Doctoral Dissertation Research: Manihiki and Rakahanga: Persistence on the Margins of Oceania

博士论文研究：Manihiki 和 Rakahanga：大洋洲边缘的坚持

• 批准号: 1738371
• 负责人: Victor Thompson
• 金额: $ 2.52万
• 依托单位: University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-06-01 至 2019-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1738371&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Manihiki; Rakahanga

Human populations colonized and transformed many of the Earth's most marginal environments including deserts, mountains, and remote islands. In doing so they encountered unique environmental challenges and altered their behavior and the environment itself to match their cultural ideals and needs. Manihiki and Rakahanga, two remote and resource-poor atolls in the South Pacific Ocean, provide a unique small-scale setting to investigate the ways that human populations transformed and managed marginal environments to create long-term sustainability. The research team will use archaeological methods to investigate the processes of social and environmental transformation that sustained the people of Manihiki and Rakahanga for nearly 1,000 years, while investigating the role that the northern Cook Islands played in the colonization of East Polynesia. By training local assistants in archaeological methods, principles of site preservation, and highly applicable technical skills, this project will also provide local education opportunities, while encouraging the protection of local cultural resources. The completion of this research will result in a time line for human/environmental interaction on the atolls that stretches from island formation, during late-Holocene sea level fall, through to the historic period (roughly 1849 AD). The perspectives of historical ecology and resilience theory will be used to contextualize and explain how the long-term habitation of these atolls was accomplished. Combined, these efforts will facilitate a deep-time understanding of the ways that humans construct landscapes and develop conservation/ management practices that can sustain populations in even the most marginal environments. The results of this research will be shared through presentations and publications aimed at academic audiences, as well as local Cook Islands populations to inform and inspire conversations about local and global challenges regarding landscape management. This research draws from multiple socioecological perspectives. Historical ecology, is a research perspective that accepts the challenges of environmental conditions, while recognizing that humans can manipulate landscapes to create long-term trajectories of continuity and change. Resilience theory offers a complimentary viewpoint that contextualizes the processes that shape landscapes in terms of key social and ecological variables. Combined these frameworks will be used to address the following question: Through what processes and over what time scales have humans transformed and managed marginal or emerging environments to create resilient cultural landscapes? The research team will use archaeological field methods, including the excavation of habitation and resource procurement areas on Manihiki and Rakahanga to identify changing settlement patterns and physical landform alterations (i.e., the construction of horticultural fields). Laboratory analysis of the excavated materials will include zooarchaeological analysis of faunal remains to trace changes in local ecologies and resource use, foraminifera analysis to identify markers of atoll formation, and an extensive AMS radiocarbon dating program to define time spans for events in the landscape trajectories of the atolls. Combined these methods will answer this research question by revealing the long-term patterns of settlement, resource use, and landscape alteration that shaped long-term sustainability on these marginal atolls.

人口殖民并改变了地球上许多最边缘的环境，包括沙漠，山脉和偏远岛屿。在这样做的过程中，他们遇到了独特的环境挑战，并改变了其行为和环境本身，以符合他们的文化理想和需求。南太平洋的两个遥不可及和资源贫乏的环礁Manihiki和Rakahanga提供了一个独特的小规模环境，以调查人类人口转变和管理的边际环境以创造长期可持续性的方式。研究小组将使用考古方法研究社会和环境转型的过程，该过程维持了Manihiki和Rakahanga人民将近1000年，同时调查了北部库克群岛在东波利尼西亚殖民化中扮演的角色。通过培训当地助理考古方法，现场保存原则以及高度适用的技术技能，该项目还将提供当地的教育机会，同时鼓励保护当地文化资源。这项研究的完成将导致环礁上的人与环境互动的时间表，该环礁从岛层地层，近代晚期的海平面降落到历史时期（大约1849年）。历史生态学和韧性理论的观点将用于将这些环礁的长期居住方式进行背景化和解释。这些努力结合在一起，将有助于对人类建立景观的方式有深入的了解，并发展保护/管理实践，甚至可以在最边缘的环境中维持人口。这项研究的结果将通过针对学术受众的演讲和出版物以及当地的库克群岛人群来分享和激发有关景观管理的本地和全球挑战的对话。这项研究从多种社会生态角度汲取了灵感。历史生态学是一种研究观点，它接受了环境条件的挑战，同时认识到人类可以操纵景观以创建连续性和变化的长期轨迹。弹性理论提供了一种免费的观点，该观点将在关键的社会和生态变量方面塑造景观的过程上下文。这些框架将使用以下问题来解决以下问题：通过什么过程以及在什么时间范围内人类改变了边际或新兴环境以创造弹性的文化景观？研究小组将使用考古田间方法，包括在Manihiki和Rakahanga上发掘居住和资源采购领域，以确定不断变化的定居方式和物理地形改变（即园艺领域的建设）。对发掘材料进行的实验室分析将包括对动物遗骸的动物考古分析，以追踪当地生态和资源使用的变化，有孔虫分析，以识别环礁形成的标志，以及广泛的AMS放射性碳日期测定计划，以定义时间跨度的时间跨度，以弥补环境环境轨迹的事件。结合这些方法将通过揭示定居，资源使用和景观改变的长期模式来回答这个研究问题，从而影响了这些边缘环礁的长期可持续性。