Collaborative Research: Environmental Context of Long Term Cultural Adaptation

合作研究：长期文化适应的环境背景

• 批准号: 2241119
• 负责人: Matthew Waters
• 金额: $ 7.3万
• 依托单位: Auburn University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241119&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Environmental; Context; Long

The goal of this research is to understand the environmental conditions that occurred during occupation and abandonment of the Moundville site, a regionally important late prehistoric site in Alabama. The research includes collection and analysis of lake sediment cores from Touson Lake, an oxbow located 2 km west of the site. Identification of the contents provides useful data for inferring human impacts that can be applied at a wide range of situations, yielding useful information without methods that are destructive to sites. Furthermore, understanding how societies responded to past climate change and/or local environmental degradation is important for understanding how challenges of the 21st century might impact populations. Included are sharing of results with the Moundville Archaeological Park Museum and sharing monthly updates to federally recognized Tribal Nations with several representatives of which are involved with both sampling and interpreting the data. This project also trains one graduate and two undergraduate students at multiple universities in a multi-disciplinary setting.Combined archaeological and paleoenvironmental studies demonstrate that humans are in direct and constant interaction with their environment. While there is considerable information about climate-environment-human interactions for cultures in central and South America, there is a lack of such information for Mississippian mound-building societies in North America. This project addresses two overarching research questions: 1) did environmental conditions influence shifts in population and agriculture at Moundville? and 2) did environmental changes create stresses that caused eventual site abandonment? To answer these questions, sediment cores from Touson Lake are analyzed for: 1) stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in organic matter, 2) grain size distribution, 3) magnetic susceptibility, 4) charcoal particles, 5) pollen assemblages, 6) cyanobacteria pigments, and 7) fecal sterols, all of which indicate past environmental conditions. Compilation of existing archaeological literature on the demography of the local and regional populations are compiled and representatives of Muskogean-speaking tribes affiliated with Moundville contribute to data interpretation with their indigenous traditions and culture histories associated with the region.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.

这项研究的目的是了解在阿拉巴马州的史前史前遗址中，占领和遗弃期间发生的环境状况。该研究包括收集和分析来自该地点以西2公里的Touson Lake的湖泊沉积物核心。内容的识别提供了有用的数据来推断可以在各种情况下应用的人类影响，从而产生有用的信息，而无需破坏站点的方法。此外，了解社会如何应对过去的气候变化和/或当地的环境降级对于理解21世纪的挑战可能如何影响人口。其中包括与Moundville考古公园博物馆共享结果，并与联邦认可的部落国家共享每月更新，其中几位代表涉及采样和解释数据。该项目还培训了多学科环境中多所大学的一名毕业生和两名本科生。CombinedChipaeological and Paleoenvormentaltal研究表明，人类正在与环境直接且不断互动。尽管有关中美洲和南美洲的文化的气候 - 环境相互作用有大量信息，但在北美，密西西比州土丘建设社会缺乏此类信息。该项目解决了两个总体研究问题：1）环境条件是否影响了Moundville的人口和农业的转变？ 2）环境变化是否造成了导致现场放弃的压力？为了回答这些问题，分析了来自Touson Lake的沉积物核心：1）有机物中碳和氮的稳定同位素，2）2）晶粒尺寸分布，3）磁敏感性，4）4）木炭颗粒，5）花粉颗粒，5）6）6）蓝细菌颜料，以及7）7）繁殖固有的环境。汇编了有关当地和地区人口的人口统计学的现有考古文献的汇编，与Moundville有关联的讲麝香语的部落的代表促进了与该地区相关的土著传统和文化历史的解释。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过评估范围来反映了众所周知的范围。