Doctoral Dissertation Research: Investigating Variability in the Frequency of Fire Use in the Archaeological Record

这个博士论文项目将调查火的使用，这是人类史前的一种重要适应，以及它与波动的环境条件的关系。焚烧的石器将在旧石器时代考古遗址的几个石器组合中作为火使用的度量(频率)，这些石器组合从广泛的时间、地理和气候条件中挑选出来。其他使用火的证据，如火炉，往往是定性的(有/没有)，因此在记录这些地点使用火的强度或程度方面作用有限。该项目将促进对人类行为可塑性与变化环境的认识。它还将利用博物馆藏品中现有但往往被忽视的数据，并将使一系列学者通过出版物和数据库获取这些数据。关于这些发现的公开陈述将在博物馆环境中进行，以吸引更多的观众，该项目的背景信息和结果也将通过公共考古播客和社交媒体分享。推广活动将促进妇女和成人学习者参与科学研究，培养对考古学和古人类学研究的兴趣。将根据大小等级分布，使用三种不同的抽样策略(两种计数方法以及重量)，比较不同地层烧制石器的频率。将所得数据与其他使用火的直接和地质考古证据结合起来，将有助于记录旧石器时代占领期间与每个冷暖时段相关的火的使用程度。此外，将使用超低冰柜进行对照实验，以评估霜冻风化的自然过程对石制品的影响，通过区分霜冻暴露引起的表面变化和燃烧引起的表面变化，提高识别烧毁的打火石的准确性和可靠性。岩相学和扫描电子显微镜，以及傅里叶变换红外光谱，将被用来检测实验中霜冻风化文物表面的宏观和微观变化。该项目的成果将有助于旧石器时代考古领域，通过改进分析烧石文物的采样方法和实验设计，以及记录广泛地理范围的烧毁文物。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This doctoral dissertation project will investigate the use of fire, an important adaptation in human prehistory, and its relationship to fluctuating environmental conditions. Burned stone artifacts will be quantified (frequencies) as measures of fire use in several stone artifact assemblages from Paleolithic archaeological sites selected from a wide range of temporal, geographic, and climatic conditions. Other evidence of fire use, such as hearths, is often qualitative (presence/absence) and therefore of limited utility in documenting the intensity or extent of fire use at these sites. The project will advance knowledge about human behavioral plasticity with respect to changing environments. It will also leverage available, but often neglected, data from museum collections, and will make these data accessible to a range of scholars through publications and databases. Public presentations about the findings will be made in museum settings to engage wider audiences, and background information and results of the project also will be shared through public archaeology podcasts and social media. Outreach activities will promote the participation of women and adult learners in scientific inquiry, and foster interest in archaeological and paleoanthropological research.The frequency of burned stone artifacts will be compared across strata using three different sampling strategies (two types of counting methods, as well as weight) based on a size-grade distribution. Integrating the resulting data with other direct and geoarchaeological evidence of fire use will help to document the extent to which fire was used during the period of occupation associated with each cold and warm interval during the Paleolithic period. In addition, a controlled experiment using an ultra-low freezer will be conducted to assess the impact of the natural process of frost weathering on stone artifacts, to increase the level of accuracy and reliability in the identification of burned flints by distinguishing surface alterations that are caused by frosting exposures from those of burning. Petrographic and scanning electron microscopy, as well as Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, will be used to detect macro- and microscopic alterations on the surface of experimentally frost-weathered artifacts. The results of this project will contribute to the field of Paleolithic archaeology by advancing sampling methods and experimental designs for the analysis of burned stone artifacts, as well as documenting burned artifacts from an extensive geographic range.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.