Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Political Economy and the Creation of an Intensive Agricultural Landscape in the Northern Basin of Mexico

博士论文改进补助金：政治经济学和墨西哥北部盆地集约化农业景观的创建

• 批准号: 0725060
• 负责人: Elizabeth Brumfiel
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-05-01 至 2009-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0725060&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Political; Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Political

Under the supervision of Dr. Elizabeth Brumfiel, Christopher Morehart will conduct archaeological excavations to study the intensive agricultural landscape surrounding the site of Xaltocan. Xaltocan is located in the northern Basin of Mexico, approximately 30 km northeast of Mexico City, on what was formerly an island in Lake Xaltocan. Xaltocan was settled by the tenth century A.D., and it had emerged as a powerful political center within three centuries. The site was conquered in A.D. 1395, and the area was eventually incorporated into the expanding Aztec empire. The landscape surrounding Xaltocan was engineered to create a hydraulically intensive, raised field agricultural system southeast of the center. The agricultural system, known as "chinampas," is no longer visible on the ground but is visible in aerial photos and in high resolution satellite imagery. Remote sensing data display the chinampas as a complex network of fields and canals. Morehart's research will reconstruct the timing, extent, and organization of chinampa agriculture in relation to the rise and fall of Xaltocan.Research that targets farming systems is significant as agricultural production constitutes a fundamental component underlying social, economic, and political interaction. Connecting agricultural production to the development and decline of a political center will illuminate the relationship between farmers and the state in the creation, maintenance, and persistence of an agricultural landscape. The chinampa system at Xaltocan provides an unprecedented opportunity to study how levels of control and autonomy over land vary through time and space as political institutions change. This project will focus on the survey of the chinampa zone to locate evidence of possible farming houses. Excavations in potential houses will yield data on how the range of activities between farming households varied as Xaltocan developed, as it declined, and as the area became incorporated into different political systems. Systematic excavations within the chinampa zone will yield stratigraphic, radiocarbon, and ceramic data to reconstruct the spatial and temporal organization of the agricultural system itself. Archaeobotanical data from fields and households will reveal the types of crops cultivated. Comparisons with data from central Xaltocan will address the association between agricultural production and the circulation of produce, particularly the relationships among farmers and between farmers and non-farmers. This project's broadest significance is its impact for expanding scientific knowledge among the public and students. Locally, this project will contribute to the modern community of Xaltocan by training and employing residents in archaeological research and by developing an exhibit in the community museum on the town's agricultural history. Collaborating with community members will promote the protection of cultural resources in an area undergoing rapid development. Students in the US and Mexico will receive analytical training, especially in archaeobotany, and this project will offer Morehart training in the analysis and interpretation of multiple lines of archaeological data. Lastly, the dissemination of this project's results in reports, refereed journals, book chapters, and at conferences will ensure that the data are distributed for assessment by the scientific community.

在伊丽莎白·布鲁姆菲尔（Elizabeth Brumfiel）博士的监督下，克里斯托弗·莫雷哈特（Christopher Morehart）将进行考古发掘，以研究周围Xaltocan遗址的密集农业景观。 Xaltocan位于墨西哥北部的北部盆地，墨西哥城东北约30公里，在Xaltocan湖以前的一个岛屿上。 Xaltocan在公元10世纪定居下来，并在三个世纪内成为一个有力的政治中心。 该地点于公元1395年被征服，该地区最终被纳入了不断扩大的阿兹台克帝国。 Xaltocan周围的景观经过精心设计，以创建中心东南部的液压密集，凸起的野外农业系统。 农业系统（称为“ Chinampas”）在地面上不再可见，但在空中照片和高分辨率卫星图像中可见。 遥感数据将Chinampas显示为一个复杂的田地和运河网络。 莫尔哈特（Morehart）的研究将重建与Xaltocan的兴衰有关的Chinampa农业的时机，程度和组织。针对农业系统的研究是重要的，因为农业生产构成了社会，经济和政治互动的基本组成部分。 将农业生产与政治中心的发展和衰落联系起来，将在农业景观的创造，维护和持久性中阐明农民与国家之间的关系。 Xaltocan的Chinampa系统提供了一个前所未有的机会，可以随着政治机构的变化，对土地的控制和自主权的水平如何随时间和空间而变化。 该项目将重点介绍对Chinampa地区的调查，以定位可能的耕种房屋的证据。 潜在房屋的发掘将产生有关农户之间的活动范围如何随着Xaltocan的发展而变化的数据，并且随着该地区的发展，该地区的发展范围是如何变化的。 Chinampa区域内的系统发掘将产生地层，放射性碳和陶瓷数据，以重建农业系统本身的空间和时间组织。 来自田间和家庭的考古植物学数据将揭示所种植的作物的类型。 与来自Xaltocan中部的数据的比较将解决农业生产与农产品的流通之间的关联，尤其是农民之间以及农民与非农民之间的关系。 该项目最广泛的意义是它对扩大公众和学生之间的科学知识的影响。 在当地，该项目将通过培训和雇用考古研究的居民以及在社区博物馆中有关该镇的农业历史的展览来为现代的Xaltocan社区做出贡献。 与社区成员合作将在正在进行快速发展的领域中促进保护文化资源。 美国和墨西哥的学生将接受分析培训，尤其是在考古学上，该项目将在分析和解释多种考古数据方面提供莫尔哈特培训。 最后，对该项目的传播导致报告，涉嫌期刊，书籍章节以及会议，将确保科学界分发数据以进行评估。