Soils and Land-Use in an Urban Context - Past, Present and Future: Lamanai, Belize from 1600 B.C. to A.D. 1990

城市背景下的土壤和土地利用 - 过去、现在和未来：公元前 1600 年伯利兹拉马奈

• 批准号: 2587131
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2587131
• 关键词: Soils; Land; Use; Urban; Context

The project aims to investigate over two millennia of human-environment interactions at the Maya site of Lamanai, Belize, with a focus on understanding land use in an urban context and its impact on soils. Past land use continues to influence socio-ecological systems today. At the interface of these human activities, past and present, lie soils. Anthropic urban soils and sediments associated with ancient cities - that is, the soils and sediments that formed within past settlements influenced by human activities (Lehmann and Stahr 2007: 248-249) (e.g. building activities, production, waste disposal, urban agriculture and cultivation) - are legacies of past human-environment interactions, retaining the physical and chemical traces of past land use, whilst also being active constituents of current socio-ecological interactions. The site of Lamanai, northern Belize, provides the rare opportunity to study human-environment interaction within an urban Maya context over a period of 3,000 years. Occupation and land use can be traced from ca. 1,600 B.C. (Hanna et al. 2016; Rushton et al. 2020) to the time the site was made a reserve in A.D. 1990. It stood as an urban and commercial centre from about 300 B.C. to about a century before the Spanish conquest in the 1530s and notably, remained so during the Maya collapse (~A.D.800-950), when other cities in the region experienced socio-political collapse and abandonment. The built environment at Lamanai is extensive, but three civic-administrative epicentres representing (largely but not entirely) Preclassic, Classic/ Postclassic, and colonial period occupations have been mapped and excavated (e.g. Graham 2004; Pendergast 1981). Land use in the different zones of the site will be examined through excavation and study of soil catenas, focusing on soil profiles as sequenced archives of land-use change. Samples from selected profiles will be analysed for their physical and chemical properties using a range of techniques (particle size analysis, magnetic susceptibility, soil chemistry, micromorphological analysis, microfossil analysis) to determine the nature of past land use; the resources and materials associated with different land uses; and the formation processes and properties of associated urban soils. The study of the sedimentary history in each zone, expanding to peri-urban zones, will allow the following lines of inquiry to be explored:(1) Given what is known about the built environment at Lamanai (civic-ceremonial building zones, residences, plazas, roads [sacbes]), what is the relationship between the built environment (covered space) and open space (kitchen gardens, urban farming, middens) over time? Did the urban landscape change during periods of regional societal instability?(2) Can the formation and properties of soils and sediments be linked to past human activity and the decay of associated materials (mineral-based construction, timber, household waste, ash, charcoal, human remains)? What are the properties of soils and sediments associated with different land-use contexts (built and open/'green')? How do the characteristics and impact of urban agriculture differ from those of agriculture carried out in the hinterland?(3) What are the effects of past urban land use on the formation and properties of modern surface and sub-surface soils? How might this knowledge be used to inform discussions relating to urban land-use management to promote soil health and ecosystem services?Findings will bear on debates surrounding the character of Maya urbanism and will allow for the assessment of both soil enrichment and landscape degradation resulting from different forms of urban land use and resources/ materials used. Results will contribute to the development of urban land-use strategies to promote soil health and environmentally sustainable cities. The research will also be used to raise public awareness of, and engagement with, society's relationship with soils.

该项目旨在调查伯利兹拉马奈玛雅遗址两千多年来人类与环境的相互作用，重点是了解城市背景下的土地使用及其对土壤的影响。过去的土地使用继续影响今天的社会生态系统。在这些人类活动的界面上，过去和现在，都有土壤。与古代城市相关的人为城市土壤和沉积物-即受人类活动影响的过去定居点内形成的土壤和沉积物（Lehmann and Stahr 2007：（第248-249段）（如建筑活动、生产、废物处理、城市农业和耕作）--是过去人类与环境相互作用的遗留物，保留了过去土地使用的物理和化学痕迹，同时也是当前社会生态相互作用的积极组成部分。位于伯利兹北方的Lamanai遗址为研究3,000年来玛雅城市环境中人与环境的相互作用提供了难得的机会。土地的使用和占有可以追溯到公元前。公元前1,600年（Hanna et al. 2016; Rushton et al. 2020）到公元1990年该遗址成为保护区。从公元前300年到16世纪30年代西班牙征服前的世纪，它一直是一个城市和商业中心，值得注意的是，在玛雅崩溃期间（约公元800 -950年），当该地区的其他城市经历社会政治崩溃和遗弃时，它仍然是一个城市和商业中心。拉马奈的建筑环境是广泛的，但三个代表（大部分但不完全）前古典，古典/后古典和殖民时期职业的城市行政中心已经被绘制和挖掘（例如Graham 2004; Pendergast 1981）。将通过挖掘和研究土壤系列，重点研究土壤剖面，作为土地使用变化的序列档案，检查该场址不同区域的土地使用情况。将使用一系列技术（颗粒大小分析、磁化率、土壤化学、微形态分析、微化石分析）分析选定剖面的样品的物理和化学特性，以确定过去土地使用的性质;与不同土地使用有关的资源和材料;以及相关城市土壤的形成过程和特性。对每个区域的沉积历史的研究，扩展到城市周边区域，将允许探索以下调查路线：（1）考虑到对Lamanai建筑环境的了解（公民礼仪建筑区，住宅，广场，道路[sacbes]），随着时间的推移，建筑环境（覆盖空间）和开放空间（厨房花园，城市农业，垃圾堆）之间的关系是什么？在区域社会不稳定时期，城市景观是否发生了变化？(2)土壤和沉积物的形成和性质是否与过去的人类活动和相关材料（矿物基建筑、木材、家庭废物、灰烬、木炭、人类遗骸）的腐烂有关？与不同的土地使用背景（建成和开放/“绿色”）相关的土壤和沉积物的性质是什么？都市农业的特点和影响与内陆地区的农业有何不同？(3)过去的城市土地利用对现代表层和次表层土壤的形成和性质有什么影响？如何利用这些知识为有关城市土地使用管理的讨论提供信息，以促进土壤健康和生态系统服务？调查结果将围绕玛雅城市化的特点进行辩论，并将允许评估不同形式的城市土地利用和使用的资源/材料造成的土壤富集和景观退化。研究结果将有助于制定城市土地使用战略，以促进土壤健康和环境可持续城市。这项研究还将用于提高公众对社会与土壤关系的认识和参与。