Collaborative Research; The Role Of Fuelwood Resources In A Traditional Society

随着当今气候的波动和恶劣天气事件的频繁发生，资源的可持续性是一个突出的问题，不仅是科学家，也是政府领导人和公众的关注。过去，人类已经适应了气候变化。为什么其中一些调整比其他调整更具弹性和可持续性？考古学家在提供关于可持续性的见解方面具有独特的地位，因为他们的研究提供了许多世纪以来的信息。在某些情况下，考古数据可以跟踪人类社会的发展，从小规模的平等主义群体到大规模的社会和政治复杂社会。这一过渡所固有的是对自然资源的依赖和可持续性，包括发展粮食储存经济。在这方面，自然资源使用和管理的长期轨迹至关重要。宾夕法尼亚州立大学的李·纽瑟姆博士和佛罗里达自然历史博物馆的同事们将对居住在佛罗里达州南部数千年的沿海渔民采集狩猎社会进行考古研究。这项研究强调了薪材资源在新兴仓储经济中作为保存过剩粮食的一种手段的作用。这项研究将考察过去社会对森林资源的影响。深入了解持续使用木材对现代森林景观/海景的遗留影响，以及人类对沿海环境的总体影响，将会引起其他学术学科和规划者的兴趣。红树林在世界范围内濒临灭绝，这项调查将进一步让生态学家了解它们在其活动范围的边缘的恢复能力。随着政策制定者考虑沿海开发、海平面上升和全球变化对栖息地的进一步破坏和损失，沿海森林资源的现代管理和保护可以从长期记录中受益。该项目的重点是佛罗里达州南部的加卢萨印第安人和他们的前辈，使用民族史学记录，特别是考古证据。研究小组将检验这样一种假设，即粮食储存经济的发展是导致文化复杂性的关键因素，沿海红树林中的薪材是这一过程所固有的不可或缺和可持续的自然资源。该小组将对西南沿海加卢萨核心区考古遗址出土的木炭进行深入的木材解剖分析，强调燃料供应的特点，环境扰动对木材可用性的影响，以及人类机构对当地森林资源的作用和影响。基本的木材数据收集将包括分类任务、解剖变异观察、年龄、生长形式和生长速度。这项研究将结合现代森林生态数据和实验方法，以确定燃料供应的假设限制。相关的古生态和考古数据将提供时间和文化分辨率。可以对所有数据进行比较，以检验关于持续选择和使用薪材的影响、自然中断对燃料供应的影响以及管理潜力的假设。

As today's climate fluctuates and severe weather events occur more frequently, sustainability of resources is a prominent concern, not just of scientists but also of government leaders and the public. Humans have adjusted to climate changes in the past. Why have some of these adjustments been more resilient and sustainable than others? Archaeologists are uniquely positioned to provide insights on sustainability because their studies provide information over many centuries. In some cases, archaeological data permit tracking of the development of human societies from small-scale egalitarian groups to large-scale socially and politically complex societies. Inherent to this transition is reliance on and the sustainability of natural resources, including the development of food storage economies. The long-term trajectory of natural resource use and management in this context is pivotal. Dr. Lee Newsom of the Pennsylvania State University, along with colleagues at the Florida Museum of Natural History, will undertake archaeological research on coastal fisher-gatherer-hunter societies that lived in southern Florida for several millennia. The research emphasizes the role of fuelwood resources as a means to preserve surplus food in an emerging storage economy. This research will examine the influence of a past society on forest resources. Insights into the legacy effects of sustained wood use on the modern forest landscape/seascape, and generally the influence of humans on coastal environments, will be of interest to other academic disciplines and to planners. Mangrove forests are endangered world-wide and this investigation will further inform ecologists about their resilience at the edge of their range. Modern management and conservation of coastal forest resources can benefit from the long-term record, as policy makers consider further habitat disruption and loss from coastal development, sea level rise, and global change. The project focuses on the Calusa Indians and their predecessors in southern Florida, using ethnohistoric records and especially archaeological evidence. The research team will test the hypothesis that the development of a food storage economy was a critical factor underlying cultural complexity, and that fuelwoods from coastal mangrove forests were an indispensable and sustainable natural resource inherent to this process. The team will undertake intensive wood-anatomical analysis of charcoal excavated from archaeological sites in the Calusa core area along the southwest coast, emphasizing the characteristics of the fuel supply, the influence of environmental perturbations on the availability of wood, and the role of human agency and influence over local forest resources. Basic wood data collection will include taxonomic assignments, observations on anatomical variation, age, growth form, and growth rate. The research will incorporate modern forest ecological data and experimental methods to establish the hypothetical limitations of the fuel supply. Relevant paleoecological and archaeological data will provide temporal and cultural resolution. All data can be compared in order to test hypotheses on the effects of sustained fuelwood selection and use, the impact of natural disruptions to the fuel supply, and the potential for management.