Reconstructing Ancient Human and Ecosystem Responses to Holocene Climate Conditions

这项研究项目将重建全新世气候条件，以更好地了解人类对过去环境变化的适应和反应。研究人员将使用一系列考古材料和来自北落基山脉冰芯的大气代用品，以更好地了解人类在环境急剧变化期间对高山环境的利用。这个项目将提供新的见解，了解什么是大规模的环境变化，这些变化如何影响人类，以及人类使用什么策略来应对和适应这些变化。该项目将涉及部落社区、大学、机构和土地管理者之间的合作，部落学院和大学的学生将接受教育和培训，以帮助构成下一代研究人员、自然资源管理者和教育工作者。部落长老、部落社区成员和学生将聚集在一起，从部落口头传统和历史的背景下讨论考古文物的意义和意义，并记录和分享发现。在高海拔地区融化的冰块中迅速出现的植物、动物、地质和考古材料的多样化组合，可以提供关于过去环境条件和人类对高山资源的利用的丰富信息。将保存在冰块中的生物和地球化学记录与考古遗址的证据结合起来，为记录和评估人类对大规模气候模式和显著气候事件的反应和适应提供了难得的机会。研究人员将专注于四个核心问题：(1)高海拔地区的长期气候历史是什么？(2)气候和环境条件的变化如何影响人类和动物对高山地带的利用？(3)北美原住民应对极端干旱和寒冷、潮湿时期的长期战略是什么？(4)从融化的冰块中暴露出来的一系列材料揭示了人类变化的能力？这些问题将通过评估考古文物、古代木材和环境和气候指标(例如，氧同位素、黑碳、大陆尘埃、木炭和花粉)在冰块内的冰芯中被冻结来解决。冰芯重建将与邻近湖泊沉积物地点过去的水文气候变化记录进行比较。将编制人类使用强度的分区域指数，记录考古材料出现/不出现和丰富的时间间隔。该项目的研究成果将提供有关人类对剧烈气候和环境变化的反应的新信息，从而促进对社会生态系统弹性的基本理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research project will reconstruct Holocene climatic conditions to better understand human adaptation and response to past environmental variability. The investigators will use an array of archaeological materials and atmospheric proxies from Northern Rocky Mountain ice cores to better understand human use of alpine environments during periods of dramatic environmental change. This project will provide new insights into what the large-scale environmental changes were, how such changes impacted humans, and what strategies humans used to respond and adapt to these changes. The project will involve a collaboration among tribal communities, universities, agencies, and land managers, with students from tribal colleges and universities being educated and trained to help constitute the next generation of researchers, natural resource managers, and educators. Tribal elders, tribal community members, and students will be brought together to discuss the significance and meaning of the archaeological artifacts from the context of tribal oral traditions and histories and to document and share the findings.The diverse assemblages of plant, animal, geologic, and archaeological material rapidly emerging from melting ice-patches in higher-elevation areas can provide a wealth of information about past environmental conditions and human use of alpine resources. Coupling biological and geochemical records preserved in ice patches with evidence from archaeological sites presents a rare opportunity to document and evaluate human response and adaptation to large-scale climate patterns and pronounced climate events. The investigators will focus on four core questions: (1) What is the long-term climate history of high-elevation regions? (2) How did changes in climate and environmental conditions influence human and animal use of the alpine zone? (3) What were the long-term strategies of indigenous North Americans in response to extreme droughts and cold, wet periods? (4) What do the array of materials exposed from melting ice patches reveal about human capacity for change? These questions will be addressed by evaluating archaeological artifacts, ancient wood, and environmental and climatic proxies (e.g., oxygen isotopes, black carbon, continental dust, charcoal, and pollen) found frozen in ice-cores within ice-patches. The ice-core reconstructions will be compared with records of past hydroclimatic changes from adjacent lake-sediment sites. A subregional index of intensity of human use will be developed by documenting temporal intervals of increased presence/absence and abundance of archeological materials. The project's research outcomes will provide new information about human response to dramatic climate and environmental change, thereby advancing basic understanding of the resilience of socioecological systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.