Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: A Microevolutionary Analysis of Population change

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。这项研究使用考古墓地的数据来研究参与领土权力斗争的边疆民族之间的互动，以及征服者的影响如何影响地区人口关系。之前的研究表明，文化群体对扩张到自己祖国的反应是不同的。目前尚不清楚的是，生物相关性是否与这些互动导致的文化和生活方式的共享有关。具体地说，随着社会在文化上变得更加相互交织，区域基因库的变化有多显著？然而，尽管人们期望在文化上融合，但被殖民的人采用了非常多样化的身份，这一点是众所周知的。当共同的地区历史已知时，识别具有共同遗传关系的群体提供了理解其社会认同构建的关键组成部分。封闭和一成不变的社会在过去并没有被证明是常态，从考古角度探索这些概念很重要，因为它质疑关于文化的类型学和静态观念。这项研究提供了一种对过去的解读，在现代关于社会身份和自决的讨论中找到了牵引力。该项目提供开放源码数据，以便与其他学者共享，以进行更多的比较研究。它为理解区域关系创造了一种新的生物考古模型，并增加了学生和被辅导者的教育和培训机会。这项研究使用可遗传牙齿表型的变化作为基因流的指标，这是一种方法论方法，可以应用于其他环境，使用现有的数据集，并且是非破坏性的。对共同遗传史的评估被用来确定接触的人群是否受到生物同化。对始料未及的祖先关系的认识可能表明了以复杂方式繁荣起来的身份的制作，并鼓励考古学研究重新考虑类型分类。只有在解决了未知的问题后，才能适当地应用历史上已知的东西。这一奖项反映了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 award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This research uses data from archaeological cemeteries to study the interactions among borderland peoples engaged in power struggles for territory and how impacts by conquerors influence regional population relationships. Previous research has shown that cultural groups respond differently to expansion into their homeland. What is not yet clear is whether biological relatedness correlates with the sharing of cultures and lifestyles that result from these interactions. Specifically, how prominent was the change in regional gene pools as societies became more culturally intertwined? Nevertheless, it is well established that colonized people adopt richly diverse identities despite expectations to culturally integrate. When common regional histories are known, identifying groups with shared genetic relationships provides a key component towards understanding their social identity construction. Closed and unchanging societies have not proven to be the norm in the past, and exploring these concepts archaeologically is important because it questions typological and static ideas about culture. This research provides a reading of the past that finds traction in modern discussions of social identities and self-determination. The project provides open-source data to be shared with other scholars for additional comparative studies. It generates a novel bioarchaeological model for understanding regional relationships and enhances educational and training opportunities for students and mentees. This research uses changes in heritable dental phenotypes as indicators of gene flow, a methodological approach which can be applied in other contexts, with existing data sets, and is non-destructive. Assessment of shared genetic histories is used to determine if contacted populations were subject to biological assimilation. Recognition of unanticipated ancestral ties can be an indication of crafting of identities that flourished in complex ways and encourages archaeological studies to reconsider typological classifications. Only after resolving what is unknown, “how were people related?”, can what is known historically be appropriately applied.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.