Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Environmental Context of Urban Development

本研究对低地地区的人类与环境的相互作用进行了地质考古学调查，在那里，河流，湿地和海洋的形式鼓励了第一个城市社区的位置，时间和配置。地质考古学非常适合调查早期城市的环境背景，因为它将地质科学与考古数据集相结合，以研究社会与自然世界的交叉点。该团队将在一个曾经是动态河口三角洲的一部分的地区进行研究，在那里，城市的规模和物理布局与环境共同进化。该研究通过收集和分析古环境数据集来调查这些现象，以提供城市适应水环境的深时间视角。STEM多样性通过研究生和高级研究科学家的参与得到支持，而地球系统科学家与考古学家的跨学科整合将使日益相互依赖的城市全球社会面临气候不稳定和海平面上升。一个开放源代码和基于网络的数据库应用程序将通过将新数据与相邻地区以前发表的工作相结合来存储和综合地质考古信息。虽然考古学既支持也挑战了社会塑造和被环境塑造的观点，但人们普遍认为，社会政治复杂性首先出现在与河谷和沿海平原有关的社区。该项目将通过手动螺旋钻和冲击钻从预定位置提取沉积物岩心，包括残堤、决口斜坡和漫滩的场外取样，以及古运河、港口和粘土填充坑的现场取样。射线照相和X射线荧光扫描将用于通过视觉描述、沉积学和化学地层学来识别过去的河流、三角洲和海洋环境。同位素研究和微量元素分析将用于区分有氧和厌氧环境，以及位置和洪水特征。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。

This research undertakes a geoarchaeological investigation of human-environment interactions in a lowland region, where water in the form of rivers, wetlands, and sea encouraged the location, timing, and configuration of the first urban communities. Geoarchaeology is well suited to investigate the environmental context of early cities because it combines the geological sciences with archaeological datasets to examine the intersection of society with the natural world. The team will conduct their research in an area that was once part of a dynamic estuarine delta where the size and physical arrangement of cities coevolved with their environment. The research investigates these phenomena through the collection and analysis of paleoenvironmental datasets to provide a deep-time perspective on urban adaptation to watery settings. STEM diversity is supported through the involvement of graduate students and senior research scientists while the interdisciplinary integration of earth systems scientists with archaeologists will benefit an increasingly inter-dependent and urban global society facing climate instability and sea-level rise. An open source and web-based database application will store and synthesize the geoarchaeological information by joining new data with previously published work from adjoining areas. Though archaeology has both supported and challenged the notion that societies shaped and were shaped by their environments, there is broad consensus that sociopolitical complexity first arose in communities associated with river valleys and coastal plains. This project will extract sediment cores by hand auger and percussion drill from predetermined locations, including off-site sampling of relict levees, crevasse-splays and floodplain, as well as on-site sampling of ancient canals, harbors, and clay-filled pits. Radiography and XRF-scanning will be used to identify past fluvial, deltaic, and marine environments through visual description, sedimentology, and chemostratigraphy. Isotope studies and trace element analysis will be used to differentiate between aerobic and anaerobic settings, as well as the location and flood characteristics.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.