Tree Ring Dating in Western North America

树轮测年是北美过去两千年考古资料最精确的非文献测年方法，而亚利桑那大学树轮研究实验室(LTRR)是该地区考古树轮日期的唯一来源。在国家科学基金会(NSF)的支持下，LTRR对LTRR和其他考古学家从阿拉斯加到阿根廷，从太平洋到密西西比河收集的树轮样本进行分析。NSF的支持将使该项目能够跟上日益增长的考古年轮测年需求，并保持高生产水平和较短的周转时间。平均而言，每年从1500个考古树轮样本中提取出750多个树苗。这些数据被整合到相关的考古学背景中，以构建精致的文化序列，并检查过去人类行为的重要问题，如果没有准确、高分辨率的时间控制，这些问题是无法解决的。这些主题包括绝对的地点、地点和区域年表，社会组织结构，群体间的互动，以及对自然和社会环境的文化适应。该计划积极推动考古年轮扩大到新的地区，如西南沙漠、大盆地、大平原、落基山脉、阿拉斯加、墨西哥和南美洲；它还直接和间接地支持学生的研究。该项目具有广泛的更广泛的影响。它的发现将被整合到亚利桑那大学和其他学术机构的人类学、地球科学和其他学科的本科生和研究生课程中。此外，该项目与K-12项目互动，每年为大约12,000名游客和学生提供该设施的公共参观；它为来自世界各地的访问学者提供指导，并促进非营利性、政府、私营部门和美洲原住民项目的实地和实验室培训。学生将从分析成本的降低中获得特别的好处，从而使他们能够以更低的成本进行广泛的研究。LTRR树轮样本收集和档案是无与伦比的、易于获取的考古研究资源，正在建设的数字数据库将提高这些资源的研究价值。更多地了解人类对文化和环境变化的长期适应，以及对过去环境过程的更多了解，将有助于制定和执行环境和社会政策。项目人员将直接为联邦、地方和部落土地管理机构制定管理文化和自然资源的政策做出贡献。该项目还具有额外的智力优势。准确的年代测定和年表构建对于理解人类行为、人与环境的相互作用以及社会文化的稳定、变异、变化和社会演变过程至关重要。无论是直接还是间接(通过树轮年代的陶瓷)，树轮测年奠定了西南史前年代学和该地区有记录的历史的许多方面的基础。该项目还将产生气候重建，并结合其他古环境学科的重建，如地质学、花粉分析、火山学和微量元素研究。除了阐明过去的环境过程外，这些综合重建将为研究人类行为和环境变异性之间的相互关系提供坚实的经验基础。最后，该项目努力将研究扩展到以前被认为不适合考古树轮测年的地区，为索诺兰沙漠、大盆地、西部大平原、阿拉斯加、墨西哥北部和南美洲的考古年代学提供了绝对日期的“转折点”。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Tree-ring dating is the most precise non-documentary method of dating archaeological materials from the past two thousand years in North America, and the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) at the University of Arizona is the only source of archaeological tree-ring dates in the area. With National Science Foundation (NSF) support, the LTRR operates an analysis program for tree-ring samples collected by LTRR and other archaeologists from Alaska to Argentina and from the Pacific Ocean to the Mississippi River. NSF support will allow the program to keep pace with the ever growing demand for archaeological tree-ring dating, and to maintain high production levels and short turnaround times. On average, more than 750 dates from 1500+ archaeological tree-ring samples are produced annually. These data are integrated into relevant archaeological contexts to construct refined cultural sequences and examine important issues of past human behavior that cannot be addressed without accurate, high resolution temporal control. Among these topics are absolute site, locality, and regional chronologies, social organization structure, intergroup interaction, and cultural adaptation to physical and social environments. The program actively promotes the expansion of archaeological tree-ring dating into new regions such as the Southwestern deserts, Great Basin, Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Alaska, Mexico, and South America; it also supports student research both directly and indirectly. The project has a wide range of broader impacts. Its findings will be integrated into undergraduate and graduate classes in anthropology, geosciences, and other disciplines at the University of Arizona and other academic institutions. In addition, the project interacts with K-12 programs and provides public tours of the facility to an estimated 12,000 visitors and students annually; it provides instruction for visiting scholars from around the world and facilitates field and laboratory training for non-profit, governmental, private sector, and Native American programs. Students will accrue particular benefits from the reduced cost of analysis, thus allowing them to conduct extensive research at lower costs. The LTRR tree-ring sample collections and archives are unparalleled, easily accessed resources for archaeological research, and an under-construction digital database will enhance the research value of these resources. Increased understanding of long-term human adaptation to cultural and environmental variability and enhanced knowledge of past environmental processes will help develop and implement environmental and social policy. Project personnel will contribute directly to formulating policy for managing cultural and natural resources by federal, local, and tribal land management agencies.The project has additional intellectual merits. Exact dating and chronology building are crucial to understanding human behavior, human-environment interactions, and processes of sociocultural stability, variation, change, and social evolution. Either directly or indirectly (through tree-ring dated ceramics), tree-ring dating underlies the chronology of Southwestern prehistory and many aspects of the documented history of the region. The project will also generate climatic reconstructions that are combined with reconstructions produced by other paleoenvironmental disciplines such as geology, pollen analysis, volcanology, and trace element studies. In addition to illuminating past environmental processes, these integrated reconstructions will provide a solid empirical foundation for examining the interrelationships between human behavior and environmental variability. Finally, the project's efforts to expand research into areas previously thought to be unsuitable for archaeological tree-ring dating provide absolutely dated "hinge points" for archaeological chronologies in the Sonoran Desert, the Great Basin, the western Great Plains, Alaska, northern Mexico, and South America.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.