Doctoral Dissertation Grant: Exploring Diverse and Shifting Subsistence Choices During the Formative Period at Chiquiuitan

奇奎坦的早期和中期形成遗址位于危地马拉的太平洋海岸，是已知的东南部沿海地区最早的遗址，可以追溯到公元前1450-600年。然而，在中美洲史前这一关键时期的学术研究中，该遗址很少被考虑，当时殖民地、生存、贸易和社会组织都发生了重要的转变。这些转变为后来的奥尔梅克、玛雅和阿兹特克等高等文化体系奠定了基础，因此是理解中美洲文化体系基础的核心。在小威廉·R·福勒博士的监督下，莫莉·摩根将通过研究植物和动物遗骸，并从之前在奇奎坦回收的沉积物中获取放射性碳数据，来评估生存过渡。摩根在2006年和2007年的挖掘集中在家庭背景上，为这个村庄的居民做出的家庭选择提供了充分的证据，包括与食品采购有关的选择。这项新研究的结果将是对奇奎坦最初定居期间和之后生存多样性和变化的详细重建。该项目的学术价值在于将对中美洲早期史前关键时期的考古学做出重要贡献。通过收集多种与生存相关的证据，这项研究将通过检查饮食的不同成分以及它们如何随着时间的变化来澄清赤奎滩的资源开发选择。这项研究将采用三种材料分析：(1)旨在识别植物物种的古植物学研究，(2)用于识别动物遗骸的古动物群分析，以及(3)AMS放射性碳测年，以加强赤奎滩沉积物的年代学重建。这些研究将由该领域经验丰富的专家进行，包括芝加哥伊利诺伊大学的安德鲁·怀亚特博士研究古民族植物学，以及佛罗里达自然历史博物馆的凯蒂·埃默里博士研究考古动物。确定粮食生产的程度以及在中期形成时期(公元前950-600年)之前是否适应了自给自足的经济将是主要目标。总而言之，该项目采用的方法结合了动物学和植物学对人类与环境相互作用的观点，以及通过绝对测年方法获得的动态感知。这项研究产生的更广泛的影响将有三个方面：该项目将帮助研究生培训，促进美国和拉丁美洲学者之间更大程度的信息交流，并有助于更广泛地研究人类群体如何获得食物。通过支持从赤奎滩遗址收集的数据，这项工作将显著增强摩根的S论文中关于早期社会转型的解释。所获得的信息将有助于新世界学者对向复杂社会过渡的一般理解，因为它为农业的采用提供了一个详细的模式，可以与其他领域进行比较。最后，在一个食品革命缓慢的时代，回归自然和有机食品生产方法的呼声，以及对我们食物来自哪里的高度关注，这项研究将解释一个古老的群体在他们的时代是如何处理生存问题的，为我们如何探索自己在食品采购方面的挑战提供了想法。

The Early and Middle Formative site of Chiquiuitan is located on the Pacific coast of Guatemala and is distinguished as the earliest known site in the southeastern coastal region, dating to 1450-600 B.C. Yet, the site has received little consideration in the scholarship of this crucial time in Mesoamerican prehistory, when important transitions were taking place in sedentism, subsistence, trade, and social organization. These transitions laid the groundwork for subsequent high cultural systems such as the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec, and thus are central to understanding the foundations of Mesoamerican cultural systems. Under the supervision of Dr. William R. Fowler, Jr., Molly Morgan will evaluate subsistence transitions by studying plant and animal remains and obtaining radiocarbon dates from previously recovered deposits at Chiquiuitan. Morgan's 2006 and 2007 excavations focused on household contexts, providing ample evidence for domestic choices made by the inhabitants of this village, including those related to food procurement. The result of the new research will be a detailed reconstruction of subsistence diversity and change during and immediately following Chiquiuitan's initial settlement.The intellectual merit of this project lies in the important contribution that will be made to the archaeology of a crucial period in early Mesoamerican prehistory. Through gathering multiple types of subsistence-related evidence, this research will clarify resource exploitation choices at Chiquiuitan by examining variable components of the diet and how they changed through time. This research will employ three materials analyses: (1) paleobotanical research aimed at identifying plant species, (2) analysis of archaeofauna to identify animal remains, and (3) AMS radiocarbon dating to enhance the chronological reconstruction of deposits from Chiquiuitan. These studies will be conducted by experienced specialists in the field, namely Dr. Andrew Wyatt at the University of Illinois at Chicago for paleoethnobotany, and Dr. Kitty Emery at the Florida Museum of Natural History for archaeofauna. Determining the extent of food production and if a subsistence economy was adapted before the Middle Formative (950-600 BC) will be primary goals. In summary, the approach taken by this project combines zoological and botanical perspectives of human-environment interactions with the dynamic perception gained through absolute dating methods. The broader impacts resulting from this research will be threefold: this project will assist in graduate student training, foster a greater exchange of information between U.S. and Latin American scholars, and contribute to the wider study of how human groups procure food. By bolstering the data collected from the site of Chiquiuitan, this work will significantly enhance the interpretations made regarding early social transitions proposed in Morgan"s dissertation. The information gained will contribute to the general understanding among New World scholars of the transition to complex society by providing a detailed model for the adoption of agriculture to which other areas may be compared. Lastly, in an age of slow food revolutions, the call for a return to natural and organic food production methods, and a heightened concern for where our food is coming from, this study will explain how an ancient group dealt with issues of subsistence in their time, offering ideas for how we might explore our own challenges in food procurement.