Collaborative Research: Impacts of Abrupt Environmental Change on North Pacific Human Ecosystem Dynamics using High Resolution Zooarchaeological Records from Coastal Washington

这个项目将通过分析动物遗骸来检验社区对突然的环境变化的反应，因为动物遗骸反映了生存习惯和环境条件，来自华盛顿西北海岸的下埃尔华克拉拉姆村庄Tse-Whit-zen，它的占领始于约2700年前，并在约1800-100年前加剧。这段时间跨越了几次高震级地震、小冰期和中世纪气候异常，以及潮间带栖息地的逐渐增加。研究小组将利用觅食理论得出的预测，探索这些事件如何随着时间的推移影响动物资源以及家庭和更大社区内的不同人。沉积物的非凡完整性，对沉积物的详细地质考古现场记录，来自7个时期的大量和严格收集的动物样本，以及在Tse-Whit-Zen的鸟类、鱼类、贝类和哺乳动物的体积可比样本，提供了北太平洋无与伦比的高分辨率记录，记录了过去人类对动物资源的利用。鉴于西北海岸和北部地区之间的相似之处和直接联系，该研究项目将提供与研究北极系统和过程的学者直接相关的模型、方法和结果。在这两个区域，以鱼类、贝类和海洋哺乳动物为重点的海上移动式觅食者已经适应了受周期性环境、地貌和气候变化影响的复杂、动态的海岸线。全球环流模式将北太平洋和北冰洋联系在一起，而迁徙物种则是这两个地区的桥梁。我们的项目也为全球人类生态动力学联盟提供了一个理想的比较案例研究，该联盟是美国国家科学基金会资助的一项倡议，旨在将北极极地生态动力学与更广泛的全球环境联系起来。该项目将对下埃尔华克拉拉姆部落有价值，他们完整地参与了谢怀特禅宗遗址的挖掘，关心该遗址和收藏品的未来。研究人员将与部落教育工作者、野生动物管理人员和参与博物馆规划的文化专家分享动物数据、出版物和专业见解。他们还将与地方和州政府机构合作，根据我们的结果开发教育材料，以满足日益增长的需求，使公众为未来与地震相关的事件做好准备。研究人员预计，他们的工作将记录动物对地震、气候变化、当地海岸线变化的精细反应，以及人类对几个令人担忧的物种的开发战略？(例如鲑鱼、底栖鱼、海洋哺乳动物)将有助于当前的野生动物管理工作。

This project will examine community response to abrupt environmental change through analysis of animal remains as they reflect subsistence practices and environmental conditions, from Tse-whit-zen, a previously excavated Lower Elwha Klallam village on the northwest coast of Washington, with occupation beginning around 2700 years ago and intensifying between about 1800-100 years ago. This time period spans several high-magnitude earthquakes, the Little Ice Age and Medieval Climatic Anomaly, and a gradual increase in sheltered intertidal habitat. The research team will explore how these events affected animal resources and different people within households and larger communities over time, using predictions drawn from foraging theory. The extraordinary integrity of the deposits, the detailed geoarchaeological field recording of deposits, the large and rigorously collected faunal samples from 7 time periods, and volumetrically comparable samples of birds, fish, shellfish, and mammals at Tse-whit-zen offer a high-resolution record of past human use of animal resources that is unparalleled in the North Pacific. The research project will provide models, methods and results of direct relevance to scholars working on Arctic systems and processes, given the parallels and direct linkages between the Northwest Coast and areas to the north. In both regions, boat-mobile foragers with maritime subsistence focused on fish, shellfish, and marine mammals, have adapted to complex, dynamic coastlines affected by periodic environmental, geomorphic and climatic changes. Global circulation patterns link the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans and migratory species bridge the two areas. Our project also provides an ideal comparative case study for the Global Human Ecodynamics Alliance, an NSF funded initiative developed to link Arctic Polar Ecodynamics to the broader global context.The project will be valuable to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe who were integrally involved in the excavation of the Tse-whit-zen site, are concerned about the future of the site and the collection. The researchers will share faunal data, publications and professional insights with tribal educators, wildlife managers, and cultural specialists involved in planning a museum. They will also be collaborating with local and state governmental agencies that will develop educational materials from our results, to meet a growing need to prepare the public for future earthquake-related events. The researchers anticipate that their work documenting fine-scale animal response to earthquakes, climate change, local shoreline change, and human exploitation strategies for several ?species of concern? (e.g. salmonids, ground fish, sea mammals) will assist current wildlife management efforts.