Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Early Preceramic Cultural Adaptation and Diversity on the North Coast of Peru

在汤姆·D·迪勒海博士的指导下，肯塔基大学的博士生格雷格·马加德将对几处考古资料进行分析，这些考古资料是从位于秘鲁北部沙漠海岸奎布拉达德尔巴丹的几处早期震前遗址发掘出来的。从11,200-9,000年前的早期震前时期，代表了人类在南美洲西部这一地区的最初殖民。以Quebrada del Batan遗址为代表的早期狩猎-采集人群包括几个技术综合体(例如，鱼尾、派真和统面)。这些复合体暗示着对不同环境地带和不同生活方式的不同适应。早期震前时期的不同文化适应包括不同的遗址位置模式、开发的资源类型和石器技术。正是在这一时期，人们认为，对变化很大的环境区域的逐步适应促进了早期狩猎-采集群体之间不同的行动战略，并启动了重要的地方和区域进程。这些过程在秘鲁后期的震前时期持续并加强，被认为产生了早期的社会和组织特征，如植物和动物的驯化、定居生活、人口聚集和领土主义，这些被认为为后来的安第斯文明的出现奠定了最初的基础。正在进行的发掘的新的考古数据揭示了北部沙漠海岸鲜为人知的早期震前建筑群之间更清晰的地质和空间关系。此外，我们第一次有机会检查不同早期震前遗址的植物开发和过去的环境数据。拟议的研究将对在对Quebrada del Batan的几个遗址进行调查和挖掘期间收集的植物、动物和放射性碳样本进行几次专门的分析。对这些材料的专门分析将提供一个重要的机会来研究：1)这些早期前震前复合体的运动、定居、饮食和技术的组织变化，2)这些特征如何与不同的局部和区域过程有关，以及3)它们如何为上一次冰河时代之后的后续变化奠定社会经济基础。由于世界其他地区在晚更新世-早全新世时期(如黎凡特、加利福尼亚州沿海、大盆地)发生了从一般狩猎和采集模式到更密集、更广泛的经济的变化，这项研究不仅将增加对南美洲西部早期居民的了解，但也将提供一个重要的比较案例，用于评价世界各地发生的地方和区域进程所处的文化和环境背景中的异同。这些调查的结果将通过在被引用的期刊上发表和在专业会议上发表演讲的方式传达给更广泛的科学界。最后，本研究是研究生论文的主要研究重点，将提供完整的培训和经验。

Under the supervision of Dr. Tom D. Dillehay, Greg Maggard, A Ph.D. candidate at the University of Kentucky, will conduct analyses of archaeological materials recovered from the excavation of several Early Preceramic period sites located in the Quebrada del Batan on the north desert coast of Peru. The Early Preceramic period, which lasted from 11,200 - 9,000 years ago, represents the initial human colonization in this region of western South America. The early hunter-gatherer populations that are represented by the sites in the Quebrada del Batan include several technological complexes (e.g., Fishtail, Paijan, and unifacial). These complexes suggest diverse adaptations to different environmental zones and distinct lifeways.The distinct cultural adaptations of the Early Preceramic period include different patterns of site location, types of resources exploited, and stone tool technologies. It is during this period that gradual adaptation to highly varied environmental zones are believed to have fostered diverging strategies of movement between early hunter-gatherer groups and to have set in motion important local and regional processes. These processes, which continued and intensified throughout later Preceramic periods in Peru, are believed to have given rise to early social and organizational features such as the domestication of plants and animals, sedentary life, population aggregation, and territorialism, which are suggested to have laid the initial foundations for the appearance of later Andean civilizations.New archaeological data from ongoing excavations is revealing clearer geological and spatial relationships between the poorly understood Early Preceramic complexes of the north desert coast. Additionally, for the first time we have the opportunity to examine plant exploitation and past environmental data from different Early Preceramic sites. The proposed study will conduct several specialized analyses of floral, faunal, and radiocarbon samples collected during the survey and excavation of several sites in the Quebrada del Batan. Specialized analysis of these materials will provide an important opportunity to study: 1) organizational changes in the movement, settlement, diet, and technology of these Early Preceramic complexes, 2) how these features relate to differing local and regional processes, and 3) how they laid the socio-economic foundations for subsequent changes after the last Ice Age.Because the change from a general hunting and gathering pattern toward a more intensive, broad-spectrum economy occurred in other parts of the world during the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene period (e.g., Levant, coastal California, Great Basin), this study will not only provide increased understanding of the early inhabitants of western South America, but will also provide an important comparative case for evaluating the similarities and dissimilarities in the cultural and environmental contexts in which local and regional processes occurred around the world. Results from these investigations will be conveyed to the broader scientific community through publication in refereed journals and presentations at professional conferences. Lastly, this research is the principle focus of the graduate student's dissertation and will provide integral training andexperience.