Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant:Assessing Carbonized Archaeological Cooking Residues:Evaluation of Maize Phytolith Taphonomy & Density through Experimental Residue Anal

在Lovis博士的指导下，Maria Raviele女士将研究美国东部采用早期玉米农业的过程。 在北美东部，密歇根州的萨吉诺河谷的一个研究领域，将被用来专门解决早期使用玉米（公元1000年之前）的问题，以及如何将这种cultigen纳入一个已经存在的狩猎采集生存系统。 从可见的考古遗迹（如玉米棒）中可以看出，玉米是在公元1000年之后种植的。 然而，有证据表明，在此之前，玉米和其他栽培植物越来越多地被狩猎采集者使用，这就是所谓的移动的低水平粮食生产经济。 植硅石是硅的微观沉积物，以不同的频率出现在植物的每个部分。 植硅体可以作为特定植物的诊断标志，并用于从考古学背景中识别物种，而在考古学背景中，没有保存更大的可见植物遗骸。 本研究从附着在陶瓷碎片内部的烧焦食物残渣中提取植硅体。 这将允许直接识别在锅中烹饪的植物性食物。 预计所确定的植物之一将是玉米。 被烧焦的食物是从公元1000年前后的陶瓷碎片中提取的。 这一时间跨度涵盖了林地中期（公元前200年至公元500年）和林地晚期（公元600年至公元1400年）时期。除了检查考古烧焦的食物遗骸外，还创建了系统的实验食物残留物，特别是使用玉米，以确定是否可以量化残留物中发现的植硅体。 这一点很重要，因为当前分析只是记录存在/不存在。 如果量化是可能的，这将使研究人员能够解决的问题，如植物的多少使用，如何处理植物烹饪前，以及如何重要的植物食物是在史前饮食。该项目展示了跨学科和实验工作在考古学的重要性，因为它借鉴了生命和环境科学的学科。 人类对引进和采用新的食物来源的反应也得到了解决，并与当代生计变化的平行问题有关。这里应用的实验方法有可能被应用到其他经济为基础的植物利用研究，因此有一个地理范围延伸到北美东部以外。 博物馆藏品的使用也提出了一些关于长期管理和处理残留物的方法问题。 这些都与其他研究人员以及机构管理人员在决定如何照顾这些有限的资源。 最后，本计画提供植硅体分析的综合经验给研究生研究者，以训练未来的学生使用此方法。

Under the direction of Dr. Lovis, Ms Maria Raviele will examine the process by which early maize (corn) agriculture was adopted in the eastern United States. A study area within eastern North America, the Saginaw River valley of Michigan, will be used to specifically address the problem of early use of maize (prior to AD 1000) and how this cultigen was incorporated into an already existing hunter-gatherer subsistence system. It is known from visible archaeological remains, such as cobs, that maize was grown after AD 1000. However, evidence suggests that maize and other cultivated plants were increasingly used by hunter-gatherers before this time in what is called a mobile low-level food production economy.A relatively new methodological technique, phytolith analysis, is adopted to examine evidence for plant use. Phytoliths are microscopic deposits of silica which occur with varying frequency in every plant part. Phytoliths can be diagnostic of particular plants and are used to identify species from archaeological contexts where larger, visible plant remains are not preserved. This study extracts phytoliths from charred food remains adhering to ceramic sherd interiors. This will allow for the direct identification of plant foods being cooked in a pot. It is expected that one of the plants identified will be maize. The charred food remains to be examined are taken from ceramic sherds, dating both before and after AD 1000. This time span covers the Middle Woodland (200 BC-AD 500) and Late Woodland (AD 600-AD 1400) periods.In addition to examining archaeological charred food remains, systematic experimental food residues, specifically using maize, were created to determine if quantifying phytoliths found in a residue is possible. This is important because current analysis simply records presence/absence. If quantification is possible, this would allow researchers to address issues such as how much of a plant was used, how the plant was processed prior to cooking and how important this plant food was in a prehistoric diet.This project demonstrates the importance of interdisciplinary and experimental work within archaeology since it draws on disciplines in the life and environmental sciences. Human responses to the introduction and adoption of a new food source are also addressed and are pertinent to parallel issues of contemporary subsistence change. The experimental method applied here has the potential to be applied to other economically based plant utilization studies and thus has a geographical range extending beyond eastern North America. The use of museum collections also raises several methodological issues in regards to long-term curation and processing of residues. These are pertinent to other researchers as well as institutional administrators in their decisions about how to care for these finite resources. Finally, this project provides comprehensive experience in phytolith analysis for a graduate student researcher who can then train future students in this method.