Doctoral Dissertation Research: Local Scale Impacts of Native Americans on Fire and Vegetation Dynamics in Northern New York

本论文研究探讨文化对纽约北部圣劳伦斯低地植被的影响。 具体的重点是土著居民的景观的影响，欧洲人定居之前，他们可能对森林动态的晚全新世气候变化的更广泛的框架内的影响。 围绕美洲原住民林地燃烧做法的程度的争议将得到解决。 将根据地层学、花粉、木炭和有机宏体化石的AMS测年法提取和分析沉积物岩心。 这些古生物学证据将与其他考古学、民族植物学和古环境数据相结合，揭示已知人类占领时期的植被和干扰历史，包括接触前、遗弃后和欧洲定居后时期。 研究结果将为深入了解人地关系提供理论依据，同时也为区域考古学研究提供经验依据。

This dissertation research examines cultural influences on vegetation within the Saint Lawrence Lowland in upstate New York. The specific focus is on the impacts of aboriginal populations on landscape prior to European settlement and their possible effects on forest dynamics within the broader framework of late-Holocene climate change. Controversies surrounding the extent of Native American practices of woodland burning will be addressed. Sediment cores will be extracted and analyzed on the basis of stratigraphy, pollen, charcoal, and AMS dating of organic macrofossils. This paleocological evidence will be coupled with other archaeological, ethnobotanical, and paleoenvironmental data to reveal vegetation and disturbance histories during known periods of human occupation, including pre-contact, post-abandonment, and post European settlement periods. Results will provide insight into human-environment interrelations as well as providing an empirical basis for the regional archaeology.