Doctoral Dissertation Research: Assessing the Magnitude and Timing of Prehistoric Native American Landscape Impacts in Northeastern North America

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation research project will identify shifts in vegetation and fire regimes related to human settlement and subsistence practices of prehistoric Native American populations in the Finger Lakes region of the state of New York. The doctoral student will analyze the range of environmental impacts to distinguish various human-caused vegetation and landscape changes from concurrent natural environmental changes. The project will provide new insights into the chronological development of the vegetation and landscape of the Finger Lakes region as it was subjected to a range of forces associated with both human cultural change and natural environmental change during a critical period of North American prehistory. The project has important implications for paleoecological research, because it will employ new modeling techniques to investigate prehistoric human-vegetation impacts using a suite of archaeological, ecological, and historical datasets. The doctoral student will work closely with several local Native American tribes, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations. The project should enhance understanding of prehistorical environments and the dynamics of change over recent millennia. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career. This research focusing on Native American habitation and subsistence will provide new information regarding the nature and magnitude of prehistoric impacts on the forested ecosystems of the northeastern U.S. The doctoral student will focus on the core question of whether a combination of archaeological and paleoecological data can aid in reconstructing landscape changes related to human activities that predate any historical record. The student will use an integrated methodology that integrates historical, archaeological, ecological, and geological data sets. These data sets will be analyzed using multivariate statistical methods and geographic information system-based analyses. He also will develop an ecologically based conceptual model to guide research on prehistoric human impacts. The model will provide a template that can be used elsewhere in the world to address the relative contributions of landscape change related to natural environmental perturbations and human disturbance.