Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Agricultural Consumption Patterns and Formative Period Sociopolitical Developments at the Maya Site of San Estevan

玛丽波尔将监督丹尼尔·宋飞的论文项目，探讨食品消费模式之间的关系和社会和政治复杂性的起源古玛雅在圣埃斯特万，伯利兹北部的网站。 中世纪的过渡（公元前900 - 300年）到后期形成时期（公元前300年-公元300年）见证了整个北方伯利兹地区（包括圣埃斯特万）等级统治的发展。 在这段时间里，村庄发展成为由精英阶层统治的城市，他们建造了纪念性的建筑，并信奉一种意识形态，声称由于超自然的联系而享有特权。 宋飞先生的工作将澄清如何农业和饮食习惯可能已经改变了这些发展，通过跟踪在圣埃斯特万中期到后期形成时期的食物消费模式。 本次调查将涉及古植物学（古植物遗迹）和分子分析，这些材料是从该遗址形成中晚期的家庭垃圾中挖掘出来的。该项目将采用古植物学和分子技术的创新组合来研究古代食物消费。 分析将整合来自古植物学大残体的数据和两种形式的分子分析（大量稳定碳同位素分析和化合物特异性稳定碳同位素分析），旨在检测陶瓷中吸收的玉米残留物。 这些分析之所以有效，是因为玉米具有与该地区大多数其他陆生植物不同的同位素特征。农业消费模式的变化将通过比较古植物学和分子分析的结果来确定，这些结果来自形成期中期和晚期的垃圾环境。该项目的智力价值是提高对农业和饮食习惯如何与文化意识形态和社会政治组织的更广泛变化相关的理解。 探索古代食物消费模式的创新方法组合可能会在未来的研究中使用。该项目将通过为更广泛的学术界做出贡献以及培养研究生和本科生，产生超出其当前研究目标的更广泛影响。 目前的项目是圣埃斯特万更广泛的研究工作的一部分，涉及来自多所大学的教师和学生，他们在该网站上学习政治经济和生存。 结果将在论文中提出，该论文将与分析结果的数据库一起沿着在线提供。 本论文项目的数据还将通过美国和伯利兹的出版物和会议介绍传播给更广泛的学术界。 这些数据的提供将有利于对生计做法进行比较研究的研究人员。为了完成这个项目，宋飞先生将接受古植物学分析和先进分子分析技术的培训。 该项目还将为大学生志愿者提供培训机会，以协助对古植物学宏体遗骸进行分类，并准备用于分子分析的样本。

Dr. Mary Pohl will supervise Daniel Seinfeld's dissertation project that examines the relationship between food consumption patterns and the origins of social and political complexity among the ancient Maya at the site of San Estevan, northern Belize. The transition from the Middle (900-300 B.C.) to the Late Formative period (300 B.C.-A.D. 300) witnessed the development of hierarchical rulership at sites throughout Northern Belize, including San Estevan. During this time villages developed into cities that were ruled by an elite class who built monumental architecture and espoused an ideology claiming privileges because of supernatural connections. Mr. Seinfeld's work will clarify how agricultural and dietary practices may have changed with these developments by tracking food consumption patterns during the Middle through Late Formative periods at San Estevan. This investigation will involve paleobotanical (ancient plant remains) and molecular analyses of materials excavated from domestic middens dating to the Middle and Late Formative periods at the site.The project will employ an innovative combination of paleobotanical and molecular techniques to study ancient food consumption. Analysis will integrate data from paleobotanical macroremains with two forms of molecular analysis (bulk stable carbon isotope analysis and compound-specific stable carbon isotope analysis) aimed at detecting maize residues absorbed in ceramics. These analyses work because maize has a distinct isotopic signature from most other terrestrial plants in the area. Changes in agricultural consumption patterns will be determined by comparing the results of paleobotanical and molecular analyses on materials from Middle and Late Formative period midden contexts.The project's intellectual merit is to improve understanding of how agricultural and dietary practices relate to wider changes in a culture's ideology and sociopolitical organization. The innovative combination of methods used to explore ancient food consumption patterns may be used in future studies.This project will have broader impacts beyond its immediate research goals by contributing to the wider academic community and by training graduate and undergraduate students. The current project is part of a wider research endeavor at San Estevan involving faculty and students from multiple universities studying political economy and subsistence at the site. Results will be presented in a dissertation that will be available online along with a database of the analytical results. Data from this dissertation project will also be disseminated to the wider academic community through publications and conference presentations in the United States and Belize. The availability of the data will benefit researchers conducting comparative studies of subsistence practices. To complete this project, Mr. Seinfeld will receive training in paleobotanical analysis and advanced molecular analysis techniques. The project will also provide training opportunities for undergraduate volunteers to assist in sorting paleobotanical macroremains and preparing samples for molecular analysis.