Human Adaptation to New Environments

人类对新环境的适应

• 批准号: 1947297
• 负责人: Todd Surovell
• 金额: $ 22.58万
• 依托单位: University of Wyoming
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-03-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1947297&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Human; Adaptation; New; Environments

University of Wyoming Professor Todd Surovell and colleagues will examine aspects of the subsistence practices and social organization of Ice Age inhabitants of North America. How would the first humans to inhabit a region make a living? How would they organize themselves socially? In a place and time where there are few constraints on how people might behave other than those imposed by the natural environment, what would human societies look like? The first Americans, entered ecosystems that were home to mammoths, mastodons, horses, camels, and ground sloths. Since no similar environments remain today, archaeology is the only field that provides a window into human lives in such contexts. Although similar stories played out through prehistory as the human species expanded across the globe, this research will provide insight into human social organization in one such case, the colonization of North America. The researchers will contribute to ongoing debates concerning the subsistence practices of the first Americans. Did early Paleoindians preferentially target large mammal species, or did they have a broad diet breadth? They will also examine aspects of cooperation in butchery of megafauna as well as questions aggregation and dispersal of hunter-gatherer households. These opportunities are afforded by additional excavation of the La Prele Mammoth site in Converse County, Wyoming. This site preserves the remains of a killed or scavenged subadult Columbian mammoth and an associated camp occupied during butchery. Multiple hearth-centered activity areas associated with and encircling the mammoth provide the opportunity to examine aspects of social organization using detailed lithic, faunal, and spatial analysis. This work will not only provide opportunities to train and support graduate and undergraduate students, but it will provide opportunities to train members of the Northern Arapaho tribe in archaeological field methods. During excavations avocational archaeological groups and members of the public will be welcomed to visit the site to learn about archaeological research and promote awareness of cultural resources.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.

怀俄明大学的Todd Surovell教授和他的同事将研究冰河时期北美居民的生存实践和社会组织。第一批居住在一个地区的人类将如何谋生？他们如何在社会上组织自己？在一个地方和时间里，除了自然环境施加的限制之外，人们的行为几乎没有什么限制，那么人类社会会是什么样子呢？第一批美洲人进入的生态系统是猛犸象、乳齿象、马、骆驼和地懒的家园。由于今天已经没有类似的环境了，考古学是唯一一个为人类在这种环境下的生活提供窗口的领域。虽然类似的故事在史前人类物种向全球扩张的过程中也发生过，但这项研究将为人类社会组织提供一个这样的例子，即北美的殖民化。研究人员将为有关第一批美国人的生存实践的持续辩论做出贡献。是早期古印第安人优先选择大型哺乳动物，还是他们的饮食范围很广？他们还将审查大型动物屠宰合作的各个方面，以及狩猎采集家庭聚集和分散的问题。这些机会是由怀俄明州匡威县拉普雷猛犸象遗址的额外挖掘提供的。这个遗址保存了一只被杀死或被食腐的亚成年哥伦比亚猛犸象的遗骸，以及一个在屠杀期间被占领的相关营地。与猛犸象相关和周围的多个以健康为中心的活动区提供了使用详细的石器、动物和空间分析来检查社会组织方面的机会。这项工作不仅将提供培训和支持研究生和本科生的机会，而且还将提供培训北阿拉帕霍部落成员的考古实地方法的机会。在挖掘期间，业余考古团体和公众将欢迎参观遗址，了解考古研究和提高对文化资源的认识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。