Doctoral Dissertation Research: Method to Determine the Geographic Distribution of Timber

博士论文研究：确定木材地理分布的方法

• 批准号: 2330049
• 负责人: Sturt Manning
• 金额: $ 3.9万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-11-01 至 2025-10-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2330049&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Method; Determine

Archaeological wood provides a record of human existence ranging from technological development to economic and social organization. This doctoral dissertation grant focuses on wood which has been and remains a resource of fundamental importance to human societies past and present. As an organic product, wood is also an environmental archive which the science of dendrochronology has harnessed to reconstruct past environments dating back hundreds to thousands of years. This information can be most effectively utilized if the growth-location (provenance) of the trees in question is known. Multiple different approaches to determine the geographic origin of transported wood samples have been applied to archaeological wood, including the study of wood anatomical features, ancient DNA, and the chemical composition of wood, but all have faced drawbacks which limit their applicability. This project develops a new approach to provenance focused on the use of multiple isotopes to help constrain the area from which archaeological wood samples could have originated. As well as insight on past human societies and climates, this research is also applicable in the present through the development of a method which can help to identify illegally logged timber, and the future by contributing a long-term perspective on environmental change.The research focuses on the isotopes of three specific elements: oxygen, sulfur, and strontium. The natural ratios of these isotopes vary geographically, meaning that specific locations have a particular isotopic signature which is also reflected in the wood of trees growing in that location. To understand how these signatures are distributed spatially, the doctoral student and colleagues develop isotope maps (isoscapes) by measuring the isotope values of trees from forest sites which have a known location. The same measurements can then be made on archaeological wood samples and compared to the isoscapes to determine which areas the trees could and could not have come from. The use of multiple isotopes is a key development on previous archaeological provenancing as it allows more chemical variation to be considered and a more precise growth-location to be identified. A key goal of this project is that the method developed can be applied to multiple wood species from diverse regions and time periods. The project conducts three case studies. The first considers pine samples whose origin could be from far afield. The second considers hemlock samples from New York State which were felled during the expansion of European settlement in the region. The third focuses on oak timbers which provide a 900-year palaeoclimate record. The three case studies capture a range of environmental, biological, and temporal factors, thereby allowing the development of a robust and versatile method which will help to realize the potential of archaeological wood.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.

考古木材提供了人类生存的记录，从技术发展到经济和社会组织。这项博士学位论文的赠款集中在木材上，并且对过去和现在的人类社会仍然是基本重要性的木材。作为一种有机产品，伍德还是一个环境档案，树突年代学科学已利用它重建了过去数百年至数千年的过去环境。如果已知的树木的生长位置（出处），可以最有效地利用此信息。确定运输木材样品的地理起源的多种不同方法已应用于考古木材，包括研究木材解剖学特征，古代DNA和木材的化学成分，但所有这些都面临着限制其适用性的缺点。该项目开发了一种新的出处方法，重点是使用多个同位素，以帮助限制考古木材样本可能产生的区域。除了对过去的人类社会和气候的见解外，这项研究还适用于当前通过开发一种方法，该方法可以帮助识别非法记录的木材，以及通过对环境变化的长期观点来贡献未来的未来。研究的重点是三个特定元素的同位素：氧气，硫，硫，硫和腹膜。这些同位素的自然比率在地理上有所不同，这意味着特定位置具有特定的同位素特征，这也反映在该位置生长的树木的木头中。为了了解这些签名是如何在空间上分布的，博士生和同事通过测量具有已知位置的森林地点的树木的同位素值来开发同位素图（同位素）。然后可以在考古木材样品上进行相同的测量，并与等iscapes进行比较，以确定树木可以和不可能来自哪些区域。多种同位素的使用是先前考古证明的关键发展，因为它允许考虑更多的化学变异，并且可以确定更精确的生长位置。该项目的一个关键目标是，开发的方法可以应用于来自不同地区和时间段的多种木材。该项目进行了三个案例研究。第一批考虑的松树样本可能来自遥远的地方。第二个考虑了来自纽约州的铁杉样本，这些样本在该地区欧洲定居点扩张期间被砍伐。第三个重点是提供900年古气候记录的橡木木材。这三个案例研究捕获了一系列环境，生物和时间因素，从而允许开发一种强大而多功能的方法，这将有助于实现考古木材的潜力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响审查标准来通过评估来通过评估来支持的。