Collaborative Research: Long Term Maintenance of Sustainable Agriculture

随着全球人口增长和气候不稳定对粮食安全构成新的挑战，建立可持续的生产性农业系统变得越来越重要。然而，评估真正的长期可持续性所需的数百年或数千年的时间尺度往往无法通过当代生态数据集获得。因此，考古学家分析的深时文化和环境数据集为了解数千年来的可持续农业实践提供了一个独特的窗口，使研究人员能够深入了解有助于（或抑制）生产性农业生态系统寿命的社会和环境因素。该项目将采用多学科的考古和生态方法，调查800多年来在迎风夏威夷山谷（Halāwa山谷，Moloka'i岛）的土著农业活动，并评估其长期生产力和可持续性。它将为集约农业系统的建立和发展提供新的见解，包括农业对当地土壤，水资源利用和植被的影响，以及过去人们适应气候波动和资源限制的方式。作为一个以社区为基础的参与性研究项目，研究人员将与当地社区成员和非营利组织合作，为当地利益相关者提供考古和遗产管理培训机会，并将研究成果应用于莫洛凯岛的生态系统恢复和可持续农业。这项研究还将为夏威夷原住民和其他代表性不足的利益相关者在实地，实验室和博物馆环境中提供STEM培训机会。该项目将结合联合收割机重新分析以前挖掘的考古收藏品，重新进行实地调查，并在哈拉瓦山谷挖掘，以测试这一假设，即密集的湿谷夏威夷农业生态系统不仅生产力高，但可持续跨越几个世纪的农业活动。这项研究将涉及六个主要目标：（1）考古调查和绘图，有针对性的挖掘，以及新的高精度放射性碳测年将被应用于记录灌溉农业和水流控制机制的发展。(2)GIS制图、土壤和微植物学分析将用于调查山谷内崩积坡农业的性质和范围，这是哈拉瓦山谷粮食生产的一个研究不足但可能至关重要的组成部分。(3)土壤样本的化学分析将描述整个山谷的土壤肥力，并研究几个世纪的农业对土壤养分供应的影响。(4)对档案记录的分析将调查早期接触后的土地使用和水权，以描述哈拉瓦农业系统过去的社会和政治背景。(5)对考古动物遗迹的分析将研究畜牧业的发展及其与粮食生产和资源分配决策的结合。对猪、狗和老鼠遗骸的稳定同位素分析将检查农业生态系统中食物网和营养流的变化，以评估不断变化的土地利用和可持续性。(6)在夏威夷农业神庙（heiau）遗址进行的有限的测试挖掘将为山谷中与农业集约化和生产力相关的社会政治发展提供一个时间顺序。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智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Establishing sustainable and productive agricultural systems is increasingly important as global population growth and climatic instability pose new challenges to food security. However, the centuries- or millennia-long time scales necessary to evaluate true long-term sustainability are often inaccessible through contemporary ecological datasets. The deep-time cultural and environmental datasets analyzed by archaeologists therefore offer a unique window into understanding sustainable agricultural practices across millennia, allowing researchers insight into both the social and environmental factors that contribute to (or inhibit) the longevity of productive agro-ecosystems systems. This project will apply a multidisciplinary archaeological and ecological approach to investigate 800+ years of indigenous agricultural activities in a windward Hawaiian Valley (Halāwa Valley, Moloka‘i Island) and evaluate its long-term productivity and sustainability. It will provide new insight into the establishment and growth of intensive agricultural systems, including the impacts of agriculture on local soils, water use, and vegetation, as well as the ways past people adapted to climatic fluctuations and resource limitations. As a community-based participatory research project, researchers will work in collaboration with local community members and non-profit organizations to facilitate archaeology and heritage management training opportunities for local stakeholders, and to apply research results towards ecosystem restoration and sustainable agriculture on Moloka‘i. This research will also offer STEM training opportunities for Native Hawaiians and other underrepresented stakeholders in field, laboratory, and museum settings. This project will combine re-analysis of previously excavated archaeological collections with renewed field survey and excavations in Halāwa Valley to test the hypothesis that intensive wet-valley Hawaiian agro-ecosystems were not only highly productive, but sustainable across centuries of agricultural activities. This research will address six primary objectives: (1) archaeological survey and mapping, targeted excavation, and new high-precision radiocarbon dating will be applied to document the development of irrigated agriculture and water flow control mechanisms. (2) GIS mapping, soil, and microbotanical analyses will be applied to investigate the nature and extent of colluvial slope agriculture within the valley, an under-researched but likely critical component of food production in Halāwa Valley. (3) Chemical analyses of soil samples will characterize soil fertility across the valley and examine the impacts of centuries of agriculture on soil nutrient availability. (4) Analysis of archival records will investigate early post-contact land use and water rights to characterize the past social and political context of agricultural systems in Halāwa. (5) Analysis of archaeological faunal remains will examine the development of animal husbandry and its integration into food production and resource allocation decisions. Stable isotope analysis of pig, dog, and rat remains will examine changes to food webs and nutrient flows across agro-ecosystems to evaluate changing land use and sustainability. (6) Limited test excavations at Hawaiian agricultural temple (heiau) sites will provide a chronological sequence for sociopolitical developments in the valley linked to agricultural intensification and productivity.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.