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，但环境变化在这些帝国的发展以及人类史前最早的篇章中所起的作用仍然难以追踪。对稀有和个别遗址的初步调查可以在深入了解人类历史的早期篇章方面发挥重要作用。通过跨学科的科学发掘和数字保护，该奖项有助于记录、保存和保护一个受到威胁的文化遗产，并提供从新石器时代延伸到更新世时期的见解。这项研究集中在一个地区，在晚更新世期间，有三种不同的原始人存在。为了评估人类第一次迁徙、冰河时代巨型动物的灭绝和驯养动物的引入等变革过程，该项目重点关注最近发现的考古沉积物的挖掘和3D扫描。该研究使用尖端的考古和生物分子技术调查保存完好的考古沉积物，包括精密3D扫描，放射性碳测年，古代DNA和蛋白质组学，利用科学结果深入了解人类历史的轨迹，并开发基础设施，为子孙后代保护和保存洞穴。本项目由美国国家科学基金“生物人类学与考古学高风险研究”竞赛资助。虽然该遗址具有很高的科学潜力，但不知道考古材料可以追溯到多远的时间。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。

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.