Collaborative Research: Climate Change and Human Adaptation in Arctic-like Environments across the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition

气候变化在整个人类历史上影响着人们和社会。该项目研究人类行为如何受到极端气候变化事件的影响，特别是当最后一个冰河时代过渡到当前的间冰期时发生的大规模突然变暖，称为全新世。该项目将重点关注北方新英格兰的人类和气候，在那里，变暖推动了从苔原植被到森林环境的快速转变。了解北方新英格兰的气候和生态系统是如何随着时间和空间的变化而变化的，因为它从开放的苔原过渡，将提供一个有价值的视角，以了解现代北极地区的树线和以上可能会随着预计的未来变暖而变化。该项目将导致对长期人类历史的新理解，包括对快速气候和环境变化的适应。这一信息将通过纪录片、新闻文章以及当地和土著社区、K-12教师和高中学生参与研究活动的方式传达给更广泛的受众。在北方新英格兰，2011年新仙女木（YD）结束时，700年前，气候迅速变暖，从开放的苔原和云杉帕克兰环境转变为一个与今天北极部分地区非常相似的环境--封闭的树冠森林。人类的生计也发生了变化，但这些变化的细节却没有得到很好的解决。结合考古学、古湖沼学和古生态学的方法，这项合作将确定变暖驱动的环境变化（例如，植树造林）在北方新英格兰在YD结束时对应于人类的适应性反应，如假设的减少流动性和区域人口减少。研究人员将量化过去的温度变化，并利用湖泊沉积物重建古环境条件，重点是昆虫（摇蚊）和花粉分析。他们将为YD时代的凹槽点时期和全新世早期的晚古印度时期石器工业开发高分辨率的年表。然后，他们将联合收割机结合这些年代久远的记录，以评估气候、植被和人类流动、定居模式和技术变化的相对时间。项目成果将与研究地点附近的居民和更广泛的观众分享，该项目将在研究机构培养地球科学、新闻和纪录片专业的学生。该奖项反映了NSF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。

Climate change has influenced people and societies throughout human history. This project investigates how human behavior was influenced by an extreme climate change event, specifically the large and abrupt warming that occurred when the last ice age transitioned to the current interglacial period, known as the Holocene Epoch. This project will focus on humans and climate in northern New England, where the warming drove a rapid transition from tundra vegetation to a forested environment. Understanding how climate and ecosystems changed over time and space in northern New England, as it transitioned from open tundra, will provide a valuable perspective into how modern Arctic areas at and above treeline may change with projected future warming. The project will result in a new understanding of long-term human history, including adaptations to rapid climate and environmental changes. This information will be conveyed to a broader audience through documentary films, news articles and the involvement of local and Indigenous communities, K-12 teachers, and high school students in research activities.In northern New England, the end of the Younger Dryas (YD) ∼11,700 years ago was marked by rapid warming and the transition from open tundra and spruce parkland environments – an environment that is closely analogous to parts of the Arctic today - to closed canopy forest. Human livelihoods also transformed, but the details of these changes are poorly resolved. Combining methods from archeology, paleolimnology and paleoecology, this collaboration will determine the extent to which warming-driven environmental changes (e.g., afforestation) in northern New England at the end of the YD corresponded to human adaptive responses, such as hypothesized reduced mobility and regional depopulation. The researchers will quantify past temperature changes and reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions using lake sediments, with a focus on insect (chironomid) and pollen analyses. They will develop high-resolution chronologies for the YD-age Fluted-Point-Period and early Holocene-age Late Paleoindian Period stone tool industries. They will then combine these well-dated records to evaluate the relative timings of changes in climate, vegetation and human mobility, settlement patterns and technology. Project results will be shared with residents near study sites and broader audiences, and this project will train geoscience, journalism, and documentary film students at the researchers’ institutions.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.