Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Resource Use, Crop Dispersals, and the Transition to Agriculture in Prehistoric Panama: Evidence from Starch Grains and Macroremains

古民族植物学和巴拿马农业起源的研究将由Ruth Dickau在Anthony J. Ranere博士的指导下进行。 迪考女士将从巴拿马的一系列考古遗址的土壤样本中研究古植物遗骸（宏观植物学遗骸），并从石器工具中发现淀粉粒。 这些遗址可追溯到11，000至500年前，位于巴拿马西部高地和巴拿马中部。 这一时间和空间范围提供了一个机会，以研究史前人类对植物资源的开发如何随着时间的推移在不同地区发生变化。特别令人感兴趣的是一些植物物种的驯化，它们在巴拿马的传播，以及从以狩猎和采集为基础的经济向以农业为基础的经济的过渡。 在新热带地区使用玉米和木薯等重要作物的一些最早的证据已经在巴拿马中部发现，可以追溯到大约2000年。公元前6000-4800年。 其他作物，如竹芋和南瓜，出现得更早。 通过研究巴拿马前陶瓷遗址的植物遗迹，可以更好地了解驯化物种的引进和传播。 巴拿马位于墨西哥和南美洲北方的主要驯化中心之间，是一个狭窄的地峡，是研究各种作物物种早期传播的理想地点。对大型植物学遗迹和淀粉粒的分析补充了以前对该地区植硅体和花粉的研究。 使用多条证据线在重建过去的人-植物相互作用中至关重要，特别是在热带环境中，有机材料的保存并不总是最佳的。 大型植物学遗迹在确定在土著热带经济中发挥重要作用的树木和棕榈物种方面特别有用。 淀粉粒分析是一种相对较新的考古植物学技术，它有可能彻底改变我们对新热带地区农业起源的理解。 许多块根作物是现代热带人的重要主食，在考古遗址中几乎看不到，因为块茎通常不会保存下来。 然而，最近的研究表明，这些作物在用于加工它们的石器上留下了诊断淀粉粒，因此可以提供有关这些作物的驯化和使用的重要信息。 结合起来，这些技术将提供一个更全面的图片植物在该地区的使用。这些技术收集的数据将被用来检查在史前巴拿马的资源使用和驯化植物物种到该地区的传播问题。 这些驯化植物的采用以及最终从觅食经济向农业经济的转变产生了深远的社会、政治和环境影响。 巴拿马的研究应该有助于发展一个更强大的理论，在新世界的农业起源。 更广泛地说，迪考女士的研究应该增进我们对人类如何随着时间的推移与热带环境相互作用的理解，并进一步深入了解热带森林中人类生态的整体性质。

Research on paleoethnobotany and the origins of agriculture in Panama will be conducted by Ruth Dickau, under the guidance of Dr. Anthony J. Ranere. Ms. Dickau will examine carbonized plant remains (macrobotanical remains) from soil samples, and starch grains recovered from stone tools, from a range of archaeological sites in Panama. These sites date from 11,000 to 500 years ago, and are located in Western highland Panama and Central Panama. This temporal and spatial range provides an opportunity to examine how the exploitation of plant resources by prehistoric people changed over time in different regions. Of particular interest is the domestication of a number of plant species, their dispersal into Panama, and the transition from an economy based on hunting and gathering to one based on agriculture. Some of the earliest evidence in the Neotropics for the use of important crops such maize and manioc has been found in Central Panama, dating to ca. 6000-4800 BC. Other crops, such as arrowroot and squash, appear even earlier. By examining the botanical remains from pre-ceramic sites in Panama, the introduction and spread of domesticated species can be better understood. Panama's location between the major domestication centers of Mexico and northern South America, and its nature as a narrow isthmus, make it an ideal location to study the early dispersal of various crop species.Analyses of macrobotanical remains and starch grains compliment previous work done on phytoliths and pollen from this region. The use of multiple lines of evidence is critical in the reconstruction of human-plant interactions in the past, particularly in tropical environments where preservation of organic material is not always optimal. Macrobotanical remains are particularly useful in identifying tree and palm species that play an important role in indigenous tropical economies. Starch grain analysis is a relatively recent archaeobotanical technique that has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of agricultural origins in the Neotropics. Many root crops, an important dietary staple of modern tropical peoples, are virtually invisible in archaeological sites because the tubers do not usually preserve. However, recent studies have shown that these crops leave diagnostic starch grains on the stone tools that were used to process them, and therefore can yield important information on the domestication and use of these crops. Combined, these techniques will provide a much more comprehensive picture of plant use in the region.The data collected by these techniques will be used to examine questions of resource use in prehistoric Panama and the dispersal of domesticated plant species into this region. The adoption of these domesticated plants and the eventual transition from a foraging economy to an agricultural economy had profound social, political, and environmental consequences. The research in Panama should contribute to the development of a more robust theory of the origins of agriculture in the New World. More broadly, Ms. Dickau's research should enhance our understanding of how people interacted with tropical environments over time, and provide further insight into the overall nature of human ecology in tropical forests.