The Development of Human Innovation in an Arid Biodiverse Environment.

干旱生物多样性环境中人类创新的发展。

• 批准号: 2345996
• 负责人: Alexia Smith
• 金额: $ 19.97万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-02-01 至 2026-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2345996&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Development; Human; Innovation; Arid; Biodiverse

The goal of this project is to examine the long-term dynamics of food, farming, and fuel use in relation to a series of large-scale social and environmental changes that took place over several thousand years in an environmentally sensitive region witnessed several, sequential revolutionary social transitions, including the earliest shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture, the emergence of village life, and the construction of cities and empires with distinct social hierarchies. The project examines modifications to the landscape linked with fuel extraction, agricultural changes, morphing population sizes and densities, changing settlement patterns, and responses to climatic events. Theories explaining why these changes took place often invoke food production or population change, although actual remains of foods are rarely considered; similarly, fuel is rarely discussed in relation to social change, despite the central role that fuel plays in maintaining craft economies and allowing societies to function. This study focuses on the dynamics of long-term change, to explore the ongoing interconnectedness of food, fuel, farming, social organization, and environmental change. Understanding the depth of their interconnections can help inform responses to the many problems current global warming presents. By examining periods of both stability and flux, it is possible to examine variable adaptive responses to social and environmental change. Two sites under consideration collectively span roughly 10,000 years and document the earliest transitions in the world from hunting-and-gathering to farming emergent social complexity and the formation and collapse of an empire. Archaeobotany, the study of plant use in the past, provides a powerful tool to document and explore food, fuel and farming, providing insights into these dynamics. The research team employs newly created reference collections to reexamine curated archaeobotanical flotation samples from each site to supplement existing macro-botanical data and help identify and document: (1) phytoliths, ash pseudomorphs (that allow historically underrepresented taxa to be observed), and dung spherulites within the oft neglected 1mm "residue" fraction; and (2) 4mm amorphous chunks that could represent food, bread, or fuel. FTIR spectroscopy is used to explore depositional sequences and pyric histories to help better inform the interpretation of plant data. Isotopic analyses of grains are used to help track cultivation strategies through time. Collectively, the integrated approach helps offset preservation and methodological biases inherent to each technique, providing a more comprehensive view of ancient plant use. Digital reference material generated through this project will be openly shared online providing a resource for other researchers.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.

该项目的目的是研究与一系列大规模的社会和环境变化相关的食物，农业和燃料使用的长期动态，这些变化在一个环境敏感的地区进行了数千年的变化，这些地区见证了几种依次的革命性社会过渡，包括从狩猎和聚集到农业的最早转变，以及与乡村生活的兴起，以及与乡村生活的兴起，以及与社会的建立，以及与社会的建立。该项目研究了与燃料提取，农业变化，人口大小和密度变化，定居模式变化以及对气候事件的反应有关的景观的修改。理论解释了为什么发生这些变化的原因经常引起粮食生产或人口变化，尽管很少考虑食物的实际遗迹；同样，尽管燃料在维持工艺经济体和允许社会运作中起着核心作用，但很少讨论与社会变革有关的燃料。这项研究的重点是长期变化的动态，以探索食品，燃料，农业，社会组织和环境变化的持续相互联系。了解其互连的深度可以帮助告知人们对当前全球变暖礼物的许多问题的回应。通过检查稳定性和通量的时期，可以检查对社会和环境变化的可变自适应反应。正在考虑的两个地点统计大约10，000年，并记录了世界上最早的从狩猎和收集到农业新兴的社会复杂性以及帝国的形成和崩溃的过渡。过去对植物使用的研究考古植物会提供了一种有力的工具来记录和探索食物，燃料和农业，从而提供了有关这些动态的见解。 The research team employs newly created reference collections to reexamine curated archaeobotanical flotation samples from each site to supplement existing macro-botanical data and help identify and document: (1) phytoliths, ash pseudomorphs (that allow historically underrepresented taxa to be observed), and dung spherulites within the oft neglected 1mm "residue" fraction; （2）4毫米无定形块，可以代表食物，面包或燃料。 FTIR光谱法用于探索沉积序列和pyric历史，以帮助更好地告知植物数据的解释。谷物的同位素分析用于帮助随着时间的推移跟踪培养策略。总体而言，综合方法有助于抵消每种技术固有的保存和方法论偏见，从而对古代植物的使用提供了更全面的看法。通过该项目生成的数字参考材料将在线公开共享，为其他研究人员提供资源。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并且使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准，被认为值得通过评估来获得支持。