| NSF Org: |
BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | February 1, 2023 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | February 1, 2023 |
| Award Number: | 2234426 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Jeffrey Mantz
jmantz@nsf.gov (703)292-7783 BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences |
| Start Date: | February 1, 2023 |
| End Date: | May 31, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $30,700.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $30,700.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
201 PRESIDENTS CIR SALT LAKE CITY UT US 84112-9049 (801)581-6903 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
201 PRESIDENTS CIR SALT LAKE CITY UT US 84112-9049 |
| 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 DDRI |
| 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
This interdisciplinary project integrates geochemistry, ecology, and archaeology to understand what drove the transition from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to the Later Stone Age (LSA). This technological transition, which occurred around 50,000 years ago, is one of the most prominent behavioral changes observed in human evolutionary history. Possible environmental drivers of the MSA-LSA transition have been proposed, but establishing robust links between environmental and behavioral change has been challenging due to the lack of appropriate datasets. This project will quantify the degree of precipitation seasonality, dietary seasonality, and large animal movement through this key period while fostering research links and providing a foundation for undergraduate training in a collaborative environment. In addition to providing funding for the training of a graduate student in anthropology in the methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, the project would enhance public understanding of science and the scientific method broadly disseminating its findings.
The proposed project advances our understanding of the MSA-LSA transition by addressing the question: Did seasonal changes in resource availability influence human behavior across the MSA-LSA transition? Three objectives will be used to address this question through stable isotope analysis of serially-sampled fossil herbivore teeth from Pleistocene fossil sites: (i) using strontium isotopes to reconstruct Pleistocene migratory systems; (ii) using carbon and oxygen isotopes to evaluate how migration relates to precipitation and dietary seasonality; and (iii) assessing how seasonality and migration have shaped human foraging strategies and technological change during the last glacial period. Understanding the ecology of animals during glacial periods through these methods is essential to grasping the full picture of the evolutionary ecology of both living and extinct species, with implications for human evolution, biology, and conservation. Furthermore, this study will be the largest ever to evaluate serially-sampled strontium isotopes in this research context.
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.
The grant "Doctoral Dissertation Research: Evaluating Seasonality and Migration as Ecological Drivers of Technological Transition in Human Evolutionary History" has now completed its reporting period. This doctoral dissertation research has been highly successful, resulting in two peer-reviewed publications with the Co-PI as first author, one submitted manuscript with the Co-PI as first author, five conference presentations by the Co-PI, and one conference presentation by a student trainee. Two undergraduate students were trained as part of the research. Details are described below.
Regarding broader impacts, the Co-PI successfully trained two undergraduate students as part of the research plan. Lilian Ashioya, a Kenyan undergraduate student from western Kenya near the study sites, was trained in faunal identification, museum curation, and stable isotopes. Katya Podkovyroff, a University of Utah Biology undergraduate, was trained in strontium stable isotope processing and other laboratory methods. Both students were paid hourly for their work and are both co-authors on the two peer reviewed publications resulting from their valuable contributions.
The results of the dissertation research were presented by Katya Podkovyroff at the The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2023 Annual Meeting, and by the Co-PI at the American Association of Biological Anthropologists 93rd Annual Meeting , Paleoanthropology Society 2024 Annual Meeting, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 83rd Annual Meeting, and the Wilkes Climate Summit 2023 and 2024.
Three papers have resulted from the project: O’Brien et al. (2023, “Migratory behavior in the enigmatic Late Pleistocene bovid Rusingoryx atopocranion”), now published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, O’Brien et al. (2024, Limited herbivore migration during the Last Glacial Period of Kenya), now published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, and O’Brien et al. (Submitted, Non-analog function of eastern African herbivore communities during the Last Glacial Period), submitted recently to Ecology Letters.
The Co-PI has now graduated from the University of Utah with a Ph.D. and will begin an Assistant Professor position at SUNY Oneonta in August of this year.
Last Modified: 06/05/2024
Modified by: Kaedan O'brien
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