Multidisciplinary Investigations on Human Response to Abrupt Climate Change: Deciphering the Context of Shifts in Late Paleoindian Behavior, Clary Ranch Site, Western Nebraska

来自8200年气候事件之后的考古证据表明，定居/生存组织发生了重大的社会和经济转变，包括获取较小的猎物物种、更多地依赖采集的植物食物、使用磨石和烤箱技术、食物储存、使用侧面和角落缺口武器、居住在坑屋、居住流动性下降以及埋葬在墓地。然而，很少有研究明确关注8200年事件期间人类适应的发展，总的来说，8200年事件的特征是在全新世早期气候干燥和变暖的总体趋势中出现了一个凉爽、干燥和多风的“小波动”，从而迎来了高热期。尽管研究人员怀疑这些发展是对突然的气候变化的反应，以及由此产生的管理资源的复杂社会和经济系统的必要性，但我们几乎没有证据来支持这些理论。为了更好地了解这些变化是如何以及为什么发生的，马修·g·希尔博士和一组专家将在内布拉斯加州西部的克莱里牧场进行多学科调查。该研究将记录考古证据，并开发植被、温度和降水的替代记录，从而为理解人类对气候引起的资源结构突变的反应提供机制——在这种情况下，这些变化发生在全新世早期晚期/中全新世早期的中大陆。这将使研究人员能够在区域和全球尺度上模拟人类对气候突变的反应。Clary Ranch站点为气候突变和伴随的人类反应的多学科研究提供了一个独特的机会。这个深度分层的遗址包含了过去环境的多个代理指标，似乎捕捉到了晚古印第安人对8200年事件的反应，该事件打乱了之前的适应策略，并表现为野牛尸体的增加。具体研究目标包括：(1)建立Ash Hollow Draw的冲积年代学，以确定地貌变量与8200年事件的局部和区域表达以及Clary Ranch遗址的背景和形成历史之间的关系；(2)描述8200年事件的表现特征，作为重建对粮食安全严重波动的行为反应的背景；(3)描述野牛生态，阐明野牛种群对8200年事件的响应，帮助研究人员确定伴随的人类响应；(4)破译形成历史和与生存相关的活动，为分析晚古印第安人对8200年事件的反应提供参考，并将该事件的影响与先前记录的考古模式进行比较。国家研究委员会已指定对气候突变及其对生存系统的影响进行多学科研究，这对解决当前与生物多样性、保护和资源可持续性有关的问题至关重要。植被、温度和降水代用物的发展将填补与中部大陆8200yr事件的区域表达有关的信息空白。这些新知识将被应用于人类学考古学，使人类对气候突变的反应成为明确的焦点。这个项目为用现代方法培养未来的科学家提供了机会。本科生和研究生将直接参与项目的现场和实验室阶段。10至12名学生将参加考古实地学校，并将与专业人士和经验丰富的研究生密切合作。会议报告和正式出版物将向科学家报告。公共教育和管理将针对不同的学校团体、俱乐部和组织，并强调跨学科研究的贡献，以提高我们对当今世界面临的无数复杂问题的认识。

Archaeological evidence from the period following the 8200 Yr Climate Event indicate major social and economic shifts in settlement/subsistence organization, including procurement of smaller prey species, greater reliance on gathered plant foods, use of ground stone and oven technology, food storage, use of side- and corner-notched weaponry, habitation in pit houses, decreased residential mobility, and burial in cemeteries. Yet few studies focus explicitly on the development of human adaptations during the 8200 Yr Event, which, generally speaking, is characterized as a cool, dry, and windy "blip" in the overall trend of early Holocene climatic drying and warming that ushered in the Altithermal. Though researchers suspect these developments are responses to abrupt climate changes and the resulting necessity for sophisticated social and economic systems for managing resources, we have little evidence upon which to base such theories. In order to better understand how and why these shifts occurred, Dr. Matthew G. Hill and a team of specialists will conduct multidisciplinary investigations at the Clary Ranch site in western Nebraska. The research will document archaeological evidence and develop proxy records on vegetation, temperature, and precipitation, thus providing a mechanism for understanding human response to abrupt, climate-induced changes in resource structure - in this instance, those occurring in the midcontinent during the late early Holocene/early middle Holocene. This will allow researchers to model human responses to abrupt climate change on regional and global scales. The Clary Ranch site offers a unique opportunity for multidisciplinary investigations on abrupt climate change and concomitant human response. This deeply stratified site contains multiple proxy indicators on past environments and appears to capture a Late Paleoindian response to the 8200 Yr Event, which disrupted the preceding adaptive strategy, and is manifest in intensification of bison carcasses. Specific research objectives include: (1) developing an alluvial geochronology for Ash Hollow Draw to determine how geomorphological variables relate to the local and regional expressions of the 8200 Yr Event as well as the context and formational history of the Clary Ranch site; (2) characterizing the expression of the 8200 Yr Event to serve as a backdrop in reconstructing behavioral responses to severe fluctuations in food security; (3) characterizing bison ecology to clarify how bison populations responded to the 8200 Yr Event to help researchers define concomitant human responses; and (4) deciphering the formational history and subsistence-related activities to provide a reference for profiling Late Paleoindian responses to the 8200 Yr Event and comparing the impacts of this event with previously documented archaeological patterning. The National Research Council has designated multidisciplinary studies of abrupt climate change and its impact on subsistence systems as critical to addressing current issues relating to biodiversity, conservation, and resource sustainability. Development of vegetation, temperature, and precipitation proxies will fill in the gap of information relating to the regional expression of the 8200 Yr Event for the midcontinent. This new knowledge will be applied to make major contributions to anthropological archaeology by bringing into clear focus human responses to abrupt climate change. The project provides opportunities to train future scientists in contemporary methods. Undergraduate and graduate students will be directly involved in field and laboratory phases of the project. Ten to twelve students will participate in the archaeology field school, and will work closely with professionals and experienced graduate students. Conference presentations and formal publications will report to the scientists. Public education and stewardship will target various school groups, clubs, and organizations, and highlight the contributions of interdisciplinary research to advancing our knowledge on myriad complex problems facing the world today.