Archaeological and Environmental Investigations along the mid-Holocene shoreline near Aitape, Northern Papua New Guinea

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Mark Golitko博士和他的同事将进行一个野外挖掘和调查季节，旨在重建巴布亚新几内亚北部Aitape附近的中全新世(约7000-3000 BP)的景观、环境、聚落模式、生存和交换网络。该项目汇集了美国、澳大利亚和新几内亚在太平洋史前、古环境和古海啸研究方面的专家。北海岸给人类的生存带来了相当大的环境挑战。例如，1998年的一场大规模海啸摧毁了西萨诺泻湖沿岸的村庄，据信，类似的事件每个世纪都会发生几次。巴布亚新几内亚的北海岸也受到ENSO循环的严重影响，该循环可能因暴雨和干旱交替循环而造成严重的生存压力。这一地区是地球上语言和生物多样性最丰富的地区之一，这表明了社区间的隔绝历史，但在近代历史上，沿海社区被连接到广泛的社会网络中，货物、人员和思想通过这些网络传播。这些社会关系目前在一定程度上是面对环境驱动的风险时的一种保险形式。因此，除了让科学家了解过去，这项研究还有可能为减轻极端环境事件的有害影响的成功战略提供洞察力。由于在那里进行的研究相对较少，巴布亚新几内亚北海岸在太平洋史前历史中的位置存在争议，而且人们对其了解较少。有一种观点认为，在公元前2000年左右拉皮塔风格的陶器消失之前，北海岸基本上是无人居住的，与美拉尼西亚岛隔绝，导致生活在大陆和离岸岛屿上的人们在语言、遗传和文化上存在显著差异。或者，有人提出，在中全新世期间引入高原巴新驯养的人增加了沿海的人口水平，以至于新的定居者被排除在该区域之外。从另一个角度来看，只有在世界海平面稳定和约6000年后形成多产的冲积平原之前，北海岸才可能成为人类活动和相互作用的重要障碍。在这些冲积平原上定居，加上公元前约7000年后ENSO频率的上升，可能增加了社会互动的程度，因为北海岸的人口越来越多地暴露在环境风险中。此后，北海岸形成了人员、货物和思想自由流动的互动领域的核心。为了验证有关北海岸史前历史的这些替代假设，将在重建的中全新世海岸线内陆的两个地点进行挖掘，其中一个地点是现代城镇Aitape-Paniri Creek，以前在那里发现了与潜在的古海啸沉积有关的中期全新世人类遗骸，另一个地点是Kobom/NGRP25，在先前的调查工作中收集了黑麻岩。对中全新世海岸线其他地方的河流切割和花园空地进行调查和取心，将提供关于古环境的更广泛的区域视角。挖掘和调查将以古环境指标(花粉、植物硅石、木炭)、可测年材料和黑铁矿为来源分析的目标。该项目将提供有关北海岸史前的重要新信息，这些信息将探讨太平洋人类多样性的起源。这项研究将考察人类对气候变化和海平面上升的长期适应性反应，因此有助于巴布亚新几内亚和其他地方关于全球变暖、海平面上升和有效应对环境风险的现代政策辩论。当地考古学家和学生的参与将有助于巴新的考古培训。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Mark Golitko and colleagues will conduct one field season of excavation and survey targeted at reconstructing mid-Holocene (~7000-3000 BP) landscape, environment, settlement patterning, subsistence, and exchange networks near Aitape, northern Papua New Guinea (PNG). The project brings together American, Australian, and New Guinean experts in Pacific prehistory, paleo-environment, and paleo-tsunami research. The north coast presents considerable environmental challenges to human survival. For instance, a massive tsunami in 1998 wiped out villages along Sissano Lagoon, and similar events are believed to occur several times per century. The north coast of PNG is also heavily impacted by the ENSO cycle, which can cause severe subsistence stress resulting from alternating cycles of heavy rainfall and drought. This region is among the most linguistically and biologically diverse places on earth, suggesting a history of inter-community isolation, yet in recent history, coastal communities are linked into extensive social networks through which goods, people, and ideas travel. These social connections presently serve in part as a form of insurance in the face of environmentally driven risk. Thus, in addition to informing scientists about the past, the research has the potential to provide insight into successful strategies to mitigate the detrimental effects of extreme environmental events.The place of the north coast of PNG in Pacific prehistory is controversial and poorly understood due to a relative paucity of research conducted there. In one view, the north coast was largely uninhabited and isolated from Island Melanesia prior to the disappearance of Lapita style pottery after ~2000 BP, resulting in significant linguistic, genetic, and cultural differences between people living on the mainland and off-shore islands. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the introduction of highland PNG domesticates during the mid-Holocene period increased population levels on the coast to such a level that new settlers were excluded from the region. From another perspective, the north coast may have served as a significant barrier to human movement and interaction only prior to the stabilization of world sea-levels and formation of productive alluvial plains after ~6000 BP. Settlement on these alluvial plains, in conjunction with an upswing in ENSO frequency after ~7000 BP may have increased the degree of social interaction as populations on the north coast became increasingly exposed to environmental risk. Thereafter, the north coast formed the heart of an interaction sphere through which people, goods, and ideas freely moved. To test these alternative hypotheses regarding north coast prehistory, excavations will be conducted at two sites located on the reconstructed mid-Holocene shoreline inland from the modern town of Aitape - Paniri Creek, where human remains dating to the mid-Holocene were previously recovered in association with potential paleo-tsunami deposits, and Kobom/NGRP25, where obsidian was collected during prior survey work. Survey and coring at river-cuts and garden clearings elsewhere along the mid-Holocene shoreline will provide a broader regional perspective on paleo-environment. Excavation and survey will target paleo-environmental indicators (pollen, phytoliths, charcoal), datable materials, and obsidian for sourcing analysis. The project will provide significant new information about prehistory on the north coast that will address the origins of human diversity in the Pacific. The study will examine long-term human adaptive responses to climate change and sea-level rise, and therefore contribute to modern policy debate in PNG and elsewhere regarding global warming, sea-level rise, and effective response to environmental risk. Involvement by local archaeologists and students will contribute to archaeological training in PNG.