be used as teaching tools. Opportunities to participate in this research will be built into a new multidisciplinary course: Historical Ecology of North America. The new methods developed for using digital photography and morphometrics to study domestication will enrich Washington University's Paleoethnobotany Laboratory, where students and faculty are involved in studying the origins of agriculture around the world. This methodology will also be integrated into a course on microscopy for archaeologists. The proposed research is part of a larger movement to historicize pre-Columbian America. The dissemination of this research will be directed towards the goal of increasing public and academic awareness of ENA as a region with a long and rich pre-colonial history that is relevant to an understanding of global processes.