This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry, or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two year of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctroal Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Posdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions tat advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Arlene Rosen and the University of Texas-Austin, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist conducting a geoarchaeological investigation of the multi-scalar impacts of farming systems on the landscapes of northern New Mexico upon the introduction of those systems as part of the Spanish colonial project of the 16th-19th centuries CE. The late pre-colonial and colonial Southwest was marked by a series of dramatic multi-decadal drought episodes that profoundly affected outcomes. The "Columbian Exchange" of technologies, plants, animals, and diseases from Spanish colonists to the North American Southwest has had profound impact on the history of the region. However, very little research has been conducted to produce empirical data documenting the geomorphological changes to the land.

This project identifies and tests three models for landscape change in the Southwest under Spanish colonization. It will produce the first direct analysis of geoarchaeological and microbotanical data from sediments systematically sampled from geological sections adjacent to and downstream from known agricultural areas of two colonial settlements and one Pueblo settlement under colonial influence in the Rio Grande River Valley region of northern New Mexico: Dixon, Cuyumunge, and Picuris Pueblo, respectively. Sediment sections such as these preserve evidence for landscape processes over time, such as sediment transportation (erosional patterns), salinization of sediments (indicating irrigation regimes, land stability, and therefore human mobility patterns), water table levels (indicative of erosive land use practice or damming), and organic content (to assess what kinds of environments were present, including aridification episodes). Studying these sections will allow the researcher of this project to assess how land processes changed in relation to the other changes introduced over the course of colonization in northern New Mexico, and to assess how people responded to their changing landscape. It is particularly notable that this project is in cooperation with two projects in the region that are being hosted by local descendent communities for the first time - the participation of these descendent communities will enhance the accessibility to sampling areas, the contextual knowledge of the data and history, and the broader contribution to community heritage interests.

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.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
SBE Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (SMA)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
1810563
Program Officer
Josie S. Welkom
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2018-09-15
Budget End
2021-02-28
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2018
Total Cost
$165,000
Indirect Cost
Name
Damick Alison
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Austin
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
78751