Human Adaptation to New Environments

怀俄明大学教授Todd Surovell和他的同事们将研究北美冰河时代居民的生存方式和社会组织的各个方面。第一批居住在一个地区的人类将如何谋生？他们将如何在社会上组织自己？在一个除了自然环境强加给人们的行为方式几乎没有约束的地方和时间，人类社会会是什么样子？第一批美国人进入了猛犸象、乳齿象、马、骆驼和地懒栖息的生态系统。由于今天没有类似的环境存在，考古学是唯一提供了了解人类在这种环境中生活的窗口的领域。尽管随着人类物种在全球范围内的扩张，类似的故事在史前时期上演，但这项研究将为我们提供对其中一个案例--北美的殖民--人类社会组织的洞察。研究人员将为正在进行的关于第一批美国人生存实践的辩论做出贡献。早期的古印度人是优先选择大型哺乳动物物种，还是他们的饮食范围很广？他们还将审查在屠宰大型动物方面的合作以及狩猎-采集家庭的聚集和分散问题。这些机会来自怀俄明州坎弗斯县的La Prele Mammoth遗址的额外挖掘。该遗址保存了一只被杀或被拾取的哥伦比亚猛犸亚成体的遗骸，以及在屠宰期间占据的一个相关营地。与猛犸象相关并围绕着猛犸象的多个以壁炉为中心的活动区提供了使用详细的岩屑、动物群和空间分析来检查社会组织的各个方面的机会。这项工作不仅将提供培训和支持研究生和本科生的机会，还将提供培训北阿拉帕霍部落成员考古野外方法的机会。在挖掘过程中，将欢迎业余考古团体和公众参观遗址，了解考古研究并提高对文化资源的认识。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。

University of Wyoming Professor Todd Surovell and colleagues will examine aspects of the subsistence practices and social organization of Ice Age inhabitants of North America. How would the first humans to inhabit a region make a living? How would they organize themselves socially? In a place and time where there are few constraints on how people might behave other than those imposed by the natural environment, what would human societies look like? The first Americans, entered ecosystems that were home to mammoths, mastodons, horses, camels, and ground sloths. Since no similar environments remain today, archaeology is the only field that provides a window into human lives in such contexts. Although similar stories played out through prehistory as the human species expanded across the globe, this research will provide insight into human social organization in one such case, the colonization of North America. The researchers will contribute to ongoing debates concerning the subsistence practices of the first Americans. Did early Paleoindians preferentially target large mammal species, or did they have a broad diet breadth? They will also examine aspects of cooperation in butchery of megafauna as well as questions aggregation and dispersal of hunter-gatherer households. These opportunities are afforded by additional excavation of the La Prele Mammoth site in Converse County, Wyoming. This site preserves the remains of a killed or scavenged subadult Columbian mammoth and an associated camp occupied during butchery. Multiple hearth-centered activity areas associated with and encircling the mammoth provide the opportunity to examine aspects of social organization using detailed lithic, faunal, and spatial analysis. This work will not only provide opportunities to train and support graduate and undergraduate students, but it will provide opportunities to train members of the Northern Arapaho tribe in archaeological field methods. During excavations avocational archaeological groups and members of the public will be welcomed to visit the site to learn about archaeological research and promote awareness of cultural resources.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.