Southwestern Archaeological Tree-Ring Dating

亚利桑那大学的树木年轮研究实验室（LTRR）是北美西部考古树木年轮日期的唯一来源。在美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的持续支持下，LTRR和其他考古学家从阿拉斯加到秘鲁、从太平洋到密西西比河收集了树木年轮样本，并开展了一个测年项目。NSF的支持使该项目能够跟上对考古年轮测年、信息和援助不断增长的需求，并保持高生产水平和短周转时间。平均而言，该计划每年从5000多个考古树木年轮样本中产生1000多个日期。这些数据被整合到相关的考古背景中，以构建精细的文化序列，并检查过去人类行为的重要问题，如果没有准确、高分辨率的时间控制，这些问题就无法解决。这些主题包括绝对地点、地点和区域年表、社会组织、群体间互动以及对自然和社会环境的文化适应。此外，该项目还促进了考古年轮年代测定在西南沙漠、大盆地、大平原、落基山脉、阿拉斯加和墨西哥等新地区的扩展。该项目的准确年代和年表构建对于理解人类行为、人与环境的相互作用以及社会文化稳定、变异、变化和进化的过程至关重要。无论是直接的还是间接的（通过树木年轮测定的陶瓷），树木年轮测定都是西南史前史年代学和该地区有文献记载的历史的许多方面的基础。该项目还与其他古环境学科（如地质学、花粉分析、火山学和微量元素研究）产生的重建结果相结合，生成了树木气候重建结果。除了阐明过去的环境过程外，这些综合重建为研究人类行为与环境变化之间的相互关系提供了坚实的经验基础。最后，该项目将研究范围扩大到以前被认为不适合考古年轮测定的地区的努力开始取得成效。从多年前收集的样本中得出的日期为索诺兰沙漠的考古年表提供了绝对的“铰链点”，墨西哥北部也取得了类似的成功。该计划具有广泛的影响。其研究结果几乎立即被纳入亚利桑那大学和其他学术机构的人类学、地球科学和其他学科的本科和研究生课程。此外，该项目与K-12项目相互作用，为来自世界各地的访问学者提供指导，并为政府、私人和美洲原住民项目提供实地培训。LTRR的树轮样本收集和数据档案是无与伦比的、易于获取的考古研究资源，一个正在发展的数字数据库将提高这些资源的研究价值。加深对人类对文化和环境变化的长期适应的了解以及加深对过去环境过程的了解有助于制定和实施环境和社会政策。项目人员直接为联邦、地方和部落土地管理机构制定管理文化和自然资源的政策作出贡献。

The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) at the University of Arizona is the sole source of archaeological tree-ring dates in western North America. With continuing National Science Foundation support, LTRR operates a dating program for tree-ring samples collected by LTRR and other archaeologists from Alaska to Peru and from the Pacific Ocean to the Mississippi River. NSF support allows the program to keep pace with the ever growing demand for archaeological tree-ring dating, information, and assistance and to maintain high production levels and short turnaround times. On average, the program produces more than 1,000 dates from 5,000+ archaeological tree-ring samples submitted annually. These data are integrated into relevant archaeological contexts to construct refined cultural sequences and examine important issues of past human behavior that cannot be addressed without accurate, high resolution temporal control. Among these topics are absolute site, locality, and regional chronologies, social organization, intergroup interaction, and cultural adaptation to physical and social environments. In addition, the program fosters the expansion of archaeological tree-ring dating into new regions such as the Southwestern deserts, Great Basin, Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Alaska, and Mexico.The project's exact dating and chronology building are crucial to understanding human behavior, human-environment interactions, and processes of sociocultural stability, variation, change, and evolution. Either directly or indirectly (through tree-ring dated ceramics), tree-ring dating underlies the chronology of Southwestern prehistory and many aspects of the documented history of the region. The project also generates dendroclimatic reconstructions that are combined with reconstructions produced by other paleoenvironmental disciplines such as geology, pollen analysis, volcanology, and trace element studies. In addition to illuminating past environmental processes, these integrated reconstructions provide a solid empirical foundation for examining the interrelationships between human behavior and environmental variability. Finally, the project's efforts to expand research into areas previously thought to be unsuitable for archaeological tree-ring dating are beginning to pay off. Dates derived from samples collected many years ago provide absolutely dated "hinge points" for archaeological chronologies in the Sonoran Desert, and similar success is indicated for northern Mexico.The program has a wide range of broader impacts. Its findings are almost immediately integrated into undergraduate and graduate classes in anthropology, geosciences, and other disciplines at the University of Arizona and other academic institutions. In addition, the project interacts with K-12 programs, provides instruction for visiting scholars from around the world, and facilitates field training for governmental, private, and Native American programs. The LTRR tree-ring sample collections and data archives are unparalleled, easily accessed resources for archaeological research, and a developing digital database will enhance the research value of these resources. Increased understanding of long-term human adaptation to cultural and environmental variability and enhanced knowledge of past environmental processes help develop and implement environmental and social policy. Project personnel have contributed directly to formulating policy for managing cultural and natural resources by federal, local, and tribal land management agencies.