The Origins of Mesoamerican Maize Agriculture: Climate and Human Intentionality

在国家科学基金会的支持下，布鲁斯·本茨博士将对玉米(Zea Mays L.亚种)进行详细的分析。在特瓦坎地区和墨西哥奥坎波洞穴的考古发掘中收集的。他计划通过对玉米进化的研究，证明有意的人类选择和环境诱导在玉米驯化过程中的互补作用，以及从大约4700年前到西班牙征服时期，玉米作为中美洲主要主食的出现。通过对选定的样品进行详细的形态计量学分析、放射性碳测年以及氧和氢同位素分析，他将解决以下问题：1.在公元前3500年至公元1500年期间，玉米穗的形态变化发生在什么时期，玉米穗在形状和生产力上的变化有多快或多慢？2.玉米穗的形态变化有多大比例可以归因于自然选择，多大比例的随机遗传漂移？3.温度和有效水分的波动对玉米的形态变化和生产力有什么影响？4.随后的多样化过程在什么时候、出于什么原因产生了墨西哥玉米的众多现存小种？“新石器时代革命”--动植物的驯化--构成了人类发展的一个根本转折点，因为这些资源的生产力和可靠性提供了稳定的生存基础，从而产生了复杂的社会和文明。在北美和中美洲，玉米与南瓜和豆类一起提供了这一变化的基础，因此，了解玉米驯化的过程对于重建史前社会是如何发展至关重要的。到目前为止的证据表明，玉米是在中美洲驯化的，随后传播到了北方和南方。尽管在墨西哥的洞穴遗址中发现了大量保存完好的样本，但这些材料中的许多仍然没有得到研究，本茨博士对几个地层层序及其合成的研究将构成重大的研究贡献。许多研究人员、生物学家和考古学家都希望了解植物物种、人类行为和环境(温度和降雨的变化)之间的相互作用，这些相互作用导致世界许多地区的许多物种几乎同时被明显独立地驯化，因此本茨博士的研究具有广泛的潜在意义。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Bruce Benz will conduct detailed analyses of maize (Zea mays L. subsp. Mays) collected in archaeological excavations in the Tehuacan region and in Ocampo Cave, Mexico. Through the study of its evolution he plans to document the complementary roles of intentional human selection and environmental inducement in the domestication of maize and its emergence as the principal staple in Mesoamerica from ca. 4700 years ago until the time of the Spanish Conquest. Through detailed morphometric analysis, radiocarbon dating and oxygen and hydrogen isotopic analysis of selected samples he will address the following questions: 1. During what time periods did morphological change occur and how fast or slow did the maize ear change in shape and productivity during the period ca. 3500 BC to AD 1500? 2. What proportion of morphological change in the maize ear can be attributed to natural selection and what proportion to random genetic drift? 3. What effect did fluctuations in temperature and effective moisture have on maize's morphological change and productivity? 4. At what time and for what reasons did subsequent diversification processes operate to give rise to the numerous extant races of Mexican maize? The "Neolithic Revolution" - the domestication of plants and animals - constituted a fundamental turning point in human development because the productivity and reliability of these resources provided the stable subsistence base which gave rise to complex societies and civilization. In the North and Middle America maize, in conjunction with squash and beans, provided the basis for this change and therefore understanding the processes with led to its domestication is essential for reconstructing how prehistoric societies developed. Evidence to date indicates that maize was domesticated in Middle America and subsequently spread both North and South. While abundant well preserved samples have been recovered in cave sites in Mexico much of this material remains unstudied and Dr. Benz's examination of several stratigraphic sequences and their synthesis will constitute a major research contribution. Many researchers, biologists and archaeologists alike, wish to understand the interactions among plant species, human behavior and environment (changes in temperature and rainfall) which resulted in the apparently independent domestication of many species at roughly the same time in many parts of the world and thus the potential significance of Dr. Benz's research is broad.