Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Early Human Settlement of the High-Altitude Pucuncho Basin, Southern Peruvian Andes

在Daniel Sandweiss博士的指导下，Kurt Rademaker先生将为他的博士论文研究收集数据。他的项目重点是确定安第斯山脉早期人类占领的时间。人类在地球高海拔山脉和高原上的栖息地是我们物种最近的生物地理扩张之一。目前的人类学模型强调这些极端环境所固有的地形和生物挑战，以解释在安第斯山脉和青藏高原海拔3500米以上缺乏11,000年前的考古证据。然而，在这些地区，针对狩猎-采集遗址的考古研究很少。这个跨学科项目的主要目标是更好地了解秘鲁南部高山安第斯山脉人类定居的时间、环境背景和适应情况。到目前为止，拉德梅克的调查已经在普昆丘盆地发现了早期考古遗址，普昆丘盆地是一片被冰川火山环绕的湿地绿洲，位于海拔约4500米(约14760英尺)的地方。其中一处遗址，寸彩查岩石掩体，已经产生了初步的放射性碳测年，表明这一高海拔地区在12,400到11,800年前初步定居。这些日期确定了寸柴茶是安第斯山脉已知的最古老的直接断代考古遗址之一，也是世界上迄今发现的最高的冰河遗址。这项由NSF资助的论文项目的最后实验室阶段将显著加强坎蔡查避难所的初步年代学数据，并提供有关当地栖息地发展的信息，这些栖息地对安第斯动物和人类成功殖民高海拔地区非常重要。Rademaker将获得更多关于Cuncaicha岩洞遗址和附近的Rio Blanco地质段的放射性碳年代。这些考古和古生态数据将直接与当地的冰川地质记录相比较，这些比较将揭示冰河时代晚期气候变化、安第斯栖息地的形成和极端高海拔环境的早期人类定居之间的联系。这个项目将产生几个广泛的影响。通过在亚利桑那大学加速器质谱仪实验室进行样品前处理，Rademaker将接受宝贵的考古科学方法论培训。这一论文项目的完成将产生许多同行评议的期刊出版物，并最终导致为更广泛的受众出版编辑后的卷。除了在国内外的专业会议上介绍科学成果外，项目组已经并将继续在秘鲁和北美的大学进行客座演讲。自2005年以来，该项目为普昆丘盆地的一些当地居民提供了有限的临时经济利益，他们协助勘测和挖掘，并为项目组提供了相关支助。该小组为普村町三个村庄的学童带来了药品、维生素和教育材料，并努力向该地区的考古遗迹灌输保护伦理。在这个博士论文项目的基础上，在普昆丘地区继续进行科学工作，无疑将加强这一伦理，并产生关于气候变化、生态和人类史前的更多有价值的信息。

Under the direction of Dr. Daniel Sandweiss, Mr. Kurt Rademaker will collect data for his doctoral dissertation research. His project focuses on determining the timing of early human occupation in the Andes Mountains. Human settlement of Earth's high-altitude mountains and plateaus is among the most recent of our species' bio-geographic expansions. Current anthropological models emphasize the physiographic and biological challenges inherent to these extreme environments to explain a lack of pre-11,000 year-old archaeological evidence above 3500 m elevation in the Andes and on the high Tibetan Plateau. However few archaeological studies targeting hunter-gatherer sites have been conducted in these areas.This interdisciplinary project's primary objectives are to better understand the timing, environmental setting, and adaptations involved in human settlement of the high Andes of southern Peru. Rademaker's investigations so far have led to the discovery of early archaeological sites in the Pucuncho Basin, a wetland oasis ringed by glaciated volcanoes and situated at ~4500 m (~14,760 ft) elevation. One of these sites, Cuncaicha rockshelter, has yielded preliminary radiocarbon dates that indicate an initial settlement of this high-altitude area between 12,400 and 11,800 years ago. These dates establish Cuncaicha as one of the oldest known directly-dated archaeological sites in the Andes Mountains and the highest ice-age site yet discovered anywhere in the world.The final laboratory phase of this dissertation project, to be funded by NSF, will significantly strengthen the preliminary chronological data from Cuncaicha shelter and provide information on the development of local habitats important to Andean animals and people for successful colonization of high-altitude zones. Rademaker will obtain additional radiocarbon dates for the Cuncaicha rockshelter site and the nearby Rio Blanco geologic section. These archaeological and paleoecologic data will be directly comparable with local glacial geologic records, and these comparisons will shed light on links between late ice-age climatic change, the formation of Andean habitats, and early human settlement of extreme high-altitude environments. This project will have several broad impacts. By conducting pretreatment of samples at the University of Arizona accelerator mass spectrometry lab, Rademaker will receive valuable training in archaeological scientific methodology. Completion of this dissertation project will yield numerous peer-reviewed journal publications and ultimately lead to publication of an edited volume for a more general audience. The project team has given, and will continue to give, guest lectures at Peruvian and North American universities, in addition to presenting scientific results at professional meetings at home and abroad. Since 2005 this project has provided limited temporary economic benefits to some local inhabitants of the Pucuncho Basin who have assisted in surveys and excavation and provided related support for the project team. The team has brought medicine, vitamins, and educational materials for the school children in Pucuncho's three villages and worked to instill a conservation ethic about archaeological remains in the region. Continued scientific work in the Pucuncho area, which will build upon this Ph.D. dissertation project, will undoubtedly reinforce this ethic and yield additional valuable information on climatic change, ecology, and human prehistory.