Long Term Coastal Adaptation and Ecological Change

该项目研究了太平洋沿岸人类与环境相互作用的长期模式。研究地点毗邻一个高产的硬珊瑚礁，这是许多海洋物种的重要栖息地，位于主要洋流的交汇处。考古记录为了解环境变化、人类对自然资源的利用和生态系统在千年尺度上的恢复能力之间的关系提供了一个强有力的机会。该项目提供的生态和古环境数据为当地和全球渔业提供了长期背景，包括人为影响、环境变化和生态系统恢复力的数据。该项目的结果提供了关于海洋生产力如何影响人口扩张时间的重要信息。该项目有可能填补我们对沿海狩猎采集者的理解中重要的地理和时间空白。这项研究还解决了目前普遍存在的考古遗址损失和破坏风险增加的问题。在这个项目中进行的工作包括与国际考古学家密切合作，并通过公开讲座让当地社区参与进来。它还包括研究生培训。研究小组沿着太平洋海岸线进行考古调查和有限的挖掘，同时进行放射性碳定年和分析海洋贝壳和鱼类耳石以进行稳定的同位素测量，以制定沿海人类活动和古环境变化的年表。该项目有四个主要目标：1)确定沿海考古遗址的地理分布和占领时间；2)在长期环境变化的背景下重构人口流动和资源利用模式；3)追踪当地生态系统中与资源可用性的自然和人为变化相关的人类适应；(4)重建近岸古环境和生态，包括收集鱼类种群和生命周期数据，与现代渔业进行比较。这项工作产生了关于太平洋沿岸鱼类、贝类和其他海洋物种的分布和丰富程度的生物学和生态学数据。时间顺序、收获季节和生存数据解决了有关定居年代学、海洋资源利用和海面温度变化的问题。挖掘后对贝类和鱼类物种的分析为了解饮食变化和环境适应如何与自然和人为模式联系在一起提供了重要的见解。该项目的研究目标是在当前全球变化时期对沿海适应和海洋资源可持续性的更广泛的当代关注。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。

This project conducts research examining long-term patterns of human-environment interactions along the Pacific Coast. The study site is adjacent to a highly productive hard coral reef, which is an important habitat for numerous marine species and is at the intersection of major ocean currents. The archaeological record provides a strong opportunity to understand the relationship between environmental change, human use of natural resources, and ecosystem resiliency over millennia-scale time periods. The ecological and paleoenvironmental data from this project provides a long-term context for local and global fisheries, including data on anthropogenic impacts, environmental change, and ecosystem resilience. The results of this project provide important information about how marine productivity affects the timing of population expansion. The project has the potential to fill in important geographic and chronological gaps in our understanding of hunter-gatherer along ocean coastlines. This research also addresses the increased risk of archaeological site loss and destruction, currently prevelant. The work conducted during this project includes close collaboration with international archaeologists and includes engagement of the local community through public lectures. It also include graduate student training .The research team conducts archaeological survey and limited excavation along the Pacific coastline, along with radiocarbon dating and analyzing marine shells and fish otoliths for stable isotopic measurements, to develop a chronology for coastal human occupation and paleoenvironmental change. This project has four primary objectives: 1) determine the geographic distribution and chronology of occupation for coastal archaeological sites; 2) reconstruct patterns of mobility and resource use in the context of long-term environmental change; 3) track human adaptations in the local ecosystem related to natural and anthropogenic changes in resource availability; and (4) reconstruct aspects of nearshore paleoenvironments and ecology, including collecting fish demographic and lifecycle data for comparisons with modern fisheries. This work generates biological and ecological data about the distribution and abundance of fish, shellfish, and other marine species along the Pacific Coast. Chronological, season of harvest, and subsistence data addresses questions about settlement chronology, marine resource use, and sea surface temperature change. Analysis of shellfish and fish species after excavation provide critical insight into how dietary shifts and environmental adaptations are linked to natural and anthropogenic patterns. The research goals of this project speak to broader contemporary concerns about coastal adaptation and marine resource sustainability during the current time of global change.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.