Dissertation Improvement: A Paleoethnobotanical Study of a Classic Hohokam Site

在Gayle Fritz博士的监督下，Karla Hansen-Speer将分析从亚利桑那州南部马拉纳史前Hohokam遗址收集的数据。霍霍卡姆人是在公元200年至公元1450年间在索诺兰沙漠繁衍生息的农民。马拉纳丘陵遗址是一个史前社区的中心，包含许多有围墙的居民区和公共空间，促进了社区范围的互动，附近有专门的农业田。它提供了一个极好的机会来研究早期经典霍霍卡姆社区的经济和社会组织的各个方面，以及该社区对周围景观的影响。古典时期(公元1150-1450)的霍霍坎人生活在人口稠密的社区。他们沙漠定居点的命运与环境密不可分。虽然环境施加了限制，但霍霍卡姆人也通过农业实践来操纵环境。关于Hohokam在沙漠环境中获取粮食的讨论往往围绕土地利用和农业技术展开。然而，对霍霍卡姆植物遗骸进行系统合成的尝试很少。需要进行这样一项研究，以调查关于农业作为经济和社会组织模型基础的有时一刀切或投机性的主张。由于霍霍坎人是农民，他们的文化大多围绕植物展开。因此，了解不同类型植物的作用将有助于阐明霍霍卡姆社会的元素。为了在不确定的环境中生存，人们想出了管理风险的方法。这项研究的一部分将着眼于一种假设的风险管理战略，在该战略中，社区通过在地点之间流通作物来传播风险。为了了解食物在马拉纳丘遗址和更大的社区内的作用和移动，必须检查植物遗骸在空间中的可变性。该项目将使用植物材料的站点内和站点间的比较来研究站点的经济和社会动态。这将提供一种急需的材料合成，应该澄清植物在古典主义早期的作用：这是一个植物资源利用的集约化、多样化或稳定性的时代？然后，这项研究将研究霍霍坎人如何影响他们的环境和他们可用的植物资源的问题。这项研究旨在通过分析烧焦的植物残留物，如家庭种子、烹饪用火和整个场地的垃圾堆来解决这些问题。除了回答社会科学家感兴趣的问题外，这项研究还通过洞察人类与环境的相互作用产生了更广泛的影响。当我们作为一个现代社会在环境保护问题上苦苦挣扎的时候，拟议中的研究可以帮助我们理解大量久坐的人口是如何影响他们生活的沙漠环境的，以及他们是如何在苛刻的环境中繁荣发展的。过去关于资源可持续性的经验教训可能会让我们洞察现代世界的环境困境。这项研究特别适用于必须谨慎分配农业资源的干旱地区。

Under the supervision of Dr. Gayle Fritz, Karla Hansen-Speer will analyze data gathered from the prehistoric Hohokam site of Marana in southern Arizona. The Hohokam were farmers who flourished in the Sonoran Desert between A.D. 200 and A.D.1450. The center of a prehistoric community, the Marana Mound site contains numerous walled residential areas and public spaces that facilitated community-wide interaction, with specialized agricultural fields nearby. It provides an excellent opportunity to examine aspects of the economy and social organization of an early Classic Hohokam community, as well as the impact that community had upon the surrounding landscape. The Hohokam people of the Classic Period (A.D. 1150-1450) lived in densely populated communities. The fate of their desert settlements was inextricably tied to the environment. While the environment imposed limitations, the Hohokam also manipulated it through agricultural practices. Discussions concerning the Hohokam acquisition of food in a desert environment often revolve around land use and agricultural technology. Systematic syntheses of Hohokam plant remains, however, have rarely been attempted. Such a study is needed to investigate the sometimes sweeping or speculative claims made about farming as the basis for models of economic and social organization. Because the Hohokam were farmers, much of their culture revolved around plants. Understanding the role of various types of plants, therefore, will illuminate elements of Hohokam society. To survive in an uncertain environment, people devise ways to manage risk. A portion of this research will look at a hypothesized strategy of risk management wherein the community spread risk by circulating crops among sites. To understand the role and movement of food at the Marana Mound site and within the larger community, one must examine the variability of plant remains across space. The project will use intra- and inter-site comparisons of plant material to study the economic and social dynamics of the site. This will provide a much needed synthesis of material that should clarify the role of plants in the early Classic period: was this a time of intensification, diversification, or stability in the use of plant resources? The research will then examine the question of how the Hohokam affected their environment and the plant resources available to them. This study aims to address these issues through the analysis of charred plant remains such as seeds from households, cooking fires, and trash heaps throughout the site.In addition to answering questions of interest to social scientists, this research has a broader impact by providing insight into human interactions with the environment. At a time when we, as a modern society, struggle with issues of conservation of the environment, the proposed research can help us to understand how a large, sedentary population affected the desert setting in which they lived, and how they prospered in a demanding environment. Lessons from the past about sustainability of resources may give us insight into environmental dilemmas of the modern world. This research is particularly pertinent to arid regions where agricultural resources must be carefully allocated.