Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Early Prehistoric Human Ecology

与其他任何动物相比，人类更能调整自己的行为，以应对各种环境的挑战。他们还改变自己的环境，以更好地满足自己的需求。通过研究跨越不同生态环境和时间的人与环境的相互作用，考古学家能够识别和研究人类群体在面对变化时表现出韧性的准确方式。在这个项目中，密歇根大学的一名博士生将与同事和当地利益相关者合作，调查早期人类与他们在山区和热带雨林交界处的史前环境之间的关系。这项研究的结果将有助于科学家了解人类和后来如何发展今天仍然重要的本土农业系统。该项目也代表了STEM中妇女之间的国际合作，为出版和职业发展提供了机会。最后，通过雇佣后代社区并参与社区推广，该项目将吸引当地土著群体保护和照顾他们自己的文化遗产。尽管人类已经占据了地球上几乎所有的陆地栖息地，但考古学家长期以来一直认为，一些地方比其他地方更具吸引力，特别是对于史前狩猎采集者来说，他们直接从周围环境中获取日常生存资源。障碍最多、机会最少的地方通常被称为“边缘地带”，以北极冻土带和热带沙漠为代表。长期以来，考古学家一直在争论热带雨林是否属于这一类，因为那里的大量生命--极其丰富的动植物--要么不能食用，要么人类无法接近。然而，确定热带雨林对人类的实际适宜性是困难的，因为在这些地区发现的狩猎-采集地点很少。该项目将通过调查云雾森林中潜在的狩猎-采集地点来解决这一不足。将挖掘横跨两个山谷的洞穴，以确定感兴趣的地点。通过分析发现的石器、植物和动物遗骸以及其他类型的考古证据，该项目将评估该环境是否像人们普遍认为的那样对早期人类具有挑战性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

More so than any other animal, humans are able to adapt their behaviors to meet the challenges of a wide range of environments. They also alter their environments to better suit their needs. By investigating human-environment interactions across diverse ecological settings and throughout time, archaeologists are able to identify and study precise ways in which human groups exhibit resilience in the face of change. In this project a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan, will collaborate with colleagues and local stakeholders to investigate the relationship between early humans and their prehistoric environments at a mountain - rainforest intersection. The results of this research will contribute important new information to scientists’ understanding of how humans and later developed native agricultural systems which remain important today. This project also represents an international collaboration among women in STEM, providing opportunities for publication and career advancement. Finally, by hiring from descendant communities and engaging in community outreach, the project will engage local indigenous groups in the preservation and caretaking of their own cultural heritage.Although humans have come to occupy nearly every terrestrial habitat on the planet, archaeologists have long believed that some places are more attractive than others, particularly for prehistoric hunter-gatherers who drew their daily resources for survival directly from their surroundings. Places that present the most obstacles and afford the fewest opportunities are generally referred to as “marginal,” and are epitomized by arctic tundra and tropical deserts. Archaeologists have long debated whether tropical rainforests belong in this group because much of the superabundant life there—the tremendous richness and diversity of plants and animals—is either inedible or inaccessible to humans. However, determining rainforests’ actual suitability to humans is difficult because very few hunter-gatherer sites have been found in such regions. This project will address that shortfall by investigating potential hunter-gatherer sites in a cloud forest,. Caves across two valleys will be excavated in order to locate sites of interest. By analyzing the stone tools, plant and animal remains, and other kinds of archaeological evidence uncovered, this project will evaluate whether this environment was as challenging to early humans as is widely believed.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.