Herder-Forager Interactions in an Unstable Environment

不稳定环境中牧民与采集者的相互作用

• 批准号: 9204577
• 负责人: C. Garth Sampson
• 金额: $ 4.01万
• 依托单位: Southern Methodist University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1992
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1992-06-15 至 1994-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9204577&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Herder; Forager; Interactions; Unstable; Environment

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Garth Sampson and his colleagues will conduct archaeological and paleoenvironmental research in the Zeekoe valley region in South Africa. The goal of the work is to examine the relationship between environmental change and the response of humans who live at a simple technological level. Potsherds collected in the course of prior archaeological research in the region will be dated by both thermolumenescence and radiocarbon dating of adhering organic materials. Changing paleoenvironment will be reconstructed through the analysis of hyrax dung middens. This latter is a technique pioneered by Dr. Sampson. Hyrax are small territorial animals who return over generations to favored habitation sites. Resultant dung middens can span centuries and can be dated by radiocarbon. Because the contained material includes pollen grains, these latter can be analyzed to provide insight into changing climatic conditions. With these data Dr. Sampson will be able to correlate environmental cause and human response. For many years Dr. Sampson and his collaborators have worked in the Zeekoe valley region. Thousands of sites have been located and studied and the general chronology and sequence of events have been established. Over the period from about 600 - 1800 AD this region was most likely inhabited by two groups, one which subsisted by hunting and gathering and the other by herding sheep and goats. The interactions between the two appear to be complex and changing over time. When European settlers entered the region in the 1800s they encountered only hunters and gatherers there. While the pattern has been established, its cause is unknown and this is the focus of Dr. Sampsons' present work. The Zeekoe is a semiarid region which has undergone significant climatic fluxuation in historic times and likely in prehistory as well. This research is important for several reasons. It will increase our understanding of how humans adapt to changing climate and how groups at a simple level of technological development relate to each other in a varying environmental context.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，加思·桑普森博士和他的同事将在南非的泽科山谷地区进行考古和古环境研究。这项工作的目标是研究环境变化与生活在简单技术水平的人类的反应之间的关系。在该地区之前的考古研究过程中收集的陶器碎片将通过热释光和粘附有机材料的放射性碳测年来测定年代。通过对蹄兔粪堆的分析，可以重建不断变化的古环境。后者是桑普森博士首创的技术。蹄兔是小型领地动物，它们会世代相传回到最喜欢的栖息地。 由此产生的粪坑可以跨越几个世纪，并且可以通过放射性碳来测定年代。由于所含材料包括花粉粒，因此可以对花粉粒进行分析，以深入了解不断变化的气候条件。有了这些数据，桑普森博士将能够将环境原因和人类反应联系起来。 桑普森博士和他的合作者多年来一直在泽科山谷地区工作。数以千计的遗址已被定位和研究，并确定了事件的一般年表和顺序。在大约公元 600 年至 1800 年期间，该地区很可能居住着两个群体，一个以狩猎和采集为生，另一个以放牧绵羊和山羊为生。两者之间的相互作用似乎很复杂，并且随着时间的推移而变化。当欧洲定居者在 1800 年代进入该地区时，他们遇到的只是狩猎者和采集者。 虽然这种模式已经确定，但其原因尚不清楚，这是桑普森博士目前工作的重点。泽科是一个半干旱地区，在历史时期和史前时期都经历过显着的气候变化。 这项研究很重要，原因有几个。它将加深我们对人类如何适应不断变化的气候以及在简单的技术发展水平上的群体如何在不同的环境背景下相互联系的理解。