The recovery of macro- and microbotanicals, along with the study of chemical residues, allows us to shed light on a number of anthropological issues concerning ancient populations. This article reviews the data available to date on the plants used by preceramic peoples during the Archaic period and by the Early to Middle Preclassic Maya across the central Maya lowlands. Archaeobotanical data suggest that early preceramic populations took advantage of their ecologically rich natural environment by gathering a range of wild foods and by cultivating domesticates such as maize, manioc, and chili peppers, a pattern that seemingly continued into the Early to Middle Preclassic, as the Maya settled into village life and left more visible traces of modifications to their natural environment in the form of canals and terraces. This region is of particular interest with regard to the development of sociopolitical complexity, as mobile hunter-gatherers used domesticates during the millennia that preceded the onset of sedentary life. These early populations set the stage for patterns of plant use that endured through time, but also across space in the Maya region.

中文翻译：

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在中部玛雅低地采集和播种：对早期和中期早期玛雅人的植物使用回顾

宏观和微生物的回收，以及化学残留物的研究，使我们能够阐明一些与古代人口有关的人类学问题。本文回顾了迄今为止可用的关于古代时期前陶瓷民族和早期至中期前古典时期玛雅人在玛雅中部低地使用的植物的数据。考古植物学数据表明，早期的前陶瓷种群通过采集一系列野生食物和培育玉米、木薯和辣椒等驯化动物，利用了其生态丰富的自然环境，这种模式似乎一直延续到前古典时期的早期至中期。玛雅人融入了乡村生活，并以运河和梯田的形式对其自然环境留下了更明显的改造痕迹。该地区对社会政治复杂性的发展特别感兴趣，因为在定居生活开始之前的几千年里，流动的狩猎采集者使用驯养动物。这些早期种群为经久不衰的植物利用模式奠定了基础，同时也跨越了玛雅地区的空间。