Collaborative Research: The Use of Biological Markers to Reconstruct Human-Environment Interaction

来自马萨诸塞大学、哥伦比亚大学和威廉与玛丽学院的一组科学家将使用新的分子技术重建法罗群岛过去的环境变化历史，法罗群岛是人们跨越北大西洋迁徙的关键地点。最近的考古研究发现了耐人寻味的证据，表明这些岛屿上的第一批定居者早于9世纪的北欧定居者，但人们对他们对环境的影响以及他们可能带来了什么动物知之甚少。这项研究将集中在湖泊沉积物上，这些沉积物记录了一段时间内自然和人类造成的环境变化。这项研究将有助于研究人类如何适应边缘岛屿环境中的环境变化，考察环境影响的时间和历史，以及一千多年来使有限的自然资源得以可持续利用的战略的制定。该项目将与法罗群岛的考古学家合作，准备相关的教育材料，在其国家博物馆展出，并将为本科生提供独特的机会，参与研究和公共宣传活动。法罗群岛是人们向西迁移到冰岛、格陵兰和北美的重要“垫脚石”，因此，在法罗群岛定居的时机对理解北大西洋殖民具有特别重要的意义。这项研究将提供关于定居者第一次到达法罗群岛的时间、伴随他们的动物类型、他们使用火来改变当地植被覆盖情况以及这些事件与这个偏远地区过去气候变化的关系的新信息。研究人员将提取保存在湖泊沉积物中的有机分子，以获得表明存在人类定居者的记录。这将包括人、猪和放牧动物(绵羊、山羊和牛)的肠道中产生的化合物，以及与燃烧泥炭和灌木有关的分子。其他化合物将表明植被组成的变化。这项研究还将重点研究沉积物中的DNA，以确定第一批定居者可能带到这些岛屿上的动物的存在和类型。这些沉积物将使用放射性碳和冰岛喷发的已知年代的火山灰来确定年代。

A team of scientists from the University of Massachusetts, Columbia University and William and Mary College will use new molecular techniques to reconstruct the past history of environmental changes in the Faroe Islands, a key location in the migration of people across the North Atlantic. Recent archeological research has found intriguing evidence that the first settlers on the islands arrived before the 9th century Norse settlers, but little is known about their impact on the environment, and what animals they might have brought with them. The research will focus on lake sediments that provide a record of natural and human-induced environmental changes over time. The research will contribute to studies of how humans adapt to environmental changes in marginal island environments, by examining the timing and history of environmental impacts, and the development of strategies that have allowed limited natural resources to be used sustainably for more than a thousand years. The project will involve collaboration with archeologists in the Faroe Islands, to prepare related educational materials for display in their National Museum, and will provide unique opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in the research and public outreach activities.The Faroe Islands represented an important "stepping stone" in the westward migration of people into Iceland, Greenland, and North America, so the timing of settlement in the Faroes has particular significance for an understanding of North Atlantic colonization. The research will provide new information about when settlers first arrived in the Faroe Islands, the type of animals that accompanied them, their use of fire to modify the local vegetation cover, and how these events relate to past climate variations in this remote region. The researchers will extract organic molecules preserved in lake sediments to obtain records that indicate the presence of human settlers. This will include compounds that are produced in the intestines of people, pigs and grazing animals (sheep, goats and cattle), and molecules related to the burning of peat and shrubs. Other compounds will indicate changes in the composition of vegetation. The research will also focus on DNA in the sediments, to identify the presence and types of animals that may have been brought to the islands by the first settlers. The sediments will be dated using radiocarbon, and volcanic ash from Icelandic eruptions of known age.