| NSF Org: |
BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | March 5, 2020 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | March 5, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 1949305 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
John Yellen
jyellen@nsf.gov (703)292-8759 BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences |
| Start Date: | June 1, 2020 |
| End Date: | May 31, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $224,877.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $224,877.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3100 MARINE ST Boulder CO US 80309-0001 (303)492-6221 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
3100 Marine Street, Room 481 Boulder CO US 80303-1058 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Archaeology |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.075 |
ABSTRACT
Researchers seeking to understand the complex interactions between present-day environmental and cultural change increasingly turn to historical datasets, which enable examination of such interactions over the long term. This project uses historical and archaeological data to model human responses to one of the most important socio-environmental changes in human history: the dispersal of the domestic horse into the Americas in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The project promotes collaborative research with and public outreach to indigenous groups, supports an early-career researcher and the development of scientific facilities and public education at the University of Colorado, and funds the education of students at three western universities (including a Hispanic-serving institution). Results of the project are to be disseminated through both the scientific literature, popular media, and a museum exhibit, as well as a series of seminars bringing together scholars and indigenous leaders. In doing so, this project establishes an analytical framework for understanding the complex interaction between species dispersals, environmental changes, ecological factors, and cultural transformations that built our modern world.
After their introduction to the Americas domestic horses revolutionized life across the plains and deserts of North America, giving rise to the great horse cultures of the plains and deserts and forming the backbone of economically and militarily dominant Native empires during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Despite the obvious importance of horses in later history, however, gaps in the historic record mean that little is known about when, why, or how the first horses were first integrated into Native societies across most of the American West. Applying techniques including radiocarbon dating, ancient DNA sequencing, zooarchaeology, and stable isotopes analysis to ancient horse remains, this project produces a scientific model for when and how domestic horses dispersed into the continent, and in so doing explains the ways horses impacted life in early historic America.
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.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
By carefully analyzing horse remains from museum collections across the American West and partnering with scientists, scholars, and elders from Tribes across the Plains and Southwest, this project produced new scientific research overtruning long-held ideas about the timing and trajectory of the dispersal of domestic horses into Indigenous societies. Results show that domestic horses of Spanish origin radiated across the region decades or centuries before the first direct colonial presence, and that domestic horses were rapidly integrated into everything from ceremony to subsistence, validating many perspectives drawn from oral tradition.
Research results from the project were presented at national and international conferences, including the Plains Anthropological Society, the Society for American Archaeology and the Society for Historical Archaeology, as well as the Montana Archaeological Society. Results were disseminated to communities through creation of an online exhibit, publication of a website, and genesis of educational resources including a TED-Ed animated video and a classroom activity. Scientific publications include peer-reviewed research shared in the pages of American Antiquity, Science Advances, and Science, as well as a peer-reviewed book-length manuscript, Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History set for publication by University of California Press in August 2024. Th project received the 2024 Newcomb Cleveland Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science ($25,000). Funds from the award supported the successful training and graduation of a young Lakota scientist, and Newcomb Cleveland prize funds were donated to the University of Colorado to create a new perpetual endowment for Indigenous students in the archaeology field, the Sam High Crane Memorial Endowed Fund.
Results of the project have helped advance our knowledge of human-horse relationships and significantly advanced the cause of collaborative science in archaeology, while providing lasting output for both science and the public in the form of peer-reviewed science, educational products, and training of young scientists.
Last Modified: 09/23/2024
Modified by: William T Taylor
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