Funded Research Projects

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14641/189

An index of publicly funded research projects conducted by Texas A&M affiliated researchers.

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Archaeology Program- Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Awards (Arch-DDRI)
Anthropology; TAMU; https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14641/330; National Science Foundation
A fundamental question driving anthropological science today asks how humans spread across the Earth and adapt to the world's varied environments. This research arena is an important theoretical and methodological marketplace where geneticists, biological anthropologists, paleoecologists, and archaeologists work to explain the process of global human dispersal. This is especially the case in the Americas, where genetic models predict that humans of the late Ice Age rapidly filled the Western Hemisphere, originating in greater Northeast Asia, spreading to Alaska, and reaching the Southern Cone of South America, between 24,000 and 12,000 calendar years ago. Archaeological evidence is required from these scattered regions to empirically test the genetic-based theory of how early hunter-gatherers dispersed. One of the most visible components of the archaeological record is the variable forms of weapons and projectile points that prehistoric hunters across northern Asia and America used, specifically stone lanceolate points versus bone/antler/ivory points, the latter sometimes inset with stone microblades. The functional, environmental, and social factors that influenced these weapon designs remain unknown. Why did ancient foragers of Siberia and Alaska employ different weapon systems as they entered the Americas? How did these variable weapons facilitate settlement of every ecological niche in the Western Hemisphere? The new research will offer insight into the use of major projectile-point technologies and human decision-making processes as early Americans dispersed through different environments, at the end of the Ice Age when dramatic climatic and ecological changes were taking place, broadening knowledge of human adaptability, especially in northern landscapes. The international context of the research will foster relationships between a new generation of American, Canadian, and Russian archaeologists investigating human behavioral change and adaptation in the circumpolar Arctic. The project will engage Alaskan Native communities through educational demonstrations of projectile systems traditionally used in subsistence activities, promoting positive relationships between archaeologists and the public. Understanding the functions of these important artifacts will help sustain traditional subsistence practices among Native Alaskans and will help reveal the reasons for ancient assemblage differences and ultimately how these differences relate to the colonization of Beringia and the Americas. Joshua Lynch, PhD candidate at Texas A&M University, will examine variability in projectile technologies Ice Age Siberia and Beringia by examining the range of morphological and functional variation in lithic, osseous, and composite points to test hypotheses explaining why different projectile technologies co-occur in the early archaeological record of the far north. This will be achieved through a series of experiments employing projectiles reflective of archaeological examples used in three different weapon systems (hand-thrust spear, bow and arrow, and spear thrower) to generate a new standard of breakage and use-wear patterns for ancient weapon technologies. By establishing the functions of specific point forms, project results will improve interpretations of Ice Age archaeological assemblage variability as it relates to foraging behavior, landscape use, site function, and cultural variability. Further, macro- and microscopic analyses of projectile points from more than 40 pivotal Siberian and Alaskan archaeological sites will be conducted and compared to the results of the experimental testing. 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.
CESU: Historic Canoe Conservation Project at Everglades National Park
Anthropology; TAMU; https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14641/245; DOI-National Park Service
Sponsor terminated project before start
Conservation of CSS Georgia Artifacts, 2017-2018, USACE., Savannah District
Anthropology; TAMU; https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14641/677; DOD-Army-Corps of Engineers
Artifacts and ship remains from the CSS Georgia were subjected to long-term inundation in the Savannah River. Parts of the wreck were buried and others exposed, and these remains were also affected by the periodic dredging operations in the fresh water river. With the gradual deepening of the shipping channel over the years, this exposed the remains to salt water. This introduced new species of marine life, including mussels, oysters and teredo worm that have adversely affected the artifacts in different ways. Each material type comprising the artifacts and ship remains was thus differentially affected by various physical and biological processes, necessitating research and the evaluation of comparative techniques to identify the best techniques to be applied to this collection. This research and analysis will be a critical and significant component of the conservation process. CRL will continue to research the different types of conservation techniques that may be needed, and compare the application of these techniques as needed based upon the research results, and apply the best treatment to individual artifacts. In the case of large artifact collections, CRL also researches the effects of treating similar artifacts in bulk, for a more streamlined and effective method of conservation can be achieved for the large collections.
Doctoral Dissertation Research: Lithic Landscape Learning in Eastern Beringia
Anthropology; TAMU; https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14641/394; National Science Foundation
Angela Gore, PhD candidate at Texas A&M University, will undertake research in central Alaska to understand the timing and settling-in processes of the First Americans and their descendants. Archeological and genomic evidence point to eastern Beringia as a gateway through which ancient peoples first migrated from Northeast Asia, therefore the rich archaeological record of central Alaska is key in unraveling questions of adaptation and behavior of the earliest Alaskans through time. The Alaskan record exhibits sizeable technological variability from 14 thousand to 5 thousand years ago and answers to questions about the first Alaskans are still elusive: how did ancient Beringians utilize and learn the landscape around them as they first encountered it? How did they adapt their technologies and mobile strategies through millennia of shifting climate and resulting resource fluctuation? This research expands knowledge of modern human adaptation and settlement of extreme northern environments and sheds light on the impact of climate change on human populations. This research provides a graduate student with a transformative research experience to be shared with academics, the public, and with Native Alaskans and First Nations peoples to whom it is directly relevant. Gore will begin to unravel questions of landscape learning and behavioral variation in the archaeological record of central Alaska through the lens of stone tool procurement and use as evident in ancient toolkits. Mapping and sampling of the lithic sources within the Nenana River valley area, from outcrop to creek and river alluvium will reconstruct the lithic landscape exploited by prehistoric Alaskans. Geochemical analysis of non-obsidian volcanic stone sources in the valley provides a fingerprint of these sources against which artifacts from archaeological sites spanning 14 ka to 5 ka will be compared to reconstruct mobile strategies, landscape use, and changes in these behaviors through time. Gore will integrate geochemical toolstone sourcing with lithic analysis of these same archaeological collections to provide a comprehensive description of behavior and behavioral change of ancient Alaskans from colonization to settling-in on the landscape. Together, these methods provide a better understanding of the nuanced and complex interactions between landscape, environment and human culture. 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.

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Browsing Funded Research Projects by Subject "Anthropology"