Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Geospatial Bioarchaeological Perspective on Behavior, Activity Patterns, and Lifestyle in the Eastern Woodlands of North America

这个项目测试了这样一个假设，即环境的物理地形直接影响居住在北美东部林地的美洲原住民的行为、活动模式和生活方式。具体地说，这项研究假设，不均匀的地形(例如，不同的地形、山脉、丘陵和陡峭的斜坡)会导致退行性关节疾病(DJD)的患病率更高，股骨的骨骼粗壮程度也会增加，而不那么不均匀的地形(例如，平坦的地形)会产生相反的结果。此外，更多样化的景观的生物学后果包括流动性降低和在更早的年龄获得资源的机会有限。该项目利用西半球数据库中《健康和营养历史》中的美洲原住民部分，并提议从另外两个农业地点收集数据。将通过创建一个由生物和生态数据组成的空间参考数据库来模拟古环境。DJD的患病率和骨骼粗壮程度将用于重建行为、活动模式和生活方式，而其他健康指标如颅骨疏松、骨膜炎、龋齿、脓肿和创伤的患病率将用于评估环境对身体系统健康功能的影响。将根据古生态变量和空间关系的详细重建来审查生物健康的质量和对环境的成功适应。该项目更广泛的影响是，它有助于加强研究和教育的基础设施，并传播从这项研究中获得的数据。该项目标志着地理信息系统方法在生物考古分析中的首次大规模应用。该项目将对人类学和地理学领域以及整个科学界作出具体贡献。西半球数据库中目前的健康和营养历史已向公众提供，该项目的目的是使空间参考数据库也向公众提供。研究人员将能够访问该数据库，并将其用于自己的研究目的。这将继续促进合作努力，汇集资源和数据，以便更好地了解过去的人类变异。现有数据库的规模表明了数据收集程序的协作和标准化的重要性。该项目将为在这一方向上继续开展工作树立榜样。此外，人类学和地理学领域的进一步融合将有助于今后的地理空间生物考古研究。

This project tests the hypothesis that the physical terrain of the environment directly influenced behavior, activity patterns, and lifestyle of Native Americans who lived in the eastern Woodlands of North America. Specifically, this research hypothesizes that a heterogeneous terrain (e.g., varied eleva-tion, mountains, hills, and steep inclines), results in a higher prevalence of degenerative joint disease (DJD) and increased bone robusticity of the femur, while a less heterogeneous terrain (e.g., flat topogra-phy) produces opposite results. Furthermore, the biological consequences of a more varied landscape include reduced mobility and limited access to resources at an earlier age. This project utilizes the Native American component of the History of Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere database and proposes to collect data from two additional agricultural sites. The paleoenvironment will be modeled by creating a spatially referenced database consisting of biological and ecological data. Prevalence of DJD and the degree of bone robusticity will be used to reconstruct behav-ior, activity patterns, and lifestyle, while the prevalence of other health indicators such as cranial poros-ities, osteoperiostitis, caries, abscesses, and trauma will be used to assess the impact of the environment on the healthy functioning of body systems. The quality of biological health and successful adaptation to the environment will be examined in light of detailed reconstruction of paleoecological variables and spa-tial relationships. The broader impacts of this project are its contribution to enhance infrastructure for research and education and to disseminate the data obtained from this research. This project marks the first large scale application of GIS methods in bioarchaeological analyses. This project will specifically contribute to both the fields of Anthropology and Geography, as well as to the scientific community in general. The current History of Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere database is available to the public and it is the intention of this project to make the spatially referenced database available to the public as well. Re-searchers will be able to access the database and use it for their own research purposes. This will con-tinue to facilitate collaborative efforts to pool resources and data for a better understanding of past human variation. The size of the existing database demonstrates the importance of collaboration and standardiza-tion of data collection procedures. This project will yield an example for continued work in this direction. Additionally, further integration of the fields of Anthropology and Geography will result, contributing to future geospatial bioarchaeological studies.