Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Stable Isotopic Analysis of Carbon and Nitrogen as an Indicator of Paleodietary Change for Pre-State Metal Age Societies in Northeast Thailand

该项目将包括对大量史前人类骨骼、史前动物遗骸和现代植物的碳（胶原蛋白和磷灰石）和氮同位素值进行化学分析，以更好地了解泰国东北部居民在前金属时代（公元前2000年至公元500年）的饮食模式。该项目有两个中心目标：1)描述可能的短期饮食变化；2)将这些数据与已公布的关于生存、健康和疾病的结果结合起来。研究结果将为东南亚大陆的古饮食史提供第一个详细的记录。来自体质人类学、考古和地质考古发掘的证据表明，在前金属时代，东南亚大陆发生了环境、文化和生物变化。这个地区的人们改变了他们的景观，以提供足够的，最终过剩的食物资源。食品采购技术的改进可能促进了社会分层和对外贸易。研究假设表明，由于人类对环境的改造以及文化技术的变革，饮食摄入量可能会发生变化。由于骨骼在个体的一生中会被重塑，而骨骼中的碳和氮来自饮食来源，因此骨骼的化学成分大致反映了所摄入的食物类型。骨同位素分析可以为研究饮食模式和饮食随时间的变化提供另一条证据线，并将使人们更好地了解泰国东北部在国家形成之前的古饮食差异。为今后该地区的生物地理和古饮食研究奠定了基础。拟议的研究在实验室和现场数据收集和分析方面为泰国和夏威夷的研究人员和助理提供了出色的教育机会。通过与来自不同领域的成熟研究人员密切合作，将获得体质人类学和稳定同位素地质考古学方面的经验。调查人员将学习第一手的最先进的实验和分析方法和仪器。

This project will involve chemical analyses of carbon (collagen and apatite) and nitrogen isotope values from a large series of prehistoric human skeletons, prehistoric faunal remains, and modern plants to better understand dietary patterns of the inhabitants of northeast Thailand during the pre-state Metal Age (2000 B.C. to A.D. 500). The project has two central objectives: 1) to characterize possible temporal dietary changes and 2) to integrate these data with published results on subsistence, health and disease. The research results will provide the first detailed documentation of the paleodietary history of mainland Southeast Asia. Evidence from physical anthropology, and archaeological and geoarchaeological excavations suggests environmental, cultural, and biological changes occurred during the pre-state Metal Age in mainland Southeast Asia. People in this region modified their landscape to provide sufficient, and eventually surplus, food resources. Technological refinements in food procurement likely contributed to social stratification and foreign trade. The research hypotheses suggest dietary intake would have changed as a result of human modification of the environment as well as cultural technological changes. Because bone is remodeled over the lifetime of the individual and the carbon and nitrogen in bone derives from dietary sources, bone chemical composition broadly reflects the type of foods consumed. Bone isotope analysis can provide another line of evidence for examining dietary patterns and dietary change over time, and will permit greater understanding of paleodietary differences in northeast Thailand prior to state formation. Thus, this project will provide a foundation for future biogeographical and paleodietary research in this region. The proposed research has outstanding educational opportunities in both laboratory and field data collection and analysis for both the investigators and assistants in Thailand and Hawai. Experience will be gained in physical anthropology and stable isotope geoarchaeology by working closely with established researchers from diverse fields. The investigators will learn first hand a spectrum of state-of-the-art experimental and analytical methods and instrumentation.