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由ENSO （El Niño南方涛动）气候异常引起的沿海干旱和随后的洪水的影响。该项目重建了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历史中。在这个地区，长期的干旱和灾难性的洪水导致沿海人口的减少和被遗弃。迄今为止，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，该项目承认与气候变化相关的挑战，同时也强调人们在不可预测的景观中的聪明才智。考古学特别适合继续研究这次干旱和洪水事件，同时将其置于文化适应和变化的更广泛背景下。该项目提供了沿海居民在大约300年期间所经历的局部环境数据。此外，它增加了考古知识的景观使用和再利用与一个长期的人类历史的地区。该项目的重点是使一个国际研究小组的成员专业化和培训，该小组将进一步传播他们关于这些题目的研究。这个项目关注的是一个重大的环境和文化变化时期。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，但该项目是第一个区域史前时期的区域尺度分析。具体来说，这项研究解决了两个主要问题：沿海居民如何适应不可预测的气候条件？干旱和El Niño洪水对海岸的总体影响是什么？为了回答这些问题，研究小组综合运用了考古学、地质学和生物学的研究方法。研究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）组成的团队进行考古发掘、人工制品分析、沉积物采样和分析、花粉采样和分析。这些跨学科的研究人员解决了环境和人类力量的融合，以了解农业和灌溉的适应性，使人们能够在这些气候灾害之后恢复过来。这个团队将开发一个当地的环境变化记录，供其他在多种干旱环境中进行气候变化研究的人使用。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。

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.