Terminal Pleistocene Occupation Isla Cedros

俄勒冈州立大学的洛伦·戴维斯博士和加州州立大学北岭分校的马修·德·劳瑞尔博士，以及墨西哥的同事们，将进行研究，研究美洲太平洋沿岸海洋环境利用的最早考古证据。目前的考古证据表明，人类从东北亚迁移到北美，并在美洲其他地区传播。作为这个研究主题的一部分，考古学家对了解人类最初迁移到美洲的时间和路线很感兴趣。关于这一主题的一个主要假设认为，人们最初沿着阿拉斯加和加拿大冰川边缘周围的太平洋海岸线，以狩猎-采集-捕鱼的生活方式从东北亚传播到北美及其他地区。如果这是真的，考古学家预计早期的沿海遗址应该包含人工制品和动物遗骸，这些文物和动物遗骸揭示了人们利用有效的技术从广泛的海洋环境资源中获取生计。如果能找到考古遗址，证明早期北美人完全掌握了海洋环境，这将为支持太平洋沿岸移民假说增加确凿的证据。该团队将产生并分享关于塞德罗斯岛沿海环境变化历史的跨学科知识，以及人类如何在不断变化的沿海环境中生活。这个国际合作项目将产生关于美洲最初人类定居这一更大问题的关键知识，并在此过程中为学生和公众提供独特的教育机会。Davis和Des Lauriers将领导一个研究小组，研究早期沿海居民如何使用捕鱼和狩猎技术来开发从近岸到深水近海生物群落的所有太平洋海洋资源。这项研究将在塞德罗斯岛进行，该岛位于墨西哥西北部，沿着下加利福尼亚州的太平洋海岸。这个岛是特别的，因为它保留了许多保存完好的考古遗址，这些遗址聚集在古老的淡水泉周围，无疑是早期人们反复定居的地方，并在此过程中创造了他们积累了数百年至数千年的生活记录。研究人员将带领一个由考古学家、地质考古学家和环境科学家组成的团队，在四个已知的遗址进行挖掘，这些遗址中有早于1.2万年前的人工制品和海洋动物遗骸。该小组还将研究可追溯到人类占领早期的当地地质记录，以便更好地了解沿海人民生活的环境背景。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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. Loren Davis of Oregon State University and Dr. Matthew Des Lauriers of California State University-Northridge, along with colleagues in Mexico, will conduct research to study the earliest archaeological evidence of marine environmental use along the Pacific coast of the Americas. Current archaeological evidence indicates that humans migrated from northeastern Asia into North America and spread throughout the rest of the Americas. As part of this research theme, archaeologists are interested in learning about the timing and route that humans initially took to migrate into the Americas. One main hypothesis on this theme asserts that people used a hunting-gathering-fishing lifeway to spread from northeastern Asia into North America and beyond by initially traveling along the Pacific coastline around the glaciated margins of Alaska and Canada. If this is true, archaeologists expect that early coastal sites should contain artifacts and the remains of animals that reveal the application of effective technologies used to extract a living from a broad range of marine environmental resources. Finding archaeological sites that show early North Americans peoples possessed a full mastery of marine environments would add confirmatory evidence to support the Pacific coastal migration hypothesis. The team will generate and share interdisciplinary knowledge about the history of changing coastal environments on Cedros Island and how humans lived in a changing coastal context. This international collaborative project will generate critical knowledge about the larger issue of the initial human settlement of the Americas and in the process will provide unique educational opportunities for students and the public alike.Drs. Davis and Des Lauriers will lead a research team to examine how early coastal peoples used fishing and hunting technologies to exploit the full range of Pacific marine resources from nearshore to deep-water offshore biomes. The research will be conducted on Cedros Island, which is located in northwestern Mexico along the Pacific coast of Baja California. This island is special because it retains many well preserved archaeological sites clustered around ancient freshwater springs that were undoubtedly attractive places for early peoples to repeatedly settle and in the process create a record of their lives that accumulated over hundreds to thousands of years. The researchers will lead a team of archaeologists, geoarchaeologists, and environmental scientists to conduct excavations at four sites that are known to contain artifacts and marine animal remains that date earlier than 12,000 calendar years old. The team will also study local geological records that date to the early period of human occupation in order to better understand the environmental context in which coastal people lived.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.