Historical Ecology in the Pre-Columbian Caribbean

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Peter Siegel博士和他的同事团队将进行一项跨学科的试点研究，以解决小安的列斯群岛选定地点的哥伦布前人类与环境的关系。这项研究的目标是评估人类对景观的影响，并将景观理解为加勒比地区的文化背景，鉴于目前人们对气候变化背后因素的担忧，这是一个及时的话题。在群岛环境中评估人与环境的关系对于岛屿殖民、农作物引进、居民和殖民者之间的互动以及文化变化等问题至关重要。将从已知的哥伦布前考古遗址附近的湿地提取沉积物岩芯，以获得重建古代环境的数据，评估人类对这些环境的影响，并将随着时间的推移比较人与环境的相互关系。考古遗址设置将在特立尼达、安提瓜和圣克鲁斯进行考察。核心样本将分析花粉、植物硅体(植物硅体)和更大的植物部分的类型和浓度，以获取每个地区史前植被覆盖的信息。将对微小木炭颗粒的浓度进行检测，以记录过去人类为农业而进行的植被砍伐可能造成的燃烧规模和强度。将对每个考古遗址附近的土壤条件进行评估，以获得有关史前景观使用的信息。整合植物、木炭和土壤信息将提供过去存在的植物物种的种类和范围的全面图景，以及过去的文化如何随着时间的推移使用、修改和反应环境。试点研究将包括对小安的列斯群岛的七个岛屿进行全面的地质和地形变化的侦察调查，以评估对该区域气候变化进行后续调查的可能性。侦察将针对特立尼达、巴巴多斯、马提尼克岛、马里加兰特岛、安提瓜岛、巴布达岛和圣克罗伊岛。特定类别的微生物(例如介形类)对大气中的相对湿度高度敏感并保留记录(通过它们的氧同位素比率)。这些生物以化石的形式保存下来，当沉积在岛屿或陆地内部的封闭盆地池塘或湖泊中时，有助于构建气候曲线。如果确定了保存适当微化石的适当条件，一项重要的后续调查将包括在这些地点进行沉积物取心。试点研究的结果将与加勒比、南美洲和中美洲的其他类似研究进行比较，以扩大我们对人类活动对环境的影响以及采用农业的条件的理解。该项目的学术价值涉及农业的起源、进化和扩散；作为景观变化因素的人口扩张或殖民；以及粮食生产的古老和发展的条件。在史前时期，占领加勒比地区的人与中美洲和南美洲联系在一起。研究加勒比历史生态学将为理解居民和殖民者之间的相互作用以及人与环境关系的变化提供一个背景。这一跨学科项目的更广泛影响将与研究过去环境、农业起源和传播以及岛屿殖民过程的研究人员有关。与团队一起工作的学生将受益于实地或实验室的实践经验，或两者兼而有之。每个岛国的当地考古学家都对这个项目表示了兴趣。在大多数情况下，每个岛屿上的学生都会参加或访问实地研究小组，从而获得进行古环境研究的实地工作的第一手机会。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Peter Siegel and a team of colleagues will conduct an interdisciplinary pilot study to address pre-Columbian human-environmental relations in selected locations across the Lesser Antilles. Goals of this research are to assess the effects of humans on landscapes and to understand landscapes as cultural contexts in the Caribbean, a timely topic in view of current concerns over the factors behind climate change. Assessing human-environmental relations in an archipelago setting is crucial for issues of island colonization, introduction of crops, interactions between resident and colonizing peoples, and cultural change. Sediment cores will be extracted from wetlands in proximity to known pre-Columbian archaeological sites to obtain data from which ancient environments will be reconstructed, human impacts on those environments will be assessed, and human-environmental interrelations will be compared and contrasted through time. Archaeological site settings will be examined on Trinidad, Antigua, and St. Croix.Core samples will be analyzed for the types and concentrations of pollen, phytoliths (plant silica bodies), and larger plant parts for information on prehistoric vegetation cover in each area. Concentrations of microscopic charcoal particles will be examined to document the scale and intensity of burning that may have resulted from vegetation clearing for agriculture by past peoples. Soil conditions in proximity to each archaeological site will be assessed for information on prehistoric landscape use. Integrating plant, charcoal, and soils information will provide a comprehensive picture of the kinds and range of plant species present in the past and how past cultures used, modified, and reacted to their environmental settings through time. The pilot study will include a reconnaissance survey of seven islands encompassing the full range of geological and topographic variability in the Lesser Antilles to evaluate the potential for a follow-up investigation of climate change in the region. The reconnaissance will address the islands of Trinidad, Barbados, Martinique, Marie-Galante, Antigua, Barbuda, and St. Croix. Specific classes of microorganisms (e.g., ostracods) are highly sensitive to and retain records (by their oxygen-isotope ratios) of relative degrees of moisture in the atmosphere. These organisms preserve as fossils and are useful for constructing climate curves when deposited in closed-basin ponds or lakes in the interiors of islands or landmasses. If suitable conditions are identified for the preservation of appropriate microfossils an important follow-up investigation will include sediment coring in these locations. Results of the pilot study will be compared to other similar studies in the Caribbean, South America, and Central America to broaden our understanding of the consequences of human activities on the environment and the conditions under which agriculture is adopted. Intellectual merits of the project relate to the origins, evolution, and dispersal of agriculture; expanding or colonizing populations as agents of landscape change; and the antiquity of food production and the conditions under which it developed. People occupying the Caribbean region were linked to Central and South America during prehistory. Addressing Caribbean historical ecology will provide a context to understand interactions between resident and colonizing populations and changes in human-environmental relations. Broader impacts of this interdisciplinary project will be relevant for researchers studying past environments, origins and spread of agriculture, and island-colonization processes. Students working with the team will benefit from hands-on experience in the field or lab or both. Archaeologists local to each of the island nations have expressed an interest in this project. In most cases, students on each of the islands will participate or visit the research team in the field, thereby obtaining first-hand exposure to fieldwork in conducting paleoenvironmental research.