Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Ecological Boundaries and Cultural Frontiers in the Later Holocene Prehistory of the Central Alaska Peninsula

摘要：本论文研究了火山活动和其他古环境因素对阿拉斯加半岛全新世晚期人类活动、边界行为、定居模式和年代学的影响。 将对阿拉斯加半岛的地质剖面进行取样和分析，以重建古环境并比较历史和史前火山碎屑流的成分。 在Aniakchak国家纪念碑和保护区的太平洋海岸，将对一个4.5米的地质剖面进行采样，以获取花粉、微化石和其他有机物，以重建全新世植被对周期性和灾难性火山活动的反应。 这里的一个重点将是在3400 B.P. Aniakchak火山碎屑流植被化的速度，使该地区的最终文化重新占领。 在4.5米的大部分剖面中，花粉和其他样本将至少每5厘米采集一次，主要火山事件后每厘米采集一次。 将从3400 B.P. Aniakchak火山碎屑流和万烟谷的Katmai火山碎屑流中回收样品。 这两个流之间的变量比较将确定使用Katmai PF作为历史性的Aniakchak流的植被恢复模拟的效用。 将从火山碎屑流暴露处采集表面测试以及表面和地下样品，并对样品的二氧化硅百分比、研磨性和其他变量进行比较。这项研究将有助于了解火山活动对地球仪其他北方和海洋地区人类古地理的影响。

ABSTRACTOPP-0116325This dissertation project examines the effects of volcanism and other paleoenvironmental factors on the movement, boundary behavior, and settlement pattern and chronology of Late Holocene human populations on the Alaska Peninsula. Geologic sections on the Alaska Peninsula will be sampled and analyzed for both paleoenvironmental reconstruction and comparison of compositions of historic and prehistoric pyroclastic flows. A 4.5m geologic profile on the Pacific coast of the Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve will be sampled for pollen, microfossils, and other organics to reconstruct how Holocene vegetation reacted to both periodic and catastrophic volcanism. One focus here will be on the rate at which vegetation recolonized the 3400 B.P. Aniakchak pyroclastic flow, allowing the eventual cultural reoccupation of the region. Pollen and other samples will be taken at least every 5cm through much of the 4.5m profile, with sampling every centimeter after major volcanic events. Samples will be recovered from the 3400 B.P. Aniakchak pyroclastic flow and from the Katmai pyroclastic flow in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Comparison of variables between these two flows will determine the utility of using the Katmai PF as a historic revegetation analog for the Aniakchak flow. Surface testing and both surface and subsurface samples will be taken from the pyroclastic flow exposures, with samples compared for percent of silica, abrasiveness, and other variables. The research will contribute to the understanding of volcanism's effects on human paleogeography in other northern and maritime regions of the globe.