Technique Development for Caffeinated Beverage Identification

含咖啡因饮料识别技术的开发

• 批准号: 1724426
• 负责人: Adam King
• 金额: $ 9.33万
• 依托单位: University of South Carolina at Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1724426&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Technique; Development; Caffeinated; Beverage; Identification

The great power archaeology has is the ability to teach about our collective past and provide a perspective on people today. A key part of that collective past, as well as the present, is beliefs and associated belief practices. Because the material remains of beliefs are often transitory and open to interpretation, this realm of human behavior is often under-studied by those who explore the deep past. This project intends to refine the methods used to identify the use of, and ultimately explore the ancient ritual practices surrounding, caffeinated beverages in the Americas. Before the coming of Europeans to the New World, caffeinated beverages were made either using a species of holly (yaupon or dahoon holly) in North America, or chocolate in Central America. Historical and archaeological information show that beverages made from these plants were consumed in ritual and specialized contexts, so understanding how and when they were used will make it possible to explore the ritual practices surrounding those uses. This will be done while helping to train the next generation of archaeologists and supporting indigenous businesses in Belize and the US.The search for the remains of foods and other concoctions in ancient containers is most often done by attempting to detect the presence of diagnostic compounds that had been absorbed into the matrix of the container. Most absorbed residue studies employ some version of mass spectrometry to detect and measure the concentration of various compounds present in residue samples collected from ancient containers. The problem with absorbed residue studies of caffeinated beverages in the Americas is that the compounds and concentrations thought to distinguish chocolate from yaupon holly do not, in fact, differentiate residues produced by the two plants. This project will search for chemical compounds that definitively distinguish the two plants sources and the beverages made from them. This will be done by analyzing samples derived from the plant sources, the beverages made using traditional methods, and fragments of low-fired ceramic vessels spiked with those beverages.

考古学的强大力量在于能够讲述我们共同的过去并为当今的人们提供视角。集体过去和现在的一个关键部分是信仰和相关的信仰实践。由于信仰的物质遗存往往是短暂的且易于解释，因此那些探索遥远过去的人常常对人类行为的这一领域研究不足。该项目旨在完善用于识别美洲含咖啡因饮料的使用的方法，并最终探索围绕含咖啡因饮料的古代仪式实践。在欧洲人到达新大陆之前，含咖啡因的饮料要么使用北美的一种冬青（yaupon 或 dahoon holly），要么使用中美洲的巧克力制成。历史和考古信息表明，用这些植物制成的饮料是在仪式和专门环境中饮用的，因此了解它们的使用方式和时间将使探索围绕这些用途的仪式实践成为可能。此举将帮助培训下一代考古学家并支持伯利兹和美国的本土企业。在古代容器中寻找食物和其他混合物的残留物通常是通过尝试检测已吸收到容器基质中的诊断化合物的存在来完成的。大多数吸收残留物研究都采用某种形式的质谱法来检测和测量从古代容器中收集的残留物样品中存在的各种化合物的浓度。美洲含咖啡因饮料的吸收残留物研究的问题在于，被认为可以区分巧克力和 yaupon holly 的化合物和浓度实际上并不能区分这两种植物产生的残留物。该项目将寻找能够明确区分这两种植物来源和由它们制成的饮料的化合物。这将通过分析来自植物来源的样品、使用传统方法制成的饮料以及掺有这些饮料的低温烧制陶瓷容器的碎片来完成。