Legacies on the Landscape: Prehistoric Human Land Use and Long-Term Ecological Change

这项研究将考察美国西南部两种不同生态系统类型在公元1200-1400年支持史前农业的土地利用强度的长期生态效应。调查将集中在亚利桑那州中部干旱和半干旱生态系统中已知的史前人类活动的梯度，这些生态系统在人口和持续时间上代表了不同的人类占领程度。在每个系统中，土地利用强度对现代生态特性和过程的重要性将通过将高强度利用地区(灌溉淤泥田)与相对低利用地区(雨水灌溉梯田)以及附近没有人类土地利用的考古证据的地区(场外控制)进行比较来评估。只有通过考古记录才能看到这一独特的视角，它将使我们了解人类及其各种土地利用活动作为持续生态模式和过程的驱动力的重要性。这项研究的更广泛影响将包括学生(本科生和研究生)、教师、这些土地所祖传的当地美洲原住民社区成员以及Agua Fria国家纪念碑和托托国家森林的土地管理者之间的互动和知识交流。

eThis research will examine the long-term ecological effects of land use intensity in two different ecosystem types of the southwestern US which supported prehistoric agriculture from 1200-1400 AD. The investigations will focus across a gradient of known prehistoric human activity in arid and semi-arid ecosystems of central Arizona that represent contrasting degrees of human occupation, both in population and duration. In each system, the importance of land use intensity on modern ecological properties and processes will be evaluated by comparing areas of high intensity use (irrigated silt fields) with areas of relative low use (rain-fed terraces) and nearby areas where there is no archaeological evidence of human land use (off-site controls). This unique perspective, accessible only through the archaeological record, will provide us with an understanding of the importance of humans and their varied land use activities as drivers of persistent ecological patterns and processes. The broader impacts of this research will include interaction and knowledge exchange between students (both undergraduate and graduate), faculty, members of local Native American communities for whom these lands are ancestral, and land managers at the Agua Fria National Monument and Tonto National Forest.