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

这个博士论文项目将研究火的使用，这是人类史前的一个重要适应，以及它与波动的环境条件的关系。燃烧的石质文物将被量化（频率），作为从广泛的时间、地理和气候条件中选择的旧石器时代考古遗址中几个石质文物组合的火使用度量。其他使用火的证据，如壁炉，通常是定性的（存在/不存在），因此在记录这些地点使用火的强度或范围方面用处有限。该项目将促进人们对环境变化下人类行为可塑性的认识。它还将利用博物馆收藏的可用但经常被忽视的数据，并将通过出版物和数据库使一系列学者可以访问这些数据。有关考古发现的公开展示将在博物馆内进行，以吸引更广泛的观众，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。外联活动将促进妇女和成人学习者参与科学探究，并培养对考古和古人类学研究的兴趣。根据尺寸等级分布，使用三种不同的采样策略（两种计数方法以及重量）来比较不同地层中燃烧的石头文物的频率。将结果数据与其他使用火的直接和地质考古证据相结合，将有助于记录在旧石器时代与每个寒冷和温暖间隔相关的职业期间使用火的程度。此外，还将进行一项使用超低冷冻室的对照实验，以评估霜风化对石质文物的自然过程的影响，通过区分由霜暴露引起的表面变化和燃烧引起的表面变化，提高鉴定烧伤燧石的准确性和可靠性。岩石学和扫描电子显微镜，以及傅里叶变换红外光谱，将被用来检测实验霜冻风化文物表面的宏观和微观变化。该项目的结果将通过改进采样方法和实验设计来分析燃烧的石头文物，并记录来自广泛地理范围的燃烧文物，从而为旧石器时代考古学领域做出贡献。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。

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.