Doctoral Dissertation Research: Examining Changes in Ecology and Bifacial Flake Reduction Patterns during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition

博士论文研究：检查更新世-全新世过渡期间生态学和双面片减少模式的变化

• 批准号: 1514455
• 负责人: William Andrefsky
• 金额: $ 2.34万
• 依托单位: Washington State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-15 至 2017-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1514455&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Examining; Changes

Human response to environmental change is as relevant today as it was 10,000 years ago. We can choose to adapt our technology, change our subsistence practices, migrate to new locations, or seek other alternatives to environmental shifts. This study examines the relationship between ecological fluctuations and human groups in Alaska during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition and the Younger Dryas cooling event. We look specifically at how humans adapted their technology to stresses created by abrupt environmental change. Using three-dimensional imagery of stone tools from previously excavated museum collections we attempt to address questions related to ecological changes and human technological responses to those changes by examining three artifact complexes present in Alaska after initial colonization of the New World. This research is significant as the methodological approaches used in this project for paleoenvironmental reconstruction and three-dimensional imagery of technology have the potential to be tailored to address specific questions relevant to different areas of the world and for different time periods, allowing us to better understand the complex relationship between humans and a changing environment. This research focuses on ecological responses to the onset of the Younger Dryas climatic perturbation ~12,800 cal yr BP as an enabling factor in technological change seen in the Arctic and subarctic of Alaska. Understanding how ecological fluctuations affected the cultural groups of Alaska during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition can provide insight into the shifts seen in the lithic technological organization and the relationships between the people who produced the Nenana, Denali microblade, and Northern Paleoindian artifact complexes. The first step is to reconstruct the ecological shifts during this time period and the distributions between plant biome boundaries. By identifying the most predictive variable(s) for modern boundaries between shrub and herb tundra communities correlations defined by discriminant function analysis can be used to examine where these boundaries were located during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition. This will lay the foundation for the second part of my research, which is to examine the relationship between the culture groups of the Nenana, Denali, and Northern Paleoindian artifact complexes located in Eastern Beringia at the onset of the Younger Dryas. Under the assumption that flintknapping strategies and knowledge are socially transmitted, this project will apply new analyses from three-dimensional imagery of bifacial tools to empirically ascertain the relationships between early culture groups from the flake scar patterning on bifaces. These data will be used to determine whether changes in technology seen in the archaeological record are the result of in situ adaptation, or immigration of new peoples due to ecological changes at the onset of the Younger Dryas. While three-dimensional imagery holds the potential for a number of analyses, this study focuses on flake scars resulting from the final stages of bifacial production. This analysis has the potential to help archaeologists examining lithic technologies understand the relationships among different human cultures not only in Alaska but also across the New and Old World.

人类对环境变化的反应在今天与1万年前一样重要。 我们可以选择调整我们的技术，改变我们的生存方式，迁移到新的地方，或者寻求其他替代环境变化的方法。 本研究探讨了更新世-全新世过渡期和新仙女木冷却事件期间阿拉斯加生态波动和人类群体之间的关系。 我们特别关注人类如何调整他们的技术来应对环境突变带来的压力。 使用三维图像的石器从以前挖掘的博物馆藏品，我们试图解决有关的问题，生态变化和人类技术的反应，这些变化，通过检查三个人工制品复杂的存在于阿拉斯加后，最初的殖民化的新世界。这项研究意义重大，因为该项目中用于古环境重建和三维技术图像的方法学方法有可能被定制，以解决与世界不同地区和不同时期相关的具体问题，使我们能够更好地了解人类与不断变化的环境之间的复杂关系。本研究的重点是生态响应的新仙女木气候扰动~12,800卡年BP的启动作为在阿拉斯加的北极和亚北极地区看到的技术变革的一个有利因素。了解生态波动如何影响阿拉斯加的文化群体在更新世-全新世过渡可以提供洞察到的变化，在石器技术组织和之间的关系的人谁生产的Nenana，Denali微型刀片，和北方古印第安人的文物复杂。第一步是重建这一时期的生态变化和植物生物群落边界之间的分布。通过识别最具预测性的变量（S）之间的灌木和草本苔原群落的现代边界的判别函数分析定义的相关性，可以用来检查这些边界位于更新世-全新世过渡。这将为我的研究的第二部分奠定基础，这部分研究是在新仙女木开始时，位于东白令吉亚的Nenana，Denali和北方古印度人工制品复合体的文化群体之间的关系。假设燧石敲击策略和知识是社会传播的，这个项目将应用新的分析，从三维图像的双面工具，以经验确定早期文化群体之间的关系，从片状疤痕图案的双面。这些数据将用于确定考古记录中看到的技术变化是原地适应的结果，还是由于新仙女木开始时的生态变化而导致的新民族的移民。虽然三维图像具有许多分析的潜力，但本研究的重点是双面生产最后阶段产生的片状疤痕。这项分析有可能帮助考古学家研究石器技术，了解不同的人类文化之间的关系，不仅在阿拉斯加，而且在整个新大陆和旧大陆。