Doctoral Dissertation Research: Human Dietary Response to Climate Change and Resource Availability

摘要：本项目利用考古和古环境数据评估晚全新世气候变化对资源可得性的影响，并将检验这种可得性对史前渔业的影响。Bruce Finney博士最近的研究（Finney et al. 2002）表明，由于气候变化，东北太平洋的鲑鱼数量在过去2200年里急剧波动，这里提出的研究将评估这些波动对人类觅食策略的影响。在觅食理论的背景下，该项目将测试人们是否通过将渔业从河流转移到海洋环境来改变他们的觅食策略以适应气候变化和资源波动。为了验证这一假设，将利用来自阿拉斯加科迪亚克岛的几条证据线：a)从鱼耳石中提取的稳定氧同位素将用于重建古环境；B)考古区系材料将被分析以测试觅食焦点的变化；c)过去2200年的鲑鱼丰度数据将作为古环境和考古数据的对照。该项目的意义在于其独特的考古视角，以及考古数据的潜力，有助于了解影响海洋环境、鱼类生态、人类与环境相互作用和气候变化以及阿拉斯加本土渔业的更大、更长期的过程。

ABSTRACTARC 0612988This project employs archaeological and paleoenvironmental data to assess the effects of late Holocene climate change on resource availability, and will test the effects of this availability on prehistoric fisheries. Recent research by Dr. Bruce Finney (Finney et al. 2002) shows that salmon abundance in the northeastern Pacific Ocean has fluctuated dramatically over the last 2200 years due to climate change, and the research proposed here will assess the effects of these fluctuations on human foraging strategies. Within the context of foraging theory, this project will test whether people altered their foraging strategies to accommodate climate change and resource fluctuation by moving their fisheries from the riverine to the marine environment. To test this hypothesis, several lines of evidence from Kodiak Island, Alaska will be utilized: a) stable oxygen isotopes extracted from fish otoliths will be used to reconstruct the paleoenvironment; b) archaeological faunal materials will be analyzed to test for changes in foraging focus; and c) salmon abundance data from the last 2200 years will be used as a control for the paleoenvironmental and archaeological data.The significance of this project lies in its unique archaeological perspective, and the potential of archaeological data to contribute to an understanding of the larger, long-term processes affecting the marine environment, fish ecology, human-environmental interaction and climate change, and Native Alaskan fisheries.