Subsistence, Economic Diversity And Resilience In Response To State Level Change

在国家科学基金会的支持下，克里斯托弗·莫伊特博士将在墨西哥盆地进行考古和古生态学研究，以阐明政治和环境变化如何塑造人们的生活，以及人们对这些情况的反应如何促进区域转型。了解人们如何应对和受更广泛的变化影响，不仅对社会科学，而且对公众都具有根本的重要性。考古学代表了一个可以有效研究这个问题的领域。考古学家可以获得长期的数据集。对物质遗迹和景观的考古研究捕捉了过去生活的广泛范围。考古学家被培训为跨学科科学家，他们整合了社会和物理科学多个领域的信息。作为一个考古项目，这项研究有助于了解政治和环境条件在时间和空间上的作用。这种工作通过讨论当今正在进行的进程来解决当代问题，在这些进程中，往往来自远方的政治和生态条件直接影响到人民？生计。研究地方对区域变化的反应是社会理解转型动态性质的一个重要领域。此外，这项研究包括来自美国和墨西哥的研究人员和学生，提供了宝贵的科学培训和长期国际合作的机会。作为墨西哥的一个区域项目，这项工作将在几个社区开展。因此，学生和项目成员将直接参与文化资源和当代社区组织。简而言之，这个项目将对科学、学生和当地社区产生持久的影响。650-900 CE）到早期Postclassic（CA。公元900-1200年）在墨西哥北方盆地。这一时期发生了重大的政治、社会和环境变化：强国的兴衰、移民、冲突和气候波动。为了了解这些过程如何与人们的生计相关，本研究以当地的生存和经济战略为中心。这个项目提出了四个简单的问题。(1)社区中生存策略的多样性如何变化？(2)经济生产和交换的多样性如何变化？(3)环境条件如何变化？(4)人们是如何？对区域政治和环境进程的反应塑造了当地的复原力和区域转型？为了解决这些问题，该项目结合了生态和考古研究，包括调查环境条件，对两个社区中心和一个村庄的家庭进行考古发掘，以及对不同生态区的较大样本定居点进行考古研究。通过收集数据来解决项目？的核心问题，研究将确定不断变化的政治和自然环境对人类生活的基本实践的影响：生存和经济。在这样做的过程中，这项研究将阐明不仅在何种程度上区域生态和政治系统影响人类生计，但也如何更广泛的情况下，人类的反应塑造当地的弹性和人民的能力，无论是导航或促进历史转型的程度。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Christopher Morehart will undertake archaeological and paleoecological research in the Basin of Mexico to elucidate how political and environmental shifts shaped peoples' lives as well as how peoples' responses to these circumstances contributed to regional transformation. Understanding how people respond to and are affected by broader transformations in their world is fundamentally important not only for the social sciences but for the general public. Archaeology represents a field that can effectively examine this issue. Archaeologists have access to long term datasets. Archaeological research on material remains and landscapes captures a wide spectrum of past life. Archaeologists are trained as inter-disciplinary scientists who integrate information from multiple fields in the social and physical sciences. As an archaeological project, this research contributes to understanding the role that political and environmental conditions have across time and space. Such work addresses contemporary problems by speaking to processes ongoing today, where political and ecological conditions that often emanate from afar directly affect peoples? livelihoods. Studying local responses to regional change represents an important area for society to understand the dynamic nature of transformation. Moreover, this research incorporates researchers and students from the United States and Mexico, providing valuable scientific training and the opportunity for long-term, international collaborations. As a regional project in Mexico, this work will occur in several communities. Students and project members, thus, will engage directly with cultural resources and contemporary community organizations. This project, in short, will make a lasting impact on science, students, and local communities.The project selects an excellent case study to examine this issue: the Epiclassic (ca. 650-900 CE) to the Early Postclassic (ca. 900-1200 CE) periods in the northern Basin of Mexico. Major political, social, and environmental changes occurred during this time: the rise and fall of powerful states, migration, conflict, and climatic fluctuations. To understand how these processes related to peoples' livelihoods, this research centers on local subsistence and economic strategies. This project asks four simple questions. (1) How does the diversity of subsistence strategies change in communities? (2) How does diversity in economic production and exchange change? (3) How did environmental conditions change? (4) How did people?s responses to regional political and environmental processes shape local resilience and regional transformation? To address these questions, the project combines ecological and archaeological research, including investigations to characterize environmental conditions, archaeological excavations of households within two community centers and one village, as well as archaeological research at a larger sample of settlements in different ecological zones. By collecting data to address the project?s core questions, the research will determine the impact of changing political and natural environments on practices fundamental to human life: subsistence and economics. In so doing, this research will elucidate not only the extent to which regional ecological and political systems influence human livelihood but also how human responses to broader situations shape both the degree of local resilience and peoples' ability to either navigate or contribute to historical transformation.