Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Paleoarctic Human Adaptations

今天，推动人类学科学的一个基本问题是人类如何在地球上传播并适应世界各种环境。这个研究竞技场是一个重要的理论和方法论市场，遗传学家，生物人类学家，古生态学家和考古学家致力于解释全球人类扩散的过程。美洲的情况尤其如此，遗传模型预测，冰河时代晚期的人类在24，000到12，000年前迅速填满了西半球，起源于大东北亚，传播到阿拉斯加，到达南美洲的南锥体。需要从这些分散的地区获得考古证据，以实证检验早期狩猎采集者如何分散的遗传理论。考古记录中最明显的组成部分之一是北方亚洲和美洲的史前猎人使用的各种形式的武器和投射物，特别是石矛尖与骨/鹿角/象牙尖，后者有时插入石微型刀片。影响这些武器设计的功能、环境和社会因素仍然未知。为什么西伯利亚和阿拉斯加的古代采集者在进入美洲时使用不同的武器系统？这些多变的武器是如何促进西半球每一个生态位的定居的？这项新研究将深入了解主要投射点技术的使用和人类决策过程，因为早期美国人分散在不同的环境中，在冰河时代结束时，气候和生态发生了巨大的变化，扩大了人类适应性的知识，特别是在北方景观中。该研究的国际背景将促进新一代美国，加拿大和俄罗斯考古学家之间的关系，研究人类行为变化和北极圈的适应。该项目将通过传统上用于生计活动的抛射系统的教育示范，吸引阿拉斯加土著社区参与，促进考古学家与公众之间的积极关系。了解这些重要人工制品的功能将有助于维持阿拉斯加原住民的传统生计做法，并将有助于揭示古代组合差异的原因，以及最终这些差异如何与白令吉亚和美洲的殖民化有关。约书亚林奇，德克萨斯州农工大学博士候选人&，将通过检查石器，骨质，和复合点，以测试解释为什么不同的射弹技术共同出现在遥远的北方的早期考古记录的假设。这将通过一系列实验来实现，这些实验采用反映三种不同武器系统（手推矛、弓箭和矛投掷器）中使用的考古实例的射弹，以产生古代武器技术的新的破损和使用磨损模式标准。通过建立特定点形式的功能，项目结果将改善对冰河时代考古学组合变异性的解释，因为它与觅食行为、景观利用、场地功能和文化变异性有关。此外，还将对西伯利亚和阿拉斯加40多个重要考古遗址的抛射点进行宏观和微观分析，并与实验测试结果进行比较。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

A fundamental question driving anthropological science today asks how humans spread across the Earth and adapt to the world's varied environments. This research arena is an important theoretical and methodological marketplace where geneticists, biological anthropologists, paleoecologists, and archaeologists work to explain the process of global human dispersal. This is especially the case in the Americas, where genetic models predict that humans of the late Ice Age rapidly filled the Western Hemisphere, originating in greater Northeast Asia, spreading to Alaska, and reaching the Southern Cone of South America, between 24,000 and 12,000 calendar years ago. Archaeological evidence is required from these scattered regions to empirically test the genetic-based theory of how early hunter-gatherers dispersed. One of the most visible components of the archaeological record is the variable forms of weapons and projectile points that prehistoric hunters across northern Asia and America used, specifically stone lanceolate points versus bone/antler/ivory points, the latter sometimes inset with stone microblades. The functional, environmental, and social factors that influenced these weapon designs remain unknown. Why did ancient foragers of Siberia and Alaska employ different weapon systems as they entered the Americas? How did these variable weapons facilitate settlement of every ecological niche in the Western Hemisphere? The new research will offer insight into the use of major projectile-point technologies and human decision-making processes as early Americans dispersed through different environments, at the end of the Ice Age when dramatic climatic and ecological changes were taking place, broadening knowledge of human adaptability, especially in northern landscapes. The international context of the research will foster relationships between a new generation of American, Canadian, and Russian archaeologists investigating human behavioral change and adaptation in the circumpolar Arctic. The project will engage Alaskan Native communities through educational demonstrations of projectile systems traditionally used in subsistence activities, promoting positive relationships between archaeologists and the public. Understanding the functions of these important artifacts will help sustain traditional subsistence practices among Native Alaskans and will help reveal the reasons for ancient assemblage differences and ultimately how these differences relate to the colonization of Beringia and the Americas.Joshua Lynch, PhD candidate at Texas A&M University, will examine variability in projectile technologies Ice Age Siberia and Beringia by examining the range of morphological and functional variation in lithic, osseous, and composite points to test hypotheses explaining why different projectile technologies co-occur in the early archaeological record of the far north. This will be achieved through a series of experiments employing projectiles reflective of archaeological examples used in three different weapon systems (hand-thrust spear, bow and arrow, and spear thrower) to generate a new standard of breakage and use-wear patterns for ancient weapon technologies. By establishing the functions of specific point forms, project results will improve interpretations of Ice Age archaeological assemblage variability as it relates to foraging behavior, landscape use, site function, and cultural variability. Further, macro- and microscopic analyses of projectile points from more than 40 pivotal Siberian and Alaskan archaeological sites will be conducted and compared to the results of the experimental testing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.