Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Geoarchaeology and Dating Climatic Events in the Middle Rio Negro Valley, Argentina

在迈克尔·沃特斯博士的指导下，海蒂·卢辛格女士将进行考古研究，重建南美南部新仙女木时期的气候和人类行为。在南美洲数十年的考古研究揭示了人类居住的复杂记录，至少跨越了12,000年。在阿根廷，虽然在整个潘帕斯和巴塔哥尼亚进行了大量工作，但忽略了这两个地区之间的边界地区（或过渡带）。在考古学上，过渡带是相当重要的，因为它们提供了各种各样的自然资源，使它们成为史前人口有吸引力的定居地点。过渡带对气候变化也特别敏感。黑鬼谷是位于巴塔哥尼亚和潘帕斯之间的过渡带。最近在中部山谷进行了考古研究，然而，它的景观和气候历史基本上是未知的，阻碍了对当前考古记录的明确评估。例如，人们对吸引早期定居者来到这个地区的环境类型知之甚少，或者迫使他们应对难以获得食物、水和足够住所的条件。本论文将调查黑格谷中部75公里的一段，以重建这些景观和气候历史。结果将导致潜在的考古遗址的发现，甚至比以前发现的更早，全球气候变化贯穿人类占领。与我们的现代世界不同，史前景观和气候的动态对人口的影响要大得多，这表明它对解释过去人类行为的重要性。本论文项目的广泛影响有几个组成部分。首先，它与来自美国和阿根廷的研究生和考古学家一起，探索美洲人类的新理论。这项研究将在国内和国际会议上传播，与当地考古团体进行会谈，并以英语和西班牙语出版。

Under the direction of Dr. Michael Waters, Ms. Heidi Luchsinger will conduct archaeological research to reconstruct climate and human behavior during the Younger Dryas period in Southern South America. Decades of archaeological research in South America reveal a complex record of human occupation spanning at least 12,000. In Argentina, although substantial work has been conducted throughout the Pampas and Patagonia, the boundary area (or ecotone) between these two regions has been neglected. Archaeologically, ecotones are quite important because they offer a wide variety of natural resources, making them attractive settlement locations for prehistoric populations. Ecotones are also particularly sensitive to climate change. The Rio Negro Valley, is an ecotone located between Patagonia and the Pampas. Recent archaeological research has been conducted in the middle valley, however, its landscape and climatic history is essentially unknown preventing a clear evaluation of the current archaeological record. For example, little is known about the type of environments that lured early settlers into this region or forced them to cope with conditions that created difficulty in procuring food, water, and sufficient shelter. This dissertation project will investigate a 75 km segment of the middle Rio Negro Valley in order to reconstruct these landscape and climatic histories. Results will lead to the potential detection of archaeological sites even earlier than previously discovered and global climate changes throughout human occupation. Unlike our modern world, the dynamics of landscape and climate in prehistory had a much greater impact on human populations signifying its importance for interpreting past human behavior.The broader impact of this dissertation project has several components. First, it joins graduate students and archaeologists from the U.S. and Argentina to pursue new theories on the peopling of the Americas. The research will be disseminated at national and international meetings, talks to local archaeology groups, and publication in both English and Spanish.