High Risk Research: Understanding Long Term Human Adaptation in a Challenging Environment

虽然游牧帝国在近几千年来对人类历史产生了巨大的影响，但环境变化在这些发展中的作用以及人类史前史的最早章节仍然很难追溯。对稀有和个别地点的初步调查可以在深入了解人类故事的这些早期章节方面发挥重要作用。通过跨学科的科学挖掘和数字保护，该奖项有助于记录，保存和保护一个洞穴受到威胁的文化遗产，并提供深入了解，通过新石器时代可能回到更新世时期。这项研究的重点是一个地区，其中在晚更新世三种不同的人科动物。 为了评估人类第一次扩散、冰河时代巨型动物灭绝和驯养动物的引入等变革过程，该项目侧重于对最近发现的考古沉积物进行挖掘和3D扫描。该研究使用尖端的考古和生物分子技术，包括精确的3D扫描，放射性碳测年，古代DNA和蛋白质组学，调查保存完好的考古沉积物，利用科学结果深入了解人类历史的轨迹，并开发基础设施，为后代保护和保存洞穴。该项目由NSF“生物人类学和考古学高风险研究”竞赛资助。虽然该遗址具有很高的科学潜力，但尚不清楚考古材料的历史追溯到多远。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。

While pastoral empires had a tremendous impact on human history over recent millennia, the role of environmental variation in the development of these as well as in the earliest chapters of human prehistory remain difficult to trace. Preliminary investigations at rare and individual sites can play important roles in providing insight into these earlier chapters of the human story. Through interdisciplinary scientific excavation and digital conservation, this award helps to document, preserve, and protect one caves threatened cultural heritage and also provide insight which extends through the Neolithic potentially back into the Pleistocene period. The research focuses on a region in which during the Late Pleistocene three different species of hominids were present. In order to assess the transformative processes like the first human dispersals, the extinction of Ice Age megafauna, and the introduction of domesticated animals, this project focuses on the excavation and 3D scanning of recently identified archaeological deposits. The research investigates well-preserved archaeological deposits using cutting-edge archaeological and biomolecular techniques, including precision 3D scanning, radiocarbon dating, ancient DNA, and proteomics, using scientific results to gain insights into the trajectory of human history and to develop infrastructure to protect and preserve the cave for future generations. This project is funded through NSF” “High-Risk Research in Biological Anthropology and Archaeology” competition. While the site has very high scientific potential it is not known how far back in time archaeological materials extend.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.