Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Broad Scale Integration Of Agricultural Production

博士论文改进奖：农业生产大范围一体化

• 批准号: 2054097
• 负责人: Andrew Scherer
• 金额: $ 1.36万
• 依托单位: Brown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2054097&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Award; Broad

The goal of this doctoral dissertation research project is to use archaeological and paleoethnobotanical methods to investigate whether grand-scale geopolitical changes influenced local foodways during prehistory. The co-PI will study the effects of the growth of a regional market center and associated infrastructure on community agricultural practice and food security. This is an important step toward understanding political economies of subsistence goods. How did residents of small communities navigate their proximity to a market center and the construction of an adjacent monumental causeway? What can household food security strategies inform about the level of integration and dependence people experienced in food systems of the past? Paleoethnobotany, the study of ancient plant remains from archaeological contexts, provides a high resolution of data necessary to deduce household- and activity area-level patterns, allowing for greater understanding of interactions between local and regional phenomena. Ancient foodways are also relevant to discussions of heritage and identity in the present, in addition to applied dimensions of archaeological research on food security. In addition to training a doctoral student, the research will provide opportunities to exchange ideas with local community members about agriculture, foodways, and paleoethnobotany.The research will be centered at a site along a monumental causeway that was built during the Late Classic period. The research asks, did the local household economy become embedded in the growing regional market economy, and if so, how did this affect food security? The co-PI will conduct excavations and collect paleoethnobotanical samples from agricultural and household spaces in order to understand patterns of plant species diversity in food production and consumption through time, in addition to resource access. Quantitative and qualitative data reflected in these patterns will elucidate whether the causeway became an avenue of access to new food resources, or, alternatively, undermined local control over food choice. More broadly the project will investigate local involvement in regional food systems, and how this was mediated by infrastructural projects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这一博士论文研究项目的目标是使用考古学和古民族植物学的方法来研究史前时期大规模的地缘政治变化是否影响了当地的食物。联合PI将研究区域市场中心和相关基础设施的发展对社区农业实践和粮食安全的影响。这是朝着理解自给自足商品的政治经济学迈出的重要一步。小社区的居民是如何驾驭他们靠近市场中心和邻近的纪念性堤道的建设的？关于过去人们在粮食系统中经历的一体化和依赖程度，家庭粮食安全战略能提供什么信息？古民族植物学是对考古背景下的古代植物遗骸的研究，它提供了推断家庭和活动区一级模式所需的高分辨率数据，使人们能够更好地了解当地和区域现象之间的相互作用。除了有关粮食安全的考古学研究的应用层面外，古代食物方式也与当今关于遗产和身份的讨论有关。除了培养一名博士生外，这项研究还将提供与当地社区成员就农业、食物和古民族植物学交流意见的机会。研究将集中在一条建于古典晚期的纪念性堤道沿线。这项研究问，当地的家庭经济是否已经融入到日益增长的区域市场经济中，如果是的话，这是如何影响粮食安全的？该合作小组将进行挖掘，并从农业和家庭空间收集古民族植物学样本，以了解食物生产和消费中植物物种多样性随时间的变化规律，以及资源获取情况。这些模式中反映的定量和定性数据将阐明堤道是成为获得新食物资源的途径，还是削弱了地方对食物选择的控制。更广泛地说，该项目将调查当地参与区域食品系统的情况，以及基础设施项目是如何促成这一点的。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。