Collaborative Research: Three Dimensional Landscape Reconstruction For Long Term Land Use Modeling

新墨西哥大学的W.H.Wills博士将领导一个由来自多个机构的跨学科研究人员组成的合作团队，对公元500年至1300年在新墨西哥州查科峡谷发展起来的史前复杂社会的农业基础进行为期两年的研究。查科社会在公元900年至1100年期间尤其繁荣，当时这片高海拔干旱峡谷的居民建造了巨大的石头建筑(大房子)，形成了一个延伸至遥远距离的网络的社交和仪式中心，其中包括与中美洲南部近1500英里处的社会的贸易关系。尽管查科进行了一个多世纪的调查，但人们对允许这种发展的经济过程知之甚少，特别是在目前不适合集约农业的环境中，粮食生产在支持劳动力和公共建筑建设方面的作用。了解古代农民是如何在边缘环境中创建并维持代价高昂的社会制度的，可能会为现代有效管理美国许多地区和世界其他地区对有限水或资源的竞争需求提供真正的见解。多种遥感方法的综合利用了科学和工程上的突破，以提高我们对过去历史变化的了解。该项目将使用一系列遥感技术，以获取关于峡谷地貌和考古遗址位置的高精度地理空间数据，作为重建随时间变化的地表的基础。像沙漠环境中的大多数水系一样，查科拥有随着气候和其他因素的变化而随时间积累的深厚冲积层。峡谷居民通过改变田野和房屋的位置来适应这些变化，其中许多深埋在地下，只有在被侵蚀的地区才能看到，或者通过非破坏性遥感技术，如探地雷达、机载激光雷达和3-D摄影。这些数据将与实地研究人员获得的常规地质考古信息结合起来。该项目将使用重建的地面作为地理空间平台，以评估农业生产力模型、定居点模式和可能影响水文的人类改造(如水渠)。该团队将确定可能为人口快速增长和社会创新提供刺激的历史因素，以及可能滋生了无法解决的问题并导致14世纪公元前峡谷人口减少的条件。

Dr. W. H. Wills of the University of New Mexico will lead a collaborative team of interdisciplinary researchers from several institutions in a two-year study of the agricultural foundations of the prehistoric complex society that developed in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, between ca. AD 500 and 1300. Chacoan society flourished especially during from AD 900 to 1100 when residents of the high elevation, arid canyon built massive stone buildings (great houses) that formed the social and ritual center for a network that extended over vast distances and included trade relations with societies nearly 1500 miles to the south in Central America. Despite more than a century of inquiry at Chaco, the economic processes which allowed this development are poorly understood, particularly the role of food production in supporting labor and construction of public architecture in an environment that is not currently suitable for intensive agriculture. Understanding how ancient farmers created and sustained costly social institutions in marginal environments may offer real insights for modern efforts to efficiently manage competing demands for limited water or resources in many parts of the United States and other parts of the world. The integration of multiple remote sensing methods draws on scientific and engineering breakthroughs to improve our knowledge about historical changes in the past.The project will employ a range of remote sensing technologies for acquiring highly accurate geospatial data about canyon geomorphology and archaeological site locations as the basis for reconstructing changing land surfaces through time. Like most stream systems in desert environments, Chaco has deep deposits of alluvium that have accumulated over time in response to changes in climate and other factors. The canyon residents adjusted to these changes by altering the location of fields and houses, many of which are deeply buried and visible only in eroded areas or through non-destructive remote sensing technologies such as ground penetrating radar, airborne LiDAR and 3-D photography. These data will be coupled with conventional geoarchaeological information obtained by researchers in the field. The project will use the reconstructed land surfaces as geospatial platforms for evaluating agricultural productivity models, settlement patterns, and human modifications (such as water canals) that may have affected hydrology. The team will identity historical factors that may have provided stimuli for rapid population growth and social innovation, as well as conditions that may have fostered problems that could not be solved and led to the depopulation of the canyon by the 14th century AD.