Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Human Foodways in the Context of Environmental Change

这个博士论文项目使用综合考古学和古生态学的方法来研究文化和环境之间过去的关系。尽管在了解古印第安人的生活方式方面取得了重大进展，但人类种群与植物群落之间的关系仍不清楚。不断变化的环境条件对可用资源的影响有多严重？人类又是如何应对的？回答这些问题对于辨别美洲的人口分布方式以及人类如何适应更广泛的干旱环境至关重要。要回答这些问题的研究受到了考古遗址中保存完好的植物遗迹的缺乏和精细的古环境记录的罕见的挑战。该项目将产生解决这些长期问题所需的高分辨率饮食和植被数据。除了测试过去人类-植物动态的理论模型外，这项工作还将为当前的问题提供信息，例如变暖条件对人口和植被群落的影响。调查人员将通过协调的活动、巡回展览和吸引当地社区和土著群体参与的信息小册子，为公众教育做出贡献。通过强调人类与植物之间的长期关系，这一推广活动将鼓励对区域自然和文化资源的欣赏和管理。目前对古印第安人饮食的了解严重倾向于优先保存考古记录中的动物遗骸，而不是植物。这使观点产生偏差，并限制了充分检验理论模型的能力。俄勒冈州中部的康利洞穴提供了一个独特的机会来进行一项双管齐下的研究，在高分辨率的当地植被历史背景下检查饮食植物数据。该博士生将分析在现场保存的五个壁炉中的考古植物遗骸（例如，种子，水果，根），以检查饮食广度，觅食区域，季节性和现场活动的趋势。她还将分析附近沼泽沉积物芯中的花粉，以重建人们觅食的环境。当整合后，来自洞穴和沼泽的数据将为测试长期存在的定居-生存模型提供所需的框架，这些模型可以预测人们在哪里觅食，他们利用什么资源，以及他们如何分工。除了这个项目的直接问题之外，研究产生的强大的考古植物组合和强大的环境代理数据将在整个地区的人类学、古生态学和地质学研究中有更广泛的应用。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 uses integrated archaeological and palaeoecological approaches to examine past relationships between culture and the environment. Despite significant advances in understanding Paleoindian lifeways, the relationship between human populations and plant communities remains unclear. How severely did changing environmental conditions affect available resources and how did humans respond? Answering these questions is critical to discerning how the Americas were populated and how humans adapt to arid environments more broadly. Research to answer these questions has been challenged by a lack of well-preserved botanical remains from archaeological sites and a rarity of refined paleoenvironmental records. This project will produce high-resolution dietary and vegetation data needed to address these longstanding questions. In addition to testing theoretical models of people-plant dynamics in the past, this work will also inform current issues such as the impact of warming conditions on human populations and vegetation communities. The investigators will contribute to public education through coordinated events, a traveling exhibit, and informational pamphlets that engage local communities and Indigenous groups. By highlighting the long-term relationship between humans and plants, this outreach will encourage appreciation and stewardship of regional natural and culture resources. Current knowledge of Paleoindian diets is heavily skewed toward the preferential preservation of faunal remains relative to plants in the archaeological record. This biases perspectives and limits the ability to fully test theoretical models. Connley Caves in central Oregon provides a unique opportunity to conduct a two-pronged study that examines dietary plant data within the context of a high-resolution local vegetation history. The doctoral student will analyze the archaeobotanical remains (e.g., seeds, fruits, roots) from five hearths preserved at the site to examine trends in diet breadth, foraging zones, seasonality, and site activities. She will also analyze pollen in sediment cores from a nearby marsh to reconstruct the environment in which people were foraging. When integrated, data from the caves and marsh will provide the framework needed to test long-held settlement-subsistence models that predict where people foraged, what resources they exploited, and how they divided their labor. Beyond the immediate questions of this project, the robust archaeobotanical assemblage and powerful environmental proxy data produced by the research will have broader applications for anthropological, palaeoecological, and geologic studies throughout the region.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.