Continuing Archaeological Investigations of late Archaic Cerros de Trincheras Sites in Chihuahua, Mexico

在国家科学基金会的支持下，罗伯特·哈德博士和他的同事们将在位于墨西哥奇瓦瓦西北部的Cerro Juanaquena遗址进行为期三个季节的考古研究。该地块占地超过8公顷，包括超过8公里的露台和围墙。调查人员估计，在它的施工过程中，大约有2万吨材料被转移。在NSF支持该遗址的初步研究期间，该团队根据文物类型学确认了该遗址在远古晚期的位置。放射性碳测定得出的年龄比现在早约3070年。这使得遗址变得极其重要，因为它表明，它比墨西哥北部其他类似规模和劳动力投资的遗址早了1500年。当时，玉米是中美洲的一种重要主食，刚刚开始广泛传播，大多数人仍然以狩猎和采集为生。对于这种复杂程度的场地来说，在非玉米生存基地上发展是极其不寻常的。对采集的样品进行的古植物学分析表明，玉米确实存在，但它的重要性相对较小，低于许多本地植物，包括羊栖菜、龙须草、起亚、黄连和野生葫芦。这些发现违背了考古学的预期，即塞罗华纳奎纳的密集占领和主要劳动力投资是以玉米农业为基础的。严重磨损的磨石在现场很常见，似乎野生种子在饮食中发挥了核心作用。哈德博士和他的同事们现在将在现场进行广泛的挖掘。大约30个露台特征将被挖掘，以测量占用跨度。将通过对露台建筑的组织和规划进行审查，确定场地的封闭性水平及其历史。将启动一项重大的漂浮计划，以打捞种子和其他植物遗骸，这些与丰富的动物一起将进一步揭示生存实践。Cerro Juanaquena是独一无二的，它的存在促使考古学家重新评估他们对农业最初传播以及相关的封建和村庄发展模式的理解。这些问题不仅关系到中美洲，而且关系到世界上动植物驯化独立发生的其他地区。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Robert Hard and his colleagues will conduct three seasons of archaeological research at the site of Cerro Juanaquena, located in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico. The site covers over 8 hectares and includes over 8 km of terraces and walls. The investigator estimates that ca. 20,000 metric tons of material were moved during its construction. During NSF supported preliminary research at the site, the team confirmed the site's placement, based on artifact typology, within the Late Archaic period. Radiocarbon determinations yielded an age of ca. 3070 years before the present. This makes the site extremely important because it shows that it precedes by 1500 years other northern Mexican sites of similar size and labor investment. At that time maize, an important staple in Middle America was just beginning to spread widely and most peoples still lived by hunting and gathering. It is extremely unusual for sites at this level of complexity to develop on a non-maize subsistence base. Paleobotanical analysis of collected samples shows that maize in fact is present, but it is relatively unimportant ranking lower in importance than many native plants, including cheno-ams, lovegras, chia, milkvetch and wild gourd. These findings contradict the archaeological expectation that the intensive occupation and major labor investment at Cerro Juanaquena were based on maize agriculture. Heavily worn grinding stones are common at the site and it appears that wild seeds played a central dietary role. Dr. Hard and his colleagues will now conduct extensive excavation at the site. Approximately thirty terrace features will be excavated in order to gauge the occupation span. The level of sedentism at the site and its history will be determined through examination of the organization and planning of terrace constructions. A major flotation program will be initiated to recover seeds and other plant remains, and these together with abundant fauna will shed additional light on subsistence practices. Cerro Juanaquena is unique and its existence has caused archaeologists to reevaluate their understanding of the initial spread of agriculture and related models of sedentism and village development. These issues are of relevance not only in Mesoamerica but in other parts of the world where domestication of plants and animals independently occurred.