Collaborative Research: Apalachicola Ecosystems Project

合作研究：阿巴拉契科拉生态系统项目

• 批准号: 1259355
• 负责人: Howard Foster
• 金额: $ 7.64万
• 依托单位: University of Tulsa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-08-01 至 2014-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1259355&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.

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，托马斯福斯特博士、巴尼特·帕沃-祖克曼博士、罗杰·布朗博士和阿巴拉契科拉生态系统项目（AEP）将促进对人类及其物理和社会环境动态关系的理解。AEP将使用考古，历史和古代植物学数据来调查美洲原住民人口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机构整合到社会生态弹性分析中，以应对政治，社会和生态环境的动态和非线性变化。 这个项目将使用一个独特的案例，其中一个城镇的移民和移民地点都有很好的记录。通过研究亚拉巴马东部阿巴拉契科拉（1715-1836年）的考古遗址，并准确控制时间变化，该项目将描述人类如何动态地适应并同时影响其生物物理和社会环境。阿巴拉契科拉是克里克印第安人最重要的政治城镇之一，根据历史传说，它是克里克联盟的起源地。 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植物和动物群落的人为影响，以及（3）更好地了解美洲原住民在历史时期的社会，经济和生态恢复力。 将挖掘两个考古遗址的部分，即阿巴拉契科拉镇（1757-1836年）和阿巴拉契科拉老城（1715-1757年），以衡量整个十八世纪和十九世纪初的文化复原力。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，该项目将通过花粉芯测量当地生物物理环境的变化，分析植物和动物群落的人为变化以及气候变化。 AEP的知识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有关。 重建人类对过去环境的影响以及与过去环境的互动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植物和动物环境。 该项目还将有助于完善我们对历史生态，移民和文化复原力在一个未充分研究的地区的过程的理解。 这项研究的广泛影响对广泛的领域具有重要意义，并将有助于科学教育和后代社区。研究人类活动对环境的影响是当今人类面临的最重要的问题之一。阿巴拉契科拉生态系统项目与现代森林管理者、决策者、环境历史学家、人类学家、文化历史学家和生态学家有关。AEP将进一步了解人类如何利用文化来适应和修改他们的物理环境，并有助于学生的培训。