Doctoral Dissertation: Agricultural Dependence at NAN Ranch and Old Town During the Pithouse to Pueblo Transition

在Gail Fritz博士的指导下，Malaina Brown女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将讨论美国西南部考古学发展的一个重要问题，并分析在挖掘两个遗址期间发现的植物遗骸。与世界许多其他地区一样，这一地区的史前居民逐渐将他们的生存基础从狩猎和采集食物转移到通过种植国内植物获得的食物。尽管因果关系还不是很清楚，但这种转变通常伴随着从高度流动的生活方式向更久坐的生活方式的转变。定居点规模扩大，出现了更复杂的社会组织形式。在美国西南部，这种变化被称为“从皮塔斯到普韦布洛”的转变，因为人们放弃了数百年来一直作为基本房屋类型的皮塔楼结构，开始建造大型地上多房间的普韦布洛。考古学家传统上认为，这种转变也标志着对农业的依赖增加。然而，近年来，这一观点受到了质疑，一些人认为Pihouse人实行的是完全以农业为基础的经济，另一些人认为Pihouse时代农业的依赖程度逐渐增加。尽管到目前为止收集的大部分证据都是间接的，但Brown女士建议分析从两个地点--南牧场和老城--发现的植物材料，这两个地点都位于新墨西哥州。两者都有跨越过渡的圆顶和普韦布洛。在这两处都发现了具有丰富植物遗骸的沉积物。布朗女士将使用浮选技术将这些物质从地质基质中分离出来，并确定存在的物种范围。她不仅将重点放在已知的家养动物上，而且还将重点放在杂草物种上，这些物种在农业背景下繁衍生息，因此提供了关于耕作重要性的间接信息。她还将确定是否存在不太重要的家养物种，如苋菜。她提供的数据应该有助于在相互竞争的假设中进行选择。结合建筑分析和对物质文化的其他方面的研究，应该可以更深入地了解西南地区文化复杂性的发展。该项目还将对一位年轻科学家的智力和专业发展做出重大贡献。

Under the direction of Dr. Gail Fritz, MS Malaina Brown will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will address an important question of archaeological development in the United States Southwest and analyze plant remains recovered during the excavation of two sites. In common with many other parts of the world, prehistoric populations in this region gradually shifted their subsistence base from hunted and gathered foods to those acquired through cultivation of domestic plants. Although cause and effect is not well understood, this transformation was generally accompanied by a shift from a highly mobile to a more sedentary lifestyle. Settlement sizes increased and more complex social forms of organization also emerged. In the US Southwest this change is referred to as the "Pithouse to Pueblo" transition because groups abandoned pithouse structures which, for hundreds of years has served as basic house type, and began to construct large above ground multi-room pueblos. Archaeologists traditionally believed that this shift also marked increased reliance on agriculture. However in recent years this position has been questioned with some arguing that pithouse peoples practiced a fully agriculturally based economy and other postulating that the degree of agricultural dependence gradually increased during the Pithouse Period.While most of the evidence marshaled thus far has been indirect, MS Brown proposed to analyze the botanical materials recovered from two sites, the NAN Ranch, and Old Town both located in New Mexico. Both contain both pithouses and pueblos which span the transition. At both sediments with abundant botanical remains have been recovered. MS Brown will use a flotation technique to separate these materials from the geological matrix and identify the range of species present. She will focus not only on known domesticates but also on weedy species which flourish in agricultural contexts and thus provide indirect information on the importance of cultivation. She will also determine whether less important domestic species such as amaranth are present. The data she produces should help to select among competing hypotheses. In conjunction with architectural analysis and study of other aspects of material culture it should be possible to gain increased insight into the development of cultural complexity in the Southwest. The project will also significantly contribute to the intellectual and professional development of a young scientist.