Reassessing plants and pastoralist foodways in ancient eastern Africa

当今世界，数千万人依靠牛、绵羊和山羊等牲畜来养活家人并推动当地经济发展。研究人员和政策制定者现在认识到，这种生活方式--即所谓的畜牧业--具有高度的活力和灵活性，因此，当气候变化威胁到粮食安全并进而造成社会或政治不稳定时，人们能够茁壮成长。在非洲，畜牧业是至少7000年来的生活支柱。然而，考古学家缺乏基本的数据来了解畜牧业是如何发展的，如何在整个大陆扩张，以及如何随着时间的推移而变化。这限制了考古学家利用过去的数据为当今关于土地利用和牧民复原力的讨论提供信息的程度。特别是，考古学研究的一个关键缺失要素是畜牧业食物系统的植物组成部分。虽然众所周知，牧民通常将农作物和野生植物纳入他们的粮食系统，但由于相对较差的保护，以及缺乏这方面的研究，非洲过去的牧民植物使用情况知之甚少。这个为期三年的多学科研究项目通过实地考察和相关的实验室工作来解决这一研究差距。该项目包括对本科生和研究生的培训。研究结果将通过美国考古开放数据库向更广泛的公众提供。一个国际研究团队调查了植物在古代牧民食物中的作用，重点关注一个保存非常完好的单一地点，有三千年的历史。植物在烹饪中重要性的初步证据包括在陶器和磨石上发现的植物痕迹。为了全面重建过去的食物系统，该项目支持挖掘和研究古代植物和动物遗骸，并通过民族植物学研究提供信息。后者包括与牧民和农民社区就植物鉴定和传统用途进行访谈;收集现代植物样本，与古代遗迹进行比较并改进鉴定;开发一个民族植物学数据库，将实物植物样本与关于传统植物知识和用途的文本、音频和视频数据配对。这项研究的更广泛的影响还包括在两个国际地点建立一个永久的植物研究收藏。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

In the world today, tens of millions of people rely on livestock such as cattle, sheep, and goat to feed their families and drive local economies. Researchers and policymakers now recognize that this way of life – known as pastoralism – is highly dynamic and flexible, and therefore enables people to thrive when climate change threatens food security and, by extension, creates social or political instability. In Africa, pastoralism has been a mainstay of life for at least seven millennia. Yet archaeologists lack basic data with which to understand how pastoralism developed, expanded across the continent, and changed over time. This limits the extent to which archaeologists can use data from the past to inform present-day discussions of land use and pastoralist resilience. In particular, a key missing element of archaeological research is the plant component of pastoralism food systems. While it is known that pastoralists commonly incorporate crops and wild plants into their food systems today, past pastoralist plant use in Africa is poorly known, due to relatively poor preservation, and a lack of research in this area. This three-year, multidisciplinary research project tackles this research gap with fieldwork and associated laboratory work. The project includes training for undergraduate and graduate students. Results will be made available to a broader public via a US-based archaeological open access database.An international team of researchers investigates the roles of plants in ancient pastoralist foodways by focusing on a single location with exceptionally good preservation and a three thousand year history. Preliminary evidence for the culinary importance of plants includes plant traces detected in pottery and on grinding stones. In order to holistically reconstruct past food systems, this project supports excavation and study of ancient plant and animal remains informed by an ethnobotanical study. The latter includes interviews with pastoralist and farmer communities on plant identifications and traditional uses; collection of modern plant samples for comparison to and improved identification of ancient remains; and the development of an ethnobotanical database that pairs physical plant samples with text, audio, and video data on traditional plant knowledge and use. Broader impacts of this research also includes the creation of a permanent botanical research collection in two international locations.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.