Doctoral Dissertation Research Award: Investigating the Role of Scale in the Development of Flexible Irrigation Structures.

博士论文研究奖：调查规模在灵活灌溉结构发展中的作用。

• 批准号: 2314519
• 负责人: Andrew Bauer
• 金额: $ 2.08万
• 依托单位: Stanford 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 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314519&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Award; Investigating

Scholars have endeavored to explicate the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the resilience of contemporary infrastructure, which is increasingly vulnerable to environmental and socio-economic risks. Archaeology holds a unique position to provide relevant insights, as it can systematically investigate the factors that have sustained certain kinds of infrastructure that have existed for millennia. In this doctoral dissertation award the dissertation student, is examining a particularly enduring piece of infrastructure — the qanat irrigation systems — as a case study to evaluate its continued operation amidst numerous episodes of external social and environmental shifts. Based on preliminary research, the investigators it is hypothesized that the resilience of these qanat systems can be ascribed to their management of small scale, which allows them to rapidly adapt to environmental stressors. This research contributes to the burgeoning literature on materiality, human-environmental relations, and infrastructure by examining the role of scale in maintaining the social networks within which technology operates. In a broader sense, the findings of this project offer valuable insights into the potential advantages of decentralized management in bolstering infrastructural resilience amid current ecological crises. Additionally, the study advocates for the cultural heritage of the underrepresented Uyghur community.The dissertation student documents, assesses, and synthesizes the long-term trajectory of qanat systems in response to climatic fluctuations, political reconfiguration, and evolving agricultural practices system which can be traced back over a thousand years. The project involves nine months of fieldwork on over 200 functional qanat systems in the study region, utilizing an interdisciplinary program of systematic surveys, palaeoecological reconstruction, geochronological analyses, and ethnographic observation. This award supports extensive Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of the qanat systems, a technique that has proven reliable for analogous systems in multiple regions. Obtaining dates are necessary to establish a rigorous typology of these systems and reveal relationships between qanat evolution and environmental transformations, as well as the mechanisms by which these systems have demonstrated exceptional resilience for millennia.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.

考古学在提供相关见解方面拥有独特的地位，因为它可以系统地调查维持某些特定因素的因素，因此学者们一直致力于阐明有助于当代基础设施恢复能力的潜在机制。在这篇博士论文中，学生正在研究一种特别持久的基础设施——坎儿井灌溉系统——作为案例研究，以评估其在多次外部社会和环境变化中的持续运行。 .根据初步研究人员率先提出，这些坎儿井系统的恢复力可以归因于它们的小规模管理，这使得它们能够快速适应环境压力。这项研究为有关物质性、人类与环境关系和环境的新兴文献做出了贡献。从更广泛的意义上说，该项目的研究结果为在当前生态危机中增强基础设施弹性方面的潜在优势提供了宝贵的见解。倡导者学生的论文记录、评估和综合了坎儿井系统的长期轨迹，以应对气候波动、政治重组和不断演变的农业实践系统，这些系统可以追溯到一千多年该项目涉及对研究区域 200 多个功能坎儿井系统进行为期 9 个月的实地考察，利用系统调查、古生态重建、地质年代学分析和人种学等跨学科计划该奖项支持对坎儿井系统进行广泛的光刺激发光（OSL）测年，该技术已被证明对于多个地区的类似系统是可靠的，获得日期对于建立这些系统的严格类型学并揭示坎儿井演化与之间的关系是必要的。环境转变，以及这些系统在数千年中表现出卓越弹性的机制。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估，被认为值得支持标准。