Long Term Human Impact On A Tropical Environment

佛罗里达大学的Michael Heckenberger博士和他的巴西同事将在亚马逊南部的Upper Xingu地区进行研究，研究前哥伦布时代末期复杂社会的规模和组织。这项研究建立在先前由美国国家科学基金会支持的考古基础上，该考古提供了明确的证据，证明大约在公元1250-1650年，在1200平方公里的研究区域内，在两个有围墙的城镇和没有围墙的村庄的综合集群中，有大量密集定居的前哥伦布人口和区域组织。该项目将提供有关技术经济系统和生产系统资源基础的重要新数据，包括森林和湿地管理系统。这些系统不仅改变了森林条件，而且可能有助于维持甚至扩大这片过渡热带森林马赛克地区的森林。研究表明，与主要粮食作物和经济作物相关的半集约土地利用方式集中在集群核心区，而高工效林主要分布在外围地区。研究表明，在哥伦布发现新大陆之前，该地区的人群并没有以刀耕火种或露天耕作为主，而是采用了一种杂交系统，在整个地区进行森林到森林的转换，这有助于维持和扩大整个地区的森林物种，即使在公元1250-1650年，当定居点达到最大规模并形成集群时也是如此。该研究为关于前哥伦布时期人口水平和人类对亚马逊的影响的辩论提供了信息，特别是人类对亚马逊南部过渡森林前工业时代亚马逊森林生态系统的最大程度的影响，以及与气候变化、可持续性和文化遗产相关的人类-环境耦合系统的动态。它与可持续发展的科学和公众利益相结合，包括大型项目中的多尺度和多文化合作，以及通过巴西和美国的参与、伙伴关系和教育发展起来的公共人类学。Heckenberger和他的团队将检查位于前哥伦布时代主要的最终城镇和村庄之间的假定的非现场生产区，并将这些设置与定居区和假定的非生产森林区域进行比较，在土壤和森林覆盖方面。该团队包括考古学家、古生态学家和民族生态学家，并继续进行一项成功的参与性研究项目，该项目涉及国际合作和与当地土著社区的接触。四个月的实地工作，包括培训和协作讲习班，将集中于45个不同地区的非现场土壤取样，以及每个地区森林植被的一般民族生态学特征。此外，还建议进行湿地测试，收集控制良好的花粉、微炭和其他残留物样本，以提供大定居点地区和更广泛区域格局的当地植被情况。

Dr. Michael Heckenberger (University of Florida) and Brazilian colleagues will conduct research to study the scale and organization of terminal pre-Columbian complex societies in the Upper Xingu region of the southern Amazon. The research builds on prior NSF-supported archaeology, which provided clear evidence of large, densely settled pre-Columbian populations and regional organization in two integrated clusters of walled towns and non-walled villages, ca. 1250-1650 CE, within a 1,200 km² study area. This project will provide important new data on the techno-economic systems and the resource base of production systems associated with the large, sedentary pre-Columbian populations, including forest and wetland management systems. These systems not only altered forest conditions but may have helped maintain or even expand forest in this mosaic area of transitional tropical forest. It is suggested that semi-intensive land use practices in production landscapes associated with primary food and industrial crops were concentrated in cluster core areas and high working forests dominated in peripheral areas. Rather than predominantly slash and burn agricultural practices or open field farming that denude forest, it is suggested that pre-Columbian groups of the region practiced hybrid systems that involved forest to forest conversion across the region, which helped maintain and expand forest species across the region, even during the period ca. 1250-1650 CE when settlements reached their maximum size and integration in clusters. The research informs debates on pre-Columbian population levels and human impacts in the Amazon, notably the maximal degree of anthropogenic influence on pre-industrial Amazonian forest ecosystems in the southern Amazon transitional forests and dynamics of coupled human-environmental systems in relation to climate change, sustainability and cultural heritage. It articulates with scientific and public interests in sustainability, including multi-scalar and multi-cultural collaborations in large projects and public anthropology developed through participation, partnership and education in Brazil and the USA.Dr. Heckenberger and his team will examine putative off-site production areas situated between major terminal pre-Columbian towns and villages and compare these settings to settlement areas and putative areas of non-production standing forest areas, in terms of soils and forest cover. The team includes archaeology, paleoecology and ethno-ecologists and continues a successful participatory research program that involves international collaboration and engagement with local indigenous communities. Four months of fieldwork, including training and collaboration workshops, will focus on off-site soil sampling in 45 discrete areas, as well as general ethnoecological characterization of forest vegetation in each area. Additionally, wetland testing is proposed to collect well controlled samples of pollen, micro-charcoal, and other remains, to provide a picture of local vegetation in areas of large settlements and broader regional patterns.