Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Resource Use, Crop Dispersals, and the Transition to Agriculture in Prehistoric Panama: Evidence from Starch Grains and Macroremains

Temple University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

Research on paleoethnobotany and the origins of agriculture in Panama will be conducted by Ruth Dickau, under the guidance of Dr. Anthony J. Ranere. Ms. Dickau will examine carbonized plant remains (macrobotanical remains) from soil samples, and starch grains recovered from stone tools, from a range of archaeological sites in Panama. These sites date from 11,000 to 500 years ago, and are located in Western highland Panama and Central Panama. This temporal and spatial range provides an opportunity to examine how the exploitation of plant resources by prehistoric people changed over time in different regions. Of particular interest is the domestication of a number of plant species, their dispersal into Panama, and the transition from an economy based on hunting and gathering to one based on agriculture. Some of the earliest evidence in the Neotropics for the use of important crops such maize and manioc has been found in Central Panama, dating to ca. 6000-4800 BC. Other crops, such as arrowroot and squash, appear even earlier. By examining the botanical remains from pre-ceramic sites in Panama, the introduction and spread of domesticated species can be better understood. Panama's location between the major domestication centers of Mexico and northern South America, and its nature as a narrow isthmus, make it an ideal location to study the early dispersal of various crop species. Analyses of macrobotanical remains and starch grains compliment previous work done on phytoliths and pollen from this region. The use of multiple lines of evidence is critical in the reconstruction of human-plant interactions in the past, particularly in tropical environments where preservation of organic material is not always optimal. Macrobotanical remains are particularly useful in identifying tree and palm species that play an important role in indigenous tropical economies. Starch grain analysis is a relatively recent archaeobotanical technique that has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of agricultural origins in the Neotropics. Many root crops, an important dietary staple of modern tropical peoples, are virtually invisible in archaeological sites because the tubers do not usually preserve. However, recent studies have shown that these crops leave diagnostic starch grains on the stone tools that were used to process them, and therefore can yield important information on the domestication and use of these crops. Combined, these techniques will provide a much more comprehensive picture of plant use in the region. The data collected by these techniques will be used to examine questions of resource use in prehistoric Panama and the dispersal of domesticated plant species into this region. The adoption of these domesticated plants and the eventual transition from a foraging economy to an agricultural economy had profound social, political, and environmental consequences. The research in Panama should contribute to the development of a more robust theory of the origins of agriculture in the New World. More broadly, Ms. Dickau's research should enhance our understanding of how people interacted with tropical environments over time, and provide further insight into the overall nature of human ecology in tropical forests.