Dissertation Research: The Isotopic Composition and Ecology of Archaic Human Diet in the Eastern Chihuahuan Desert of Texas

在托马斯赫斯特博士的指导下， 德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的研究生将收集 他的博士论文的数据。许布纳先生已经积累了 将提交史前骨骼，组织，粪便，动物和植物 地质年代实验室的碳和氮同位素样品 保持战略定力结果将允许他做两件事：1。 重建奇瓦瓦沙漠的史前饮食变化 当环境发生明显变化时，在一段时间内的区域。 2.允许改进广泛使用的一套同位素技术 来重建人类的饮食结构 过去的研究表明，不同的动物和植物食物 碳和氮的同位素组成各不相同 这些“同位素特征”被传输，其中一些 改变，对食用它们的动物的组织。 例如，对人类骨骼材料的分析表明， 这是一个与饮食有关的变化过程中， 个人的生活。因为这个事实，也因为人类 骨骼材料通常被保存下来，人类学家 越来越多地使用这种技术来重建 史前饮食由于其干燥的环境和 奇瓦瓦沙漠有机遗迹保存完好 提供了一个独特的机会来帮助发展这项技术。 不仅有年代久远的人类骨骼遗骸， 木乃伊化的组织和粪便残骸也都有。 分析所有三个允许一个有趣的比较，因为软 组织的反应与骨骼不同， 更短的时间间隔。因为植物和动物的残骸 保存下来，对它们的分析提供了一种控制， 可以校准组织结果。 这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。将加大 我们对人类如何适应困难和变化的理解 环境这将有助于发展一种广泛传播的技术， 人类学的应用它还将协助培训一名 有前途的年轻科学家

Under the direction of Dr. Thomas Hester, Mr Jeffery Huebner, a graduate student at the University of Texas, Austin, will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Mr. Huebner has amassed and will submit prehistoric skeletal, tissue, fecal, animal and plant samples to Geochron Laboratories for carbon and nitrogen isotopic determination. The results will permit him to do two things: 1. reconstruct how prehistoric diet changed in the Chihuahuan Desert region over a time interval when the enviroment shifted markedly. 2. allow refinement of a set of isotopic techniques widely used by scientists to reconstruct human diet. Past research has shown that different animal and vegetable foods vary in their isotopic composition in both carbon and nitrogen. These "isotopic signatures" are transmitted, with some alteration, to the tissues of animals which consume them. Analysis of human skeletal material for example shows isotopic variation which is related to diet over the course of an individual's life. Because of this fact, and because human skeletal material is often preserved, anthropologists have increasingly used this technique in an attempt to reconstruct prehistoric diet. Because of its dry environment and the excellent preservation of organic remains, the Chihuahuan Desert provides a unique opportunity to help to develop this technique. Not only are well dated human skeletal remains available, but both mummified tissues and fecal remains are also present. Analysis of all three allow an interesting comparison since soft tissue reacts differently than bone and reflects diet over a shorter time interval. Because plant and animal remains are well preserved, analyses of them provides a control against which tissue results can be calibrated. This research is important for several reasons. It will increase our understanding of how humans adapt to a difficult and changing environment. It will help to develop a technique of widespread anthropological use. It will also assist in the training of a promising young scientist.