Novel Molecular and Geochemical Approaches to Watershed Analysis

流域分析的分子和地球化学新方法

• 批准号: 1642547
• 负责人: David Lentz
• 金额: $ 3.49万
• 依托单位: University of Cincinnati Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1642547&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Novel; Molecular; Geochemical; Approaches; Watershed

The goal of this research project is to investigate the water control systems and the land management practices at the Maya city of Tikal. This project is highly innovative because it provides an opportunity to advance the scientific understanding of the fundamental adaptive practices that enabled the ancient Maya to support a high population density and complex social order during their zenith. In addition, this study represents a significant technological advance in the study of ancient cultures by identifying harmful bacteria and other microorganisms in the Tikal water system and by offering a better understanding of the history of Maya agriculture, nutrition, and encounters with diseases. These anticipated results can be compared to other known stages of Maya prehistory, including the time of the collapse, and form a baseline for regional comparisons. The proposed project represents a technological breakthrough; it will be the first time a microbial community composition study will be undertaken in the Maya area. In particular, this project has the distinct promise of leading to a more complete understanding of the basic economic underpinnings of one of the great Maya polities and how the ancient Maya, in the face of droughts and burgeoning populations in the mid-9th century AD, may have been unable to keep their complex water management system clear of problematic pathogens. Dr. Lentz and his research team will address the following theoretical questions: How were the ancient Maya in the prominent city of Tikal able to maintain water quality and protect the watersheds surrounding the reservoirs that provided their large populations with adequate supplies of water during the Late Classic period (AD 600-900)? Did the Maya differentiate between water stored for human consumption and water collected principally for agriculture? Were the ancient Maya of Tikal able to keep their critical water resources clear of contamination from human and animal waste? How did the Maya protect their reservoirs, many with steep banks, from severe erosion? Did waterborne human pathogens contribute to the devastating collapse and abandonment of Tikal at the end of the Late Classic period? To answer these and other questions the use of next generation, high-throughput genetic sequencing techniques and soil geochemistry assessments will be employed in ways that will be both innovative and insightful. The novel techniques and planned research directives for this project will provide substantive answers to aspects of all of the proposed research questions.

本研究项目的目标是调查玛雅城市蒂卡尔的水控制系统和土地管理实践。该项目具有高度创新性，因为它提供了一个机会，可以推进对基本适应性实践的科学理解，这些实践使古玛雅人能够在鼎盛时期维持高人口密度和复杂的社会秩序。此外，这项研究通过识别蒂卡尔水系统中的有害细菌和其他微生物，并通过更好地了解玛雅农业，营养和疾病遭遇的历史，代表了古代文化研究中的重大技术进步。这些预期的结果可以与玛雅史前的其他已知阶段进行比较，包括崩溃的时间，并形成区域比较的基线。拟议的项目是一项技术突破；这将是首次在玛雅地区进行微生物群落组成研究。特别是，这个项目有明显的前景，可以让我们更全面地了解玛雅伟大政体之一的基本经济基础，以及公元9世纪中叶，面对干旱和人口迅速增长，古玛雅人如何无法保持其复杂的水管理系统不受问题病原体的影响。伦茨博士和他的研究团队将解决以下理论问题：在古典晚期（公元600-900年），著名城市蒂卡尔（Tikal）的古玛雅人是如何保持水质并保护水库周围的流域的？玛雅人区分储存供人类使用的水和主要用于农业的水吗？蒂卡尔的古玛雅人能够保持他们关键的水资源不受人类和动物粪便的污染吗？玛雅人是如何保护他们的水库（很多都有陡峭的河岸）免受严重侵蚀的？水传播的人类病原体是否导致了蒂卡尔在晚古典时期末期的毁灭性崩溃和遗弃？为了回答这些问题和其他问题，下一代高通量基因测序技术和土壤地球化学评估的使用将以创新和富有洞察力的方式进行。该项目的新技术和计划的研究指令将为所有提出的研究问题提供实质性的答案。

项目成果

Imperial resource management at the ancient Maya city of Tikal: A resilience model of sustainability and collapse

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2018.08.005
• 发表时间: 2018-12-01
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
• 影响因子: 1.8
• 作者: Lentz, David L.;Dunning, Nicholas P.;Grazioso, Liwy
• 通讯作者: Grazioso, Liwy