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，法罗群岛是人类跨越北大西洋迁徙的关键地点。最近的考古研究发现了有趣的证据，表明岛上的第一批定居者比9世纪的挪威定居者更早到达，但人们对他们对环境的影响以及他们可能带来的动物知之甚少。研究将集中在湖泊沉积物上，这些沉积物提供了一段时间内自然和人为引起的环境变化的记录。这项研究将有助于研究人类如何适应边缘岛屿环境的环境变化，方法是检查环境影响的时间和历史，以及制定使有限的自然资源得以可持续利用一千多年的战略。该项目将涉及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，并将为本科生提供参与研究和公共宣传活动的独特机会。法罗群岛是人类向西迁移到冰岛、格陵兰岛和北美的重要“垫脚石”，因此，法罗群岛定居的时间对了解北大西洋殖民具有特别重要的意义。这项研究将提供新的信息，了解定居者何时首次抵达法罗群岛，伴随他们的动物类型，他们使用火来改变当地的植被覆盖，以及这些事件与这个偏远地区过去的气候变化之间的关系。研究人员将提取保存在湖泊沉积物中的有机分子，以获得表明人类定居者存在的记录。这将包括在人、猪和食草动物（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。研究还将集中在沉积物中的DNA上，以确定可能由第一批定居者带到岛上的动物的存在和类型。这些沉积物将使用放射性碳和已知年龄的冰岛火山喷发的火山灰来测定年代。

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.