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

8200年气候事件后的考古证据表明，定居/生计组织的重大社会和经济转变，包括采购较小的猎物物种，更多地依赖于收集的植物食物，使用地面石头和烤箱技术，食物储存，使用侧面和角落缺口武器，居住在坑屋，住宅流动性下降，埋葬在墓地。然而，很少有研究明确地集中在8200年事件期间人类适应的发展，一般来说，其特征是在全新世早期气候干燥和变暖的总体趋势中，迎来了高温热的凉爽，干燥，多风的“昙花一现”。尽管研究人员怀疑这些发展是对突然的气候变化的反应，以及由此产生的复杂的社会和经济系统管理资源的必要性，但我们几乎没有证据来支持这些理论。为了更好地理解这些变化是如何发生的，以及为什么会发生，Matthew G.希尔和一个专家小组将在内布拉斯加州西部的克拉里牧场进行多学科调查。这项研究将记录考古证据，并开发植被，温度和降水的代理记录，从而为理解人类对资源结构突然变化的反应提供一种机制-在这种情况下，这些变化发生在早全新世晚期/早中全新世的中部大陆。这将使研究人员能够在区域和全球范围内模拟人类对突然气候变化的反应。Clary牧场网站提供了一个独特的机会，多学科的调查突然的气候变化和随之而来的人类反应。这个分层很深的网站包含了多个代理指标对过去的环境，似乎捕捉晚古印度的反应8200年的事件，破坏了前面的适应策略，并表现在强化野牛尸体。具体的研究目标包括：（1）为Ash Hollow Draw建立一个冲积地质年代学，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的关系;（2）描述8200年事件的表现，作为重建粮食安全严重波动的行为反应的背景;（3）描述野牛生态学，以阐明野牛种群如何对8200年事件作出反应，以帮助研究人员确定伴随的人类反应;（4）破译形成历史和与生存相关的活动，为描绘晚古印第安人对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。国家研究理事会指定对气候突变及其对生存系统的影响进行多学科研究，作为解决当前与生物多样性、保护和资源可持续性有关的问题的关键。植被，温度和降水代理的发展将填补差距的信息有关的区域表达的8200年事件的大陆中部。这一新知识将被应用于人类考古学的重大贡献，使人类对气候突变的反应成为明确的焦点。该项目为培养未来的科学家提供了现代方法的机会。本科生和研究生将直接参与该项目的实地和实验室阶段。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各种学校团体，俱乐部和组织，并强调跨学科研究的贡献，以推进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.