Collaborative Research: An examination of human social and cultural adaptation through archaeological and paleoclimate data from the Aleutian Islands.

合作研究：通过阿留申群岛的考古和古气候数据检查人类社会和文化适应。

• 批准号: 1523207
• 负责人: Michael Etnier
• 金额: $ 13.43万
• 依托单位: Portland State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-05-15 至 2016-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1523207&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; examination; human; social

Archaeologists have expended a lot of research effort trying to determine whether or not periods of past climate change had a significant effect on human populations. In the case of coastal Alaska over the past several thousand years, the available data indicate that for the most part, the answer has been ?not much? ? the marine ecosystem seems to have remained relatively stable, even through periods of climate change such as the Medieval Warm Period and the so-called ?Little Ice Age? The one exception to this generalization is found on Unalaska Island, in the eastern Aleutians. At about 4000 years ago, ringed seals, which are an ice-adapted species, made up a significant portion of the subsistence base. This suggests that temperatures were substantially colder than they are today. However, many of the species that are common in the area today (in the absence of significant levels of sea ice) were also an important part of the subsistence economy 4000 years ago. Our research aims to try to address this apparent contradiction?was it cold and icy? Or was it generally more temperate, much as it is today? To do so, we will (a) study the growth patterns and shell chemistry of modern and archaeological butter clams, which will give us an indication of what the water conditions were like. We will also (b) conduct a detailed analysis of all of the species present in the archaeological midden sites, including the age composition of what was being harvested, as an indication of what the environmental conditions were like. And, finally, we will (c) conduct a detailed analysis of the artifacts associated with marine mammal hunting to determine the likelihood that hunters 4000 years ago developed a specialized toolkit for hunting in the sea ice.As coastal communities throughout the Arctic face important decisions regarding the possibility of major climate change, the research team believes that it will be important to have some ?test cases? that provide information on how various communities have responded to climate change in the past. The archaeological sites on Unalaska Island provide nearly 4000 years worth of data of adaptation to past climate change; data that are directly relevant to understanding the challenges of future climate change.This project will investigate the effects of Late Holocene climate change on animal biodiversity and human foraging activity in Alaska?s Aleutian Islands. This three-year, interdisciplinary study will use zooarchaeological, paleoenvironmental, biological, and oceanographic data to test the hypothesis that fluctuations in Late Holocene climate significantly affected local environments, ecosystems, and human hunting strategy in the eastern Aleutian Islands. This interdisciplinary project will apply models of human foraging behavior to research human-animal-environmental interactions in the context of climate change using three major lines of evidence: 1) growth patterns and stable oxygen isotopes in archaeological shellfish will be used to reconstruct the local paleoenvironment; 2) archaeological faunal material from several taxonomic groups will be used to test whether animal distribution and behavior have changed through time in response to changes in climate; 3) artifacts will be analyzed to look for adaptations to the marine mammal hunting toolkit in response to changes in climate and resource availability. More specifically, the research team proposes a research program that will use multiple datasets from Unalaska Island to address whether sea ice and ice-loving (?pagophilic?) fauna were present in this region during the Neoglacial phase, suggesting a dramatic change in prehistoric climate. The interdisciplinary nature of archaeology makes it uniquely positioned to accomplish two things: 1) to offer truly long term data about the ecological, climate, and resource histories for the Gulf of Alaska, data that are vital to understanding both ancient and contemporary human and environmental interaction in this region and 2) to collaborate with local Native Alaskan communities and students, resource managers, and cultural resource managers to collect, interpret, and disseminate the data and findings.

考古学家已经花费了大量的研究工作，试图确定过去的气候变化时期是否对人类人口产生重大影响。就过去几千年的阿拉斯加沿海地区而言，可用的数据表明，大多数情况下，答案是吗？ ？海洋生态系统似乎仍然相对稳定，即使在气候变化的时期，例如中世纪温暖时期和所谓的“小冰河时代”？这种概括的一个例外是在阿​​留申东部东部的Unalaska岛上发现的一个例外。大约4000年前，是适合冰的物种的环形密封件构成了生存基础的很大一部分。这表明温度比今天低得多。但是，当今该地区常见的许多物种（在没有大量海冰的情况下）也是4000年前生存经济的重要组成部分。 我们的研究目的是试图解决这一明显的矛盾吗？这是冷又冰冷的吗？还是通常像今天一样温和？为此，我们将（a）研究现代和考古黄油蛤的生长模式和壳化学，这将使我们表明水状况如何。我们还将（b）对考古中间地点中存在的所有物种进行详细分析，包括收获的年龄组成，以表明环境条件是什么样的。最后，我们（c）将对与海洋哺乳动物狩猎相关的工件进行详细分析，以确定4000年前猎人开发了一种专门的工具包，用于在海冰中进行狩猎。作为北极社区的沿海社区，整个北极社区都面临着重要气候变化的重要性，研究团队的可能性很重要，这对某些案例很重要？这提供了有关各个社区过去如何应对气候变化的信息。 Unalaska岛上的考古遗址提供了近4000年的适应性数据，以适应过去的气候变化；与了解未来气候变化的挑战直接相关的数据。该项目将研究晚期全新世气候变化对阿拉斯加阿留申群岛动物生物多样性和人类觅食活动的影响。这项为期三年的跨学科研究将使用动物考古学，古环境，生物学和海洋学数据来检验以下假设：晚期全新世气候的波动显着影响了东阿留申群岛的当地环境，生态系统和人类的狩猎策略。该跨学科项目将使用人类觅食行为的模型在气候变化的背景下使用三个主要证据来研究人动物 - 环境相互作用：1）考古贝类中的生长模式和稳定的氧同位素将用于重建当地的古环境； 2）将使用几个分类群的考古动物学材料来测试随着气候变化的响应，动物的分布和行为是否随着时间的流逝而变化； 3）将分析工件以寻找对气候和资源可用性变化的适应对海洋哺乳动物狩猎工具包的适应。更具体地说，研究小组提出了一项研究计划，该计划将使用来自Unalaska岛的多个数据集来解决新呼吸阶段中是否存在于该地区的冰冰和喜欢海冰（？Pagophilic？）动物区系，这表明史前史上的气候发生了巨大变化。 The interdisciplinary nature of archaeology makes it uniquely positioned to accomplish two things: 1) to offer truly long term data about the ecological, climate, and resource histories for the Gulf of Alaska, data that are vital to understanding both ancient and contemporary human and environmental interaction in this region and 2) to collaborate with local Native Alaskan communities and students, resource managers, and cultural resource managers to collect, interpret, and disseminate the data and findings.