Collaborative Research: Demographic Transitions in Central California Prehistory

合作研究：加州中部史前时期的人口变迁

• 批准号: 1318543
• 负责人: Eric Bartelink
• 金额: $ 14.91万
• 依托单位: Chico State Enterprises
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-08-01 至 2017-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1318543&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Demographic; Transitions; Central

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Jelmer Eerkens and Eric Bartelink will examine how prehistoric populations in Central California responded to environmental change and population growth. The research will reconstruct ancient human health, diet, weaning practices, and mobility patterns using stable isotope and paleopathological analyses of human burials from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region. The project is a collaboration between faculty members, and graduate and undergraduate students from two institutions, representing specialties in bioarchaeology, archaeology, archaeometry, stable isotope ecology, and geochemistry. Central California is an area of significant interest because the region experienced exponential population growth during the late Holocene (~3500 years before present until Spanish contact in the 1700s). The central issue focuses on the rate of demographic change, and uses multiple lines of evidence to explore whether population growth was stable or if it fluctuated in concert with environmental changes (e.g., extended periods of drought reported in climatic records). In this respect, the research will examine how ancient human populations responded to climatic change and social stress such as warfare.Human skeletons provide a unique window into the past because they represent the life history of particular individuals. The study will merge those individual life histories into a broader picture of cultural adaptation to population growth, climatic fluctuations, nutritional stress, warfare, and disease. Based on existing anthropological theory, the researchers expect to find three patterns. First, they expect an increase in nutritional stress and disease indicators over time, reflecting greater consumption of poorer quality diets, especially during periods of environmental stress such as regional drought. Stable isotope analysis of human bone and teeth will provide information regarding the source of dietary protein, carbohydrates, and fats acquired from different ecosystems (terrestrial, freshwater, and marine), which will be compared with skeletal and dental indicators of stress and disease. Second, the researchers expect that periods of increased social and environmental stress will correlate with decreased parental investment in offspring, as measured by earlier weaning of children and poorer childhood diet. This will be evaluated using stable isotope signatures in serial sections of first molar tooth dentin, which forms in infancy and early childhood. Third, the researchers expect decreased residential mobility with increasing population growth, evaluated using strontium and oxygen isotope analysis of early forming teeth vs. later forming bone. To provide temporal control a large number of radiocarbon dates will be obtained. The broader impact of this research will provide a unique dataset documenting hunter-gatherer transitions in prehistory. The study will shed light on how changes in climate influenced health, diet, weaning, and mobility patterns. In addition, Drs. Eerkens and Bartelink have worked closely with members of the Native American community to ensure that the results of this research are widely disseminated, including to the public and research communities. The research will contribute toward educating and training archaeology and physical anthropology students, and the research will be presented in both scientific and public forums, including national and regional conferences, lecture series, and museum exhibits.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Jelmer Eerkens博士和Eric Bartelink博士将研究加州中部的史前人口如何应对环境变化和人口增长。这项研究将重建古代人类的健康，饮食，断奶的做法，和流动模式，使用稳定同位素和古病理学分析的人类埋葬从萨克拉门托-圣华金三角洲地区。该项目是来自两个机构的教师，研究生和本科生之间的合作，代表生物考古学，稳定同位素生态学和地球化学专业。中加州是一个重要的利益，因为该地区经历了指数人口增长在晚全新世（约3500年前，直到西班牙接触在1700年）。中心问题集中在人口变化的速度，并使用多条证据线来探讨人口增长是否稳定，或者它是否与环境变化一致波动（例如，气候记录中报告的长期干旱）。在这方面，这项研究将研究古代人类是如何应对气候变化和战争等社会压力的。人类骨骼提供了一个了解过去的独特窗口，因为它们代表了特定个体的生活史。这项研究将把这些个体的生活史合并成一幅更广泛的文化适应人口增长、气候波动、营养压力、战争和疾病的图景。基于现有的人类学理论，研究人员希望找到三种模式。首先，他们预计营养压力和疾病指标会随着时间的推移而增加，反映出更大程度上消费质量较差的饮食，特别是在区域干旱等环境压力时期。对人体骨骼和牙齿的稳定同位素分析将提供关于从不同生态系统（陆地、淡水和海洋）获得的膳食蛋白质、碳水化合物和脂肪来源的信息，并将其与骨骼和牙齿的压力和疾病指标进行比较。其次，研究人员预计，社会和环境压力增加的时期将与父母对后代投资的减少有关，这可以通过儿童早期断奶和儿童饮食不良来衡量。这将使用稳定的同位素标记在第一磨牙牙本质的连续切片中进行评估，牙本质形成于婴儿期和儿童早期。第三，研究人员预计，随着人口增长，住宅流动性下降，使用锶和氧同位素分析早期形成的牙齿与后期形成的骨骼进行评估。为了提供时间控制，将获得大量的放射性碳年代。这项研究的更广泛影响将提供一个独特的数据集，记录史前狩猎-采集过渡。这项研究将揭示气候变化如何影响健康，饮食，断奶和流动模式。此外，Eerkens博士和Bartelink博士与美洲土著社区成员密切合作，确保这项研究的结果得到广泛传播，包括向公众和研究界传播。这项研究将有助于教育和培训考古学和体质人类学的学生，研究将在科学和公共论坛，包括国家和地区会议，系列讲座和博物馆展览。