Spatial Variation and the Origins of Agriculture

康涅狄格大学的Natalie Munro博士将提供向农业过渡的本地规模调查，同时解决关于长期生存进化、定居生活的出现以及动植物驯化过程的有争议的辩论。农业的起源对人类社会文化生活的方方面面产生了深远的影响。尽管研究一度强调农产品的单一来源，但越来越多的数据支持多区域模型，这些模型强调农业的出现和采用中的局部规模过程。该项目将采取关键的下一步：建立一个高分辨率的、当地规模的向农业过渡和动植物驯化过程的重建。当地规模的牧民-农民转变的详细重建很少，但对于地图研究如何在更大的时间尺度和地理区域内创新和转移想法、植物和动物是必要的。尽管从觅食者到农民的转变通常被认为是一种收养，而不是原地安置，但门罗博士和他的同事们将考虑通过互动网络在西南亚的不同地点之间进行信息交换和动植物移动。该项目将提供学生培训和教育，促进国际合作，并参与公共宣传。结果将通过博物馆展览、面向公众的文章和一系列讲座向公众传播。这项研究将通过提供以色列上约旦河谷(UJV)的高分辨率数据集，为农业起源的研究做出贡献。UJV提供了一个特别有趣的测试案例，因为它独特的生态条件是由一个大型淡水系统创造的，它的低海拔以及通过更大的裂谷的贸易路线的通达性。这些条件还允许对更具体的社会经济问题进行调查，这些问题涉及水生资源开发和像年轻仙女座这样的气候事件的影响。调查将集中在UJV的三个旧石器时代和陶器之前的新石器时代遗址。其中包括约旦河Dureijat和Nahal Ein GeV II，它们将共同为UJV提供第一个完整的外石器时代序列，以及陶器时代之前的Munhatta遗址。更具体地说，活动将包括：(1)在Munhatta进行试掘和取样。在这一关键地点的微形态、沉积物、同位素和动物考古采样将调查动物饲养、动物流动性、动物交换和谷草的重要性；(2)从约旦河谷上游和更广泛的整个西南亚已出版的伊匹尔石器时代和陶器前新石器时代遗址收集全面的动物考古学数据库，以便能够对区域植物和动物驯化途径进行比较荟萃分析，并记录用于探测邻近区域动物和植物驯化过程的一系列方法和措施；以及(3)从约旦河Dureijat和Nahal Ein GeV收集动物考古数据。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Dr. Natalie Munro of the University of Connecticut will provide a local scale investigation of the transition to agriculture, while addressing contentious debates over long-term subsistence evolution, the emergence of settled life, and the process of plant and animal domestication. The origins to agriculture had a profound impact on all aspects of human sociocultural life. Although research once emphasized single origins of agricultural products, accumulating data increasingly support multiregional models that emphasize local scale processes in the emergence and adoption of agriculture. This project will take an essential next step: the creation of a high-resolution, local-scale reconstruction of the transition to agriculture and the process of plant and animal domestication. Detailed reconstructions of local-scale forager-farmer transition are few, but are necessary to map study how ideas, plants and animals were innovated and transferred across much larger time scales and geographic areas. Although the forager-farmer transition is most often viewed dichotomously as an adoption versus an in situ scenario, Dr. Munro and colleagues will consider information exchange and the movement of plants and animals among localities in Southwest Asia via interaction networks. The project will provide student training and education, foster international collaboration and engage in public outreach. Results will be disseminated to public audiences through a museum exhibit, articles for public audiences, and a series of lectures. This study will contribute to the study of agricultural origins by providing, a high-resolution dataset for the Upper Jordan Valley (UJV) of Israel. The UJV provides an especially interesting test case because of its unique ecological conditions created by a large fresh-water system, its low elevation and the accessibility of trade routes through the larger Rift Valley. These conditions also allow investigation of more specific socioeconomic questions about topics such as aquatic resource exploitation and the impact of climatic events like the Younger Dryas. Investigation will center on three Epipaleolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites in the UJV. These include Jordan River Dureijat and Nahal Ein Gev II which together will provide the first complete Epipaleolithic sequence for the UJV, and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of Munhatta. More specifically activities will include: (1) test excavations and sampling at Munhatta. Micromorphological, sediment, isotope and zooarchaeological sampling at this critical site will investigate animal keeping, animal mobility, animal exchange and the importance of cereal grasses; (2) the collection of a comprehensive zooarchaeological database from published Epipaleolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites from the Upper Jordan Valley and more broadly across Southwest Asia to enable a comparative meta-analysis of regional plant and animal domestication pathways, and document the range of methods and measures used to detect the process of animal and plant domestication in adjacent regions; and (3) the collection of zooarchaeological data from Jordan River Dureijat and Nahal Ein Gev II.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.