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

这项由新墨西哥大学(UNM)和宾夕法尼亚州立大学(PSU)的研究人员进行的跨学科研究的目的是研究美洲热带最早居民的人类-气候-环境动力学。这项工作旨在调查这样一个假设，即自给自足经济和技术的主要行为变化在多个时间尺度上部分地受到人口结构转变、气候变化和人为环境变化的影响。鉴于对未来全球变暖和全球人口快速增长的预测，人类在面对快速环境变化时的适应能力研究变得更加紧迫。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提供收集原始数据的机会。该小组将对伯利兹南部玛雅山脉的两个避岩地点的文物、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，所证明的职业范围为13,000到3,500年前。研究人员还将从附近的洞穴沉积物中开发一份平行的古气候记录，并对这段时间内已知的石笋进行增量地球化学分析。在此期间，人类成功地适应了热带生境，应对了气候和生态系统组织的重要变化，形成了第一批定居社区，并发展了农业。将在PSU加速器质谱仪设施和UNM稳定同位素中心进行动物和人类骨骼的精确加速器质谱学放射性碳测年以及稳定同位素测量。在PSU，将使用3D MicroCT扫描来测量下肢和上肢内部骨骼结构的变化，以深入了解人类的流动性和对随时间变化的生活方式的适应。在UNM，该小组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结合在一起。气候背景将被用来解释文化和生物变化。

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.