Doctoral Dissertation Research: Assessing the Magnitude and Timing of Prehistoric Native American Landscape Impacts in Northeastern North America

这项博士论文研究项目将确定与纽约州芬格湖地区史前美洲原住民的人类住区和生存实践有关的植被和火灾制度的变化。博士生将分析环境影响的范围，以区分各种人为造成的植被和景观变化与同时发生的自然环境变化。该项目将对指湖地区植被和景观的年代性发展提供新的见解，因为该地区在北美史前的关键时期受到与人类文化变化和自然环境变化有关的一系列力量的影响。该项目对古生态研究具有重要意义，因为它将采用新的建模技术，使用一套考古、生态和历史数据集来调查史前人类植被的影响。这位博士生将与当地几个美洲原住民部落、政府机构和非政府组织密切合作。该项目应该加强对史前环境和近千年来变化动态的了解。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立强大的独立研究生涯。这项专注于美洲原住民居住和生存的研究将提供有关史前对美国东北部森林生态系统影响的性质和规模的新信息。博士生将专注于核心问题，即考古学和古生态数据的结合是否有助于重建与任何历史记录之前的人类活动相关的景观变化。学生将使用整合历史、考古、生态和地质数据集的综合方法。将使用多元统计方法和基于地理信息系统的分析对这些数据集进行分析。他还将开发一个基于生态学的概念模型，以指导史前人类影响的研究。该模型将提供一个模板，可用于世界其他地方，以解决与自然环境干扰和人类干扰有关的景观变化的相对贡献。

This doctoral dissertation research project will identify shifts in vegetation and fire regimes related to human settlement and subsistence practices of prehistoric Native American populations in the Finger Lakes region of the state of New York. The doctoral student will analyze the range of environmental impacts to distinguish various human-caused vegetation and landscape changes from concurrent natural environmental changes. The project will provide new insights into the chronological development of the vegetation and landscape of the Finger Lakes region as it was subjected to a range of forces associated with both human cultural change and natural environmental change during a critical period of North American prehistory. The project has important implications for paleoecological research, because it will employ new modeling techniques to investigate prehistoric human-vegetation impacts using a suite of archaeological, ecological, and historical datasets. The doctoral student will work closely with several local Native American tribes, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations. The project should enhance understanding of prehistorical environments and the dynamics of change over recent millennia. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.This research focusing on Native American habitation and subsistence will provide new information regarding the nature and magnitude of prehistoric impacts on the forested ecosystems of the northeastern U.S. The doctoral student will focus on the core question of whether a combination of archaeological and paleoecological data can aid in reconstructing landscape changes related to human activities that predate any historical record. The student will use an integrated methodology that integrates historical, archaeological, ecological, and geological data sets. These data sets will be analyzed using multivariate statistical methods and geographic information system-based analyses. He also will develop an ecologically based conceptual model to guide research on prehistoric human impacts. The model will provide a template that can be used elsewhere in the world to address the relative contributions of landscape change related to natural environmental perturbations and human disturbance.