Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Impact of the Miraflores El Niño Flood on the Chiribaya of Far Southern Peru

该项目的目标是研究沿海地区被称为ENSO(厄尔尼诺南方涛动)的气候异常所造成的沿海干旱和随后的洪水的影响。该项目重建沿海考古遗址的文化和环境历史，然后将该遗址置于该地区更广泛的考古史中。在该地区，长期干旱和灾难性洪灾导致沿海人口被遗弃和减少。到目前为止，对该地区的研究主要集中在环境变化导致的社会崩溃上。相比之下，这个项目承认了与气候变化相关的挑战，同时也强调了人们在不可预测的景观中的独创性。考古学特别适合继续研究这一旱灾和洪灾事件，同时将其置于文化适应和变化的更广泛背景下。该项目提供了关于沿海人民在大约300年期间所经历的本地化环境数据。此外，它还增加了在人类历史较长时期的地区使用和再利用景观的考古学知识。该项目的重点是国际研究小组成员的专业化和培训，该研究小组将进一步传播他们对这些专题的研究。虽然已经在其他地点进行了研究，以了解沿海干旱和洪水的影响，但该项目是第一次对这段区域史前时期的区域规模进行分析。具体地说，这项研究涉及两个主要问题：沿海人民如何适应不可预测的气候条件？干旱和厄尔尼诺洪水对沿海的集体影响是什么？为了回答这些问题，研究小组结合了考古学、地质学和生物学的研究方法。研究人员带领一个由考古学家、地质考古学家和孢粉学家(花粉分析员)组成的团队进行考古挖掘、文物分析、沉积物采样和分析以及花粉采样和分析。这些跨学科的研究人员致力于环境和人类力量的融合，以了解农业和灌溉的适应能力，使人们能够在这些气候灾难后保持弹性。该团队将开发一份当地的环境变化记录，供在多种干旱环境中进行气候变化研究的其他人使用。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。

The goal of this project is to study the impact of a coastal drought and a subsequent flood caused by the climatic anomaly known as ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) in a coastal region. This project reconstructs both the cultural and environmental history at a coastal archaeological site and then place the site within the broader archaeological history of the region. In this region a prolonged drought followed by catastrophic flooding caused the abandonment and reduction of coastal populations. To date, research on this region has focused on societal collapse due to environmental change. In contrast, this project acknowledges the challenges associated with climatic changes, while also emphasizing the ingenuity of people in unpredictable landscapes. Archaeology is particularly well placed to continue research on this drought and flood event, while putting it within the broader context of cultural adaptation and change. The project provides localized environmental data on what coastal peoples experienced over a ca. 300 year period. Additionally, it adds to the archaeological knowledge of landscape use and reuse in an area with an extended period of human history. The project focuses on professionalization and training of members of an international research team that will further disseminate their research on these topics.This project focuses on a period of major environmental and cultural changes. Though research has been done at other sites to understand the impact of the coastal drought and flood, this project is the first regional scale analysis of this period of regional prehistory. Specifically, the research addresses two main questions: How did coastal peoples adapt to unpredictable climate conditions? And what was the collective impact of the drought and El Niño floods on the coast? To answer these questions the research team uses a combination of archaeological, geological, and biological research methods. The researcher leads a team of archaeologists, geoarchaeologists, and palynologists (pollen analysts) to conduct archaeological excavations, artifact analysis, sediment sampling and analysis, and pollen sampling and analysis. These interdisciplinary researchers address the convergence of environmental and human forces to understand agricultural and irrigational adaptations that allowed people to be resilient following these climate disasters. This team will develop a local record of environmental change that will be accessible to others conducting climate change research in multiple arid environments.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.