Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Middle Holocene Bison-Use and Paleoecology in the North American Prairie-Peninsula

博士论文改进补助金：北美草原半岛中全新世野牛的使用和古生态学

• 批准号: 0532363
• 负责人: Jack Hofman
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Kansas Center for Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-08-01 至 2006-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0532363&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Middle

Drastic changes in culture and climate characterize the archaeology of the middle Holocene Great Plains (7500-5000 BP). However, despite decades of research, it is still unclear how hunter-gatherers adjusted to the increasingly arid conditions of this time. The primary questions addressed in this project are directed towards understanding broad human/ecosystem relations in prehistory. These questions include: what was the impact of middle Holocene climate change on local ecosystems; how did early Plains Archaic hunter-gatherers utilize faunal resources in response to these changes; and what was the role of bison in early Plains Archaic subsistence strategies? With support from the National Science Foundation and under the supervision of Dr. Jack Hofman, Chris Widga will address these issues through the analysis of four early Plains Archaic archaeological assemblages: the Itasca bison kill in central Minnesota, the Simonsen and Hill sites in western Iowa, and the multi-component Logan Creek site in northeastern Nebraska. Zooarchaeological analyses of these collections will delineate aspects of middle Holocene hunter-gatherer subsistence systems, including diet breadth, butchering intensity, carcass processing trajectories, and seasonal resource use. This project will also rely heavily on isotopic analyses. These analyses will be carried out on materials (enamel, bone and soil) from the above assemblages, and a fine-grained, seasonally-calibrated sequence of paleoenvironmental data will be constructed through multi-isotope analyses of individual bison molars. Strontium isotope data (87Sr/86Sr) will be combined with other stable isotopes (d13C and d18O) to examine seasonal and geographic variability in bison grazing patterns. Taken together, these analyses will provide the environmental context for investigating human hunting strategies during the middle Holocene.These articulating datasets will be used to develop models of human subsistence in the North American Prairie-Peninsula between 7500 and 5000 BP. Essential elements of these models will address the nature of bison use, establish the availability of bison and the efficiency of bison hunting strategies, provide estimates of diet-breadth, and quantify the use of non-bison resources. This information is essential for evaluating foraging models in early Plains Archaic contexts. Additionally, this project will examine the prehistoric grazing behavior of a keystone species in grassland ecosystems, bison. While this species has made a dramatic comeback in recent years, many aspects of its prehistoric behavior remain unclear. One of the primary goals of this study is to examine the degree of variability within the bison ecological niche that can be attributed to geographic variation. This knowledge will assist conservation biologists and wildlife managers in administering grassland ecosystems effectively.Throughout prehistory, grassland ecosystems have been very sensitive to climate change. During the Middle Holocene, warm and dry conditions prevailed and biological communities adjusted accordingly. Through the study ecosystem changes in the past, we can perhaps better understand the dynamics of modern change, and adjust landuse patterns to reflect ecosystem-specific standards of sustainability.

文化和气候的剧烈变化是中全新世大平原(公元前7500-5000)考古的特点。然而，尽管进行了数十年的研究，狩猎采集者是如何适应这个时代日益干旱的条件的，仍然不清楚。本项目涉及的主要问题是了解史前广泛的人类/生态系统关系。这些问题包括：全新世中期气候变化对当地生态系统的影响；早期平原古代狩猎采集者如何利用动物资源来应对这些变化；野牛在早期平原古代生存战略中扮演什么角色？在国家科学基金会的支持下，在杰克·霍夫曼博士的监督下，克里斯·威德加将通过分析四个早期平原考古组合来解决这些问题：明尼苏达州中部的伊塔斯卡野牛猎杀遗址，爱荷华州西部的西蒙森和希尔遗址，以及内布拉斯加州东北部的多成分洛根溪遗址。对这些收藏品的动物考古学分析将描绘中全新世狩猎采集生存系统的各个方面，包括饮食广度、屠宰强度、身体加工轨迹和季节性资源使用。该项目还将严重依赖于同位素分析。这些分析将对上述组合中的物质(牙釉质、骨骼和土壤)进行，并将通过对单个野牛臼齿的多同位素分析来构建细粒度的、经季节校准的古环境数据序列。锶同位素数据(87sr/86sr)将与其他稳定同位素(d13C和d18O)相结合，以研究野牛放牧模式的季节和地理变化。综上所述，这些分析将为研究全新世中期人类狩猎策略提供环境背景。这些清晰的数据集将被用于开发公元前7500至5000年间北美草原半岛人类生存的模型。这些模型的基本要素将解决野牛利用的性质，确定野牛的可用性和野牛狩猎策略的效率，提供饮食广度的估计，并量化非野牛资源的使用。这些信息对于评估早期平原古老环境中的觅食模式是必不可少的。此外，该项目还将研究草原生态系统中的关键物种野牛的史前放牧行为。虽然该物种近年来戏剧性地卷土重来，但其史前行为的许多方面仍不清楚。这项研究的主要目标之一是检查野牛生态位内可归因于地理变异的变异性程度。这些知识将有助于保护生物学家和野生动物管理者有效地管理草原生态系统。在中全新世，温暖和干燥的条件盛行，生物群落也相应地进行了调整。通过对过去生态系统变化的研究，我们或许可以更好地理解现代变化的动态，并调整土地利用模式，以反映生态系统特有的可持续性标准。