Novel Molecular and Geochemical Approaches to Watershed Analysis

该研究项目的目标是调查玛雅城市蒂卡尔的水控制系统和土地管理实践。该项目具有高度创新性，因为它提供了一个机会，以促进对基本适应性做法的科学理解，这些做法使古玛雅人能够在其鼎盛时期支持高人口密度和复杂的社会秩序。此外，这项研究通过识别蒂卡尔水系统中的有害细菌和其他微生物，并通过更好地了解玛雅农业，营养和疾病的历史，代表了古代文化研究的重大技术进步。这些预期的结果可以与玛雅史前史的其他已知阶段进行比较，包括崩溃的时间，并形成区域比较的基线。拟议的项目是一项技术突破;这将是第一次在玛雅地区进行微生物群落组成研究。特别是，这个项目有一个独特的承诺，导致一个伟大的玛雅政治的基本经济基础，以及如何古玛雅人，在面对干旱和迅速增长的人口在公元世纪中期，可能无法保持其复杂的水管理系统清除有问题的病原体更完整的理解。 Lentz博士和他的研究团队将解决以下理论问题：古代玛雅人在著名的蒂卡尔市如何能够保持水质和保护水库周围的流域，这些水库在古典时期后期（公元600-900年）为他们的大量人口提供充足的水供应？玛雅人是否区分了储存供人类消费的水和主要为农业收集的水？蒂卡尔的古玛雅人能够保持他们重要的水资源不受人类和动物废物的污染吗？玛雅人是如何保护他们的水库，许多都有陡峭的河岸，免受严重的侵蚀？水生人类病原体是否促成了蒂卡尔在古典晚期末期的毁灭性崩溃和遗弃？为了回答这些和其他问题，将以创新和富有洞察力的方式使用下一代高通量基因测序技术和土壤地球化学评估。该项目的新技术和计划的研究指令将为所有拟议的研究问题提供实质性的答案。

The goal of this research project is to investigate the water control systems and the land management practices at the Maya city of Tikal. This project is highly innovative because it provides an opportunity to advance the scientific understanding of the fundamental adaptive practices that enabled the ancient Maya to support a high population density and complex social order during their zenith. In addition, this study represents a significant technological advance in the study of ancient cultures by identifying harmful bacteria and other microorganisms in the Tikal water system and by offering a better understanding of the history of Maya agriculture, nutrition, and encounters with diseases. These anticipated results can be compared to other known stages of Maya prehistory, including the time of the collapse, and form a baseline for regional comparisons. The proposed project represents a technological breakthrough; it will be the first time a microbial community composition study will be undertaken in the Maya area. In particular, this project has the distinct promise of leading to a more complete understanding of the basic economic underpinnings of one of the great Maya polities and how the ancient Maya, in the face of droughts and burgeoning populations in the mid-9th century AD, may have been unable to keep their complex water management system clear of problematic pathogens. Dr. Lentz and his research team will address the following theoretical questions: How were the ancient Maya in the prominent city of Tikal able to maintain water quality and protect the watersheds surrounding the reservoirs that provided their large populations with adequate supplies of water during the Late Classic period (AD 600-900)? Did the Maya differentiate between water stored for human consumption and water collected principally for agriculture? Were the ancient Maya of Tikal able to keep their critical water resources clear of contamination from human and animal waste? How did the Maya protect their reservoirs, many with steep banks, from severe erosion? Did waterborne human pathogens contribute to the devastating collapse and abandonment of Tikal at the end of the Late Classic period? To answer these and other questions the use of next generation, high-throughput genetic sequencing techniques and soil geochemistry assessments will be employed in ways that will be both innovative and insightful. The novel techniques and planned research directives for this project will provide substantive answers to aspects of all of the proposed research questions.