Collaborative Research: Examining Pyrotechnology and Ecosystem Change in the Archaeological Record

合作研究：检查考古记录中的火工技术和生态系统变化

• 批准号: 2018896
• 负责人: David Braun
• 金额: $ 24.56万
• 依托单位: George Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2018896&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Examining; Pyrotechnology; Ecosystem

Knowing when humans began using fire allows us to better understand our evolutionary and biological history. This project will explore the question of early fire use through archaeological investigation of human activities from 1 to 2 million years ago. The investigators will use ancient archaeological and environmental data, along with modern data, to simulate how human exposure to landscape fire would influence behavior and how human use of fire would have affected landscapes. This research will provide insights into human relationships with fire and help clarify the extent to which fire was a catalyst for human cultural and biological development. The project will support early career researchers, efforts to broaden participation in paleoanthropology, and research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students. The research will be used to develop an educational outreach program with the American Museum of Natural History that is focused on increasing scientific participation of economically and educationally diverse middle and high school students.Archaeological excavation and sampling will be used to identify fire 1 to 2 million years ago in a region with a vast fossil and archaeological record that spans between 4 and 1 million years ago. The investigators will study burning of organic matter using polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, plant waxes, infrared spectroscopy of bone and sediment, identification of microscopic charcoal, and microscopic plant fossils. They will investigate these proxies at archaeological sites, in fossil soils, and a sediment core from a body of water that borders the research area. Investigations of these patterns at small scales (within archaeological sites) and at local to regional ecosystem levels (paleosols and sediment core) will be used to develop agent-based models of ecosystem responses to human fire use and generate predictions about the frequency and origin of landscape fires. This project combines experimental and archaeological advances with targeted field studies to address these questions and provide insights into this critical adaptation in human technology.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.

知道人类何时开始使用火，我们可以更好地了解我们的进化和生物学史。该项目将通过对1到200万年前人类活动的考古调查来探讨早期消防的问题。研究人员将使用古代考古和环境数据以及现代数据来模拟人类对景观火的暴露将如何影响行为以及人类对火的使用将如何影响景观。这项研究将提供对人类关系的见解，并有助于阐明火灾是人类文化和生物学发展的催化剂的程度。该项目将支持早期的职业研究人员，扩大对古人类学的参与的努力以及研究生和本科生的研究机会。这项研究将用于与美国自然历史博物馆一起制定教育外展计划，该博物馆的重点是增加经济和教育上多样化的中学和高中生的科学参与。建筑发掘和抽样将在1到200万年前在4到100万年前具有庞大的化石和古老的记录中确定1至200万年前的火灾。研究人员将使用多环芳烃，植物蜡，骨和沉积物的红外光谱，微观木炭和微观植物化石研究有机物燃烧。他们将在考古遗址，化石土壤和与研究区域接壤的水体中研究这些代理。对这些模式在小尺度（考古遗址内）和地区至区域生态系统水平（古质和沉积物核心）的研究将用于开发基于剂的生态系统对人类火灾使用的响应的模型，并产生对景观火灾的频率和起源的预测。该项目将实验性和考古学进步与有针对性的现场研究相结合，以解决这些问题，并提供有关人类技术中这种关键适应的见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响来通过评估来支持的。