Collaborative Research: Apalachicola Ecosystems Project

合作研究：阿巴拉契科拉生态系统项目

• 批准号: 1026542
• 负责人: Howard Foster
• 金额: $ 13.7万
• 依托单位: University of West Georgia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-08-15 至 2012-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1026542&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Apalachicola; Ecosystems; Project

With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs. Thomas Foster, Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman, Roger Brown, and the Apalachicola Ecosystems Project (AEP) will advance the understanding of the dynamic relationship of humans and their physical and social environment. The AEP will use archaeological, historical, and ancient botanical data to investigate how Native American populations adapted to a changing biophysical and colonial environment. The AEP's interdisciplinary approach integrates ecological systems and human agency in the analysis of socio-ecological resilience in the face of dynamic and nonlinear changes in the political, social, and ecological environments. This project will use a unique case where the emigrant and immigrant sites of a single town are well documented. By studying the archaeological sites of Apalachicola (1715-1836) in eastern Alabama and accurately controlling for temporal variation, this project will characterize how humans dynamically adapt to and, simultaneously, affect their biophysical and social environment. Apalachicola was one of the most politically important Creek Indian towns and was, according to historic legend, the site of the origin of the Creek Confederacy. The objectives of the AEP are to (1) investigate how Native Americans maintained social, economic, and ecological viability in the face of substantial and rapid change to the social and biophysical environments, (2) identify the anthropogenic effects of the Creek Indian economic strategies on plant and animal communities, and (3) better understand Native American social, economic, and ecological resilience during the Historic Period. Sections of two archaeological sites will be excavated, Apalachicola town (1757-1836) and Apalachicola Old Town (1715-1757), to measure cultural resilience throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The project will couple the archaeological investigations with historical research to elucidate broader political climate, alliances, and conflicts. Finally, the project will measure local changes in the biophysical environment through pollen cores, analysis of anthropogenic changes in the plant and animal communities, and climate variation. The intellectual merit of the AEP is relevant to studies of resilience theory and risk management, historical ecology and environmental management. Reconstructing human impact upon, and interaction with, past environments is important to our understanding of current human affected environments. This project will contribute to our understanding of how the Southeastern Indians adapted to a diverse plant and animal environment within a changing social and economic environment. The project will also help refine our understanding of the processes of historical ecology, migration, and cultural resilience in an understudied region. The broader impacts of this study are significant to a wide range of fields and will contribute to scientific education and descendant communities. The study of anthropogenic effects on the environment is one of the most important problems facing humans today. The Apalachicola Ecosystems Project is relevant to modern forest managers, policy makers, environmental historians, anthropologists, culture historians, and ecologists. The AEP will further understanding of how humans use culture to adapt to and modify their physical environment as well as contribute to student training.

With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs.托马斯·福斯特、巴尼特·帕沃-祖克曼、罗杰·布朗和阿巴拉契科拉生态系统项目 (AEP) 将增进对人类及其物理和社会环境动态关系的理解。 AEP 将利用考古、历史和古代植物学数据来调查美洲原住民如何适应不断变化的生物物理和殖民环境。 AEP 的跨学科方法将生态系统和人类能动性结合起来，分析面对政治、社会和生态环境的动态和非线性变化的社会生态恢复力。 This project will use a unique case where the emigrant and immigrant sites of a single town are well documented.通过研究阿拉巴马州东部的阿巴拉契科拉（Apalachicola，1715-1836）考古遗址并准确控制时间变化，该项目将描述人类如何动态适应并同时影响其生物物理和社会环境。阿巴拉契科拉是政治上最重要的克里克印第安城镇之一，根据历史传说，它是克里克邦联的起源地。 AEP 的目标是 (1) 调查美洲原住民如何在社会和生物物理环境发生重大而快速的变化时保持社会、经济和生态活力，(2) 确定克里克印第安人经济战略对动植物群落的人为影响，以及 (3) 更好地了解历史时期美洲原住民的社会、经济和生态恢复力。 两个考古遗址的部分区域将被挖掘，阿巴拉契科拉镇（1757-1836）和阿巴拉契科拉旧城区（1715-1757），以衡量整个十八世纪和十九世纪初期的文化复原力。该项目将把考古调查与历史研究结合起来，以阐明更广泛的政治气候、联盟和冲突。最后，该项目将通过花粉核心、动植物群落的人为变化分析以及气候变化来测量当地生物物理环境的变化。 AEP 的学术价值与复原力理论和风险管理、历史生态学和环境管理的研究相关。 重建人类对过去环境的影响以及与过去环境的相互作用对于我们理解当前人类影响的环境非常重要。该项目将有助于我们了解东南部印第安人如何在不断变化的社会和经济环境中适应多样化的动植物环境。 该项目还将有助于加深我们对未充分研究地区的历史生态、移民和文化复原力过程的理解。 这项研究的广泛影响对各个领域都具有重要意义，并将为科学教育和后代社区做出贡献。 The study of anthropogenic effects on the environment is one of the most important problems facing humans today.阿巴拉契科拉生态系统项目与现代森林管理者、政策制定者、环境历史学家、人类学家、文化历史学家和生态学家相关。 AEP 将进一步了解人类如何利用文化来适应和改变他们的物理环境，并为学生培训做出贡献。