Collaborative Research: Long-Term Human-Environmental Interaction In a Lowland Tropic Setting

这项跨学科研究由新墨西哥大学（UNM）和宾夕法尼亚州立大学（PSU）的研究人员进行，目的是研究美洲热带地区最早居民的人类-气候-环境动态。本研究旨在研究一种假设，即在多个时间尺度上，人口转变、气候变率和人为环境变化在一定程度上介导了自给经济和技术的主要行为变化。鉴于对未来气候变暖和全球人口快速增长的预测，研究人类面对快速环境变化的适应能力变得更加紧迫。这项研究与这一社会挑战密切相关。它将促进教学、培训和学习，为新墨西哥大学、宾夕法尼亚州立大学和其他机构的研究生和本科生项目收集原始数据提供机会。该团队将对伯利兹南部玛雅山脉的两个岩石掩体遗址的人工制品、骨骼材料（人类和非人类）和植物遗骸进行一系列考古、生物考古和地球化学分析，这些遗址的职业范围在13000到3500年前。研究人员还将从附近的洞穴沉积物中提取平行的古气候记录，并对已知跨越这段时间的石笋进行地球化学分析。在此期间，人类成功地适应了热带栖息地，对气候和生态系统组织的重要变化做出了反应，合并成第一个定居社区，并发展了农业。精确加速器质谱测定动物和人类骨骼的放射性碳定年以及稳定同位素测量将在PSU加速器质谱设施和新墨西哥大学稳定同位素中心进行。在PSU，将使用3D微ct扫描测量下肢和上肢内部骨骼结构的变化，以深入了解人类的活动能力和适应不断变化的生活方式。在新墨西哥大学，该团队将与气候科学合作者合作，从该地区的洞穴石笋中开发出高分辨率的古气候记录，并将与铀系列日期精确地固定在一起。气候背景将被用来解释文化和生物的变化。

The aim of this interdisciplinary study, conducted by researchers at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and Pennsylvania State University (PSU), is to study human-climate-environmental dynamics among the earliest inhabitants of the American tropics. The work is designed to investigate the hypothesis that major behavioral changes in subsistence economies and technology were partially mediated by demographic transitions, climate variability, and anthropogenic environmental change on multiple timescales. The study of human adaptive capacity in the face of rapid environmental change has become more urgent given predictions of future warming and rapid population growth globally. This study is centrally relevant to this societal challenge. It will promote teaching, training, and learning, providing opportunities for collecting original data for graduate and undergraduate student projects at the University of New Mexico, Pennsylvania State University, and other institutions. The team will conduct a range of archaeological, bioarchaeological, and geochemical analyses on artifacts, skeletal materials (human and non-human), and plant remains from two rockshelter sites in the Maya Mountains of southern Belize with demonstrated occupations ranging between 13,000 and 3,500 years ago. Researchers will also develop a parallel paleoclimate record from nearby cave deposits with incremental geochemical analyses of stalagmites known to span this interval. During this time, humans successfully adapted to tropical habitats, responded to important changes in climate and ecosystem organization, coalesced into the first sedentary communities, and developed agriculture. Precision accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of animal and human bone along with stable isotope measurements will be conducted at the PSU Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility and UNM Center for Stable isotopes. At PSU, variation in internal bone structure in the lower and upper limbs will be measured using 3D microCT scans to provide insights into human mobility and adaptation to changing lifeways through time. At UNM, and in collaboration with climate science collaborators, the team will develop a high-resolution paleoclimate record from cave stalagmites in the region that will be anchored precisely in time with uranium series dates. The climate backdrop will be used to interpret both cultural and biological change.