Collaborative Research: Three Dimensional Landscape Reconstruction For Long Term Land Use Modeling

新墨西哥大学的W. H. Wills博士将带领一个由来自多个机构的跨学科研究人员组成的合作小组，对大约公元500年至1300年在新墨西哥州查科峡谷发展起来的史前复杂社会的农业基础进行为期两年的研究。查科社会在公元900年至1100年间尤其繁荣，当时海拔高、干旱的峡谷居民建造了巨大的石头建筑（大房子），形成了一个延伸到很远的网络的社会和仪式中心，包括与中美洲南部近1500英里的社会的贸易关系。尽管在查科进行了一个多世纪的调查，但人们对这种发展的经济过程知之甚少，特别是在目前不适合集约化农业的环境中，粮食生产在支持劳动力和公共建筑建设方面的作用。了解古代农民如何在边缘环境中创建和维持昂贵的社会制度，可能会为现代有效管理美国许多地区和世界其他地区对有限的水或资源的竞争需求的努力提供真正的见解。多种遥感方法的整合利用科学和工程上的突破来提高我们对过去历史变化的认识。该项目将采用一系列遥感技术，获取有关峡谷地貌和考古遗址位置的高精度地理空间数据，作为重建随时间变化的地表的基础。像沙漠环境中的大多数河流系统一样，查科有很深的冲积物沉积物，这些冲积物是随着气候和其他因素的变化而随着时间的推移而积累的。峡谷居民通过改变田地和房屋的位置来适应这些变化，其中许多深埋在地下，只有在侵蚀区才能看到，或者通过非破坏性遥感技术，如探地雷达、机载激光雷达和3d摄影。这些数据将与实地研究人员获得的常规地质考古信息相结合。该项目将利用重建的地表作为地理空间平台，评估可能影响水文的农业生产力模型、定居模式和人类活动（如水渠）。该团队将确定可能为人口快速增长和社会创新提供刺激的历史因素，以及可能产生无法解决的问题并导致公元14世纪峡谷人口减少的条件。

Dr. W. H. Wills of the University of New Mexico will lead a collaborative team of interdisciplinary researchers from several institutions in a two-year study of the agricultural foundations of the prehistoric complex society that developed in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, between ca. AD 500 and 1300. Chacoan society flourished especially during from AD 900 to 1100 when residents of the high elevation, arid canyon built massive stone buildings (great houses) that formed the social and ritual center for a network that extended over vast distances and included trade relations with societies nearly 1500 miles to the south in Central America. Despite more than a century of inquiry at Chaco, the economic processes which allowed this development are poorly understood, particularly the role of food production in supporting labor and construction of public architecture in an environment that is not currently suitable for intensive agriculture. Understanding how ancient farmers created and sustained costly social institutions in marginal environments may offer real insights for modern efforts to efficiently manage competing demands for limited water or resources in many parts of the United States and other parts of the world. The integration of multiple remote sensing methods draws on scientific and engineering breakthroughs to improve our knowledge about historical changes in the past.The project will employ a range of remote sensing technologies for acquiring highly accurate geospatial data about canyon geomorphology and archaeological site locations as the basis for reconstructing changing land surfaces through time. Like most stream systems in desert environments, Chaco has deep deposits of alluvium that have accumulated over time in response to changes in climate and other factors. The canyon residents adjusted to these changes by altering the location of fields and houses, many of which are deeply buried and visible only in eroded areas or through non-destructive remote sensing technologies such as ground penetrating radar, airborne LiDAR and 3-D photography. These data will be coupled with conventional geoarchaeological information obtained by researchers in the field. The project will use the reconstructed land surfaces as geospatial platforms for evaluating agricultural productivity models, settlement patterns, and human modifications (such as water canals) that may have affected hydrology. The team will identity historical factors that may have provided stimuli for rapid population growth and social innovation, as well as conditions that may have fostered problems that could not be solved and led to the depopulation of the canyon by the 14th century AD.